Journeys 2017 Released

Journeys 2017 has just been released by Editor Angelee Deodhar and can be purchased through Amazon. It is the third in the Journeys series devoted to printing the best of contemporary poets' published works. Each of the three volumes presents the work of a different set of poets who were nominated by several editors in consultation with Ms. Deodhar. The poets were asked to send 10 of their favourite pieces from which Deodhar selected 5 to appear in the anthology. The three Journeys combined contain 400 haibun by 84 poets. In addition, the anthology features essays, excerpts from the work of Japanese masters and selections of works by early adapters of haibun.

Contents of Journeys 2917

Preface by Angelee Deodhar:

When Matsuo Bashō wrote Journey into the Interior, a classic of Japanese literature three hundred and fifty years ago, he could not have imagined the popularity haibun would come to enjoy as a serious poetry genre among English-language poets. Although Oku no hosomichi is accepted as being the first haibun ever written, other travel journals and diaries were being written by men and women, courtiers, princesses, entertainers, hermits, nuns and commoners several centuries before Bashō’s lifetime. Many of them influenced his writing style.

The lack of critical literature aroused my interest in assembling the three Journeys anthologies. Today we have many online and print haiku journals and even some main stream poetry publications carry haibun, but it is still difficult to find the work of some of the early adaptors of prose with verse. This is because some journals that carried these early haibun forms ceased publication and many personal chapbooks were also only printed in short limited runs.

The first two Journeys (Journeys and Journeys 2015) highlighted the personal selections of the published work of our most prominent current international writers, as well as featuring the work of early adaptors of the genre. Encouraged by the reception of both anthologies and feeling that work of more contemporary and early adaptors is needed, I embarked upon putting together Journeys 2017. This features the work of twenty-two current writers and six early adaptors who employ a wide range of writing styles and subjects. In addition, this collection features not so familiar excerpts from eight Japanese poets, whose works are vital to the understanding of the roots of haibun.

It is my sincere hope that the Journeys trilogy will inspire poets and promote a deeper understanding to the serious study of this genre. While putting together this series, I would pause from time to time to go over a particular piece, to savour an exquisite turn of phrase or the depth and poignancy of a particular experience from the poet’s milieu interior, a fascinating journey in itself.

I am very grateful to all the poets who have generously shared their work with me for this third collection. It has been an honour to travel with them.

                                                                        – Angelee Deodhar, Chandigarh, India

Essay: Jeffrey Woodward, Form in Haibun: An Outline

Section I: Early Adapters:

John Ashbery, Jerry Kilbride, Kenneth C. Leibman, Paul F. Schmidt, Edith Shiffert, Rod Willmot

Section II: Contemporary Writers of Haibun:

Melissa Allen, Cherie Hunter Day, Lynn Edge, Judson Evans, Chris Faiers, Charles Hansmann, Jeffrey Harpeng, Ed Higgins, Ruth Holzer, Roger Jones, Gary LeBel, Tom Lynch, George Marsh, Michael McClintock, Beverly Acuff Momoi, Lenard D. Moore, Peter Newton, Jim Norton, Stanley Pelter, Dru Philippou, Richard S. Straw, Bill Wyatt

Section III: Excerpts from Books

• Rich Youmans, Travel Diaries and the Development of Modern Haibun
• William R. LaFleur, Awesome Nightfall: The Life, Times, and Poetry of Saigyō
• H. Mack Horton, The Journal of Sōchō
• Haruo Shirane, Traces Of Dreams: Landscape, Cultural Memory, and the Poetry of Bashō
• Makoto Ueda, Dew On The Grass: The Life and Poetry of Kobayashi Issa
• Patricia Lyons, A Translation of Kurita Chodō’s Sketches of Moonlit Nights
• Janine Beichman, Masaoka Shiki: His Life and Works
• Keiko Shiba and Motoko Ezaki, Literary Creations on the Road–Women’s Travel Diaries in Early Modern Japan
• Kaoru Ikeda, Slocan Diary