Creating Your Own Quote Cards
Creating Your Own Quote Cards
To the right is a random quote card from my collection which is ready for you to use online — but you will learn so much more if you create your own quote cards reflecting your haiku interests. (The quote cards in my collection definitely tend more towards classical haiku and the Zen aesthetics of Japanese tradition.)
For my own physical index cards, I write the quote on one side, and then I write the author's name and source on the back, along with notes. That way I can focus 100% on the quote, while also having the author information available just by flipping the card over.
And where can you find quotes to use for your own games at home? Here are my two go-to resources for secondary haiku material:
Haiku Foundation Digital Library. You can find lots of resources available for download here, and it's also a great bibliography resource. If you see something here that is not available for download, just hop over to BookFinder.com (see below), and maybe you will be lucky enough to find a used copy available. Maybe even a cheap used copy!
Internet Archive. The Internet Archive has millions, literally millions, of books available for checkout. Just create a free account, and then you can start borrowing books online. I've made a big Internet Archive "bookshelf" with haiku resources: Haiku, which is a general listing of over 100 haiku books. I also have a Zen bookshelf because I also like to explore connections between haiku and quotes about Buddhism generally and Zen in particular.
In addition to all these great resources online, you can also find lots of very affordable used haiku books at BookFinder.com, which combines book listings from ebay, ABE, ALibris, etc. Absolutely the best way to shop for used books online!
You can also subscribe to Frogpond, Modern Haiku, and other haiku journals which contain essays as well as wonderful poetry you can use for your own haiku cards.