March 8, 2019

Deborah P. Kolodji

FOUR HAIKU

 

 

sandblasted
by your words
petroglyphs

 

 

 

 

line of herons on the beach grunion

 

 

 

 

lemonade
that moment we know
the feeling is gone

 

 

 

 

power outage
the spread of neighborhood
quiet

from Rattle #62, Winter 2018

__________

Deborah P. Kolodji: “Haiku is part of my daily existence. Each poem is like a word snapshot, but captures far more than a mere photo—it records how I am feeling at the time, whether I am trying to walk up a hill in fierce wind at the Petroglyph National Monument near Albuquerque or standing on the beach by the Cabrillo Marine Museum during a grunion run. I can read these poems later, close my eyes, and I feel like I am there again.” (web)

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August 5, 2016

Deborah P. Kolodji

FOUR HAIKU

sharp words
her holiday collection
of cookie cutters
 
 
 
 
 
 
cosine of an angle
he changes political
parties
 
 
 
 
 
 
lottery tickets
with the wrong numbers
terns
 
 
 
 
 
 
Gone with the Wind
an empty pillow
on the window seat

from Rattle #52, Summer 2016
Tribute to Angelenos

[download audio]

__________

Deborah P. Kolodji: “I’m a native Southern Californian, born in Long Beach, a graduate of USC and a USC football season ticket holder. With a lifetime of snowless winters, I rarely write of snow, but instead feed my muse by walking the beaches and botanical gardens of Los Angeles County.” (website)

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December 7, 2015

Deborah P. Kolodji

HAIKU

 

 

potted poinsettias
at the holiday party
bullets

 

 

Poets Respond
December 7, 2015

[download audio]

__________

Deborah P. Kolodji: “I was sitting in Urth Caffe writing stream of consciousness haiku about potted poinsettias and this haiku came out as a response to the shootings in San Bernardino, California.” (website)

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May 26, 2015

Deborah P. Kolodji

FOUR HAIKU

icicles
the mortgage
paid off early

 

 

 

highway
of sleeping towns
the Milky Way

 

 

 

winter solitude
the company
of unshelved books

 

 

 

horse calendar
Grandmother dreams
she’s bareback

 

 

 

Oldflute Shakuhachi by Rick Wilson

from Rattle #47, Spring 2015
Tribute to Japanese Forms

__________

Deborah P. Kolodji: “Yellow grass waves in the summer sun. Monuments to the fallen dot the battlefield as I walk alone on my first visit to Gettysburg. The words of Bashō pop into my head—translated by Lucien Stryk, ‘summer grasses/ all that remains/ of a warrior’s dreams’—and I start to cry. The sadness of the earth, the memories of the fallen, and the words of a seventeenth century poet in Japan all come together in a moment of connection. Separated by centuries and thousands of miles, Basho and I are in the same place. This is why I love haiku.” (web)

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July 13, 2013

Deborah P. Kolodji

BASHO AFTER CINDERELLA

(i)

a glass slipper
in the middle of the road
spring rain

(ii)

thistles in bloom
village gossip
after the ball

(iii)

pumpkin vine
a mouse remembers
how to neigh

(iv)

fairy dust snow
perfectly-sized boots
for her bare feet

from Rattle #38, Winter 2012
Tribute to Speculative Poetry

[download audio]

__________

Deborah P. Kolodji: “At some point in my poetry career, I decided my poems were too wordy and discovered haiku. Writing haiku soon became a way of life, and I have learned to appreciate small moments of my day and write them into snapshot poems. Because I also enjoy speculative literature, it’s fun to imagine the landscape around an imaginary or literary event, such as the evening of Cinderella’s ball, or the moment Arthur discovers the Sword in the Stone, and wondering what Basho, the seventeenth century haiku master, would write if he was there to see it.”

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