I have been reading the haiku of George Swede for many years. I've corresponded (as in sending submissions) with him in his capacity as editor of the Haiku Society of America's journal, frogpond. Somehow I missed the fact that he was also accomplished in other forms of poetry!Browsing through Songs of Myself: An Anthology of Poems and Art compiled by Georgia Heard [Mondo Publishing, 2000] I came across the following poem by Swede:
Every MorningNice, isn't it! The poem is paired well with Running House/#4862 by artist Nicholas Wilton.
Every morning
I awake
full of dust
and odors
As if
no one has
lived in me
for years
And
every morning
I throw open
all my windows
and doors
Clean
and fumigate
myself
As if
I were just
moving in
A funky animated version of a haiku by George Swede is available here.
To read more of Swede's haiku, find a copy of Cor van den Heuvel's The Haiku Anthology: Haiku and Senryu in English [W.W. Norton, 1999], the best all-around collection of English language haiku.
This week's Poetry Friday Round-Up is being held at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub, and next week it will be right here at Random Noodling, so plan to stop by.
Photo from the Brooks Books Haiku website
It's a great poem, Diane! I'll check out the journal frogpond , too. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThat's beautiful! Thanks! Will look up his haikup too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that, Diane -- great visuals!
ReplyDeleteYes. Beautiful. I loved the poem and enjoyed the video. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHa what a great perspective on the morning! I will look for that anthology as I don't think I have it on my shelf.
ReplyDeleteI need to fumigate myself this morning, too!
ReplyDelete