Chapter 2 - Confessions of Joy - SNEAK PEEK at New Book

Here's your chance to get a look inside my new book of poetry, The Lily & The Aster, including a look at haiku and short poems:

Chapter 2: Confessions of Joy
1.
Each drumbeat
is a winged bird sent
off towards heaven.
2.
Nothing beats
playing a djembe
with the thunder.
3.
Dancing
breathing life
like the night air.
4.
Your song,
like one long exhale
thrown skyward.
5.
Your music journeyed
to a place unknown
to words.
6.
Your song
A confession
of joy.
7.
Your dance
transforming your beauty into
a butterfly.
8.
He is the Miles Davis of the djembe
Full of flourish and experiment
Classic but not derivative
Mastermind of the stage
His feats incongruous to the scale of his fame
His shortcomings lauded beside his accomplishments
And yet he is a perpetual enigma,
When he picks up that drum
His genius demonstrated in the spectrum of rhythm in his repertoire
Children respond instinctively
Elders swept into the beat
Dancers ensnared by the rhythms
All to create a cacophony of happy faces
Clamoring for more
9.
We listened to our music
and reveled in the sound.
We didn't take it for granted.
Music was a matter of fact.
It just was.
10.
So I'll seek rest and I'll listen
to the peaceful noise of gentle
rainfall and the threatening
tumble of thunder and be calmed
by the whistling whir of the
radio, the low thump and cradle
of easy blues music while I lay
fingertips pressed over closed
eyelids releasing the day's
unease.

On Book Editing

The process of editing can be trying. If one is working with the right people; however, it does not have to be. I have two separate editors to help me through the process: a general editor and a line editor; each is tasked with differing yet consonant agendas. I think I am working with the right people because working with an editor has opened my eyes to the potential of my own work.

Both of my editors have easy-going personalities and both are knowledgeable and well-read. This makes working with them quite pleasurable and always a learning experience. They play quite different roles, however. While on the one hand, my editor is responsible for the overall flow of content, as well as matters of style; on the other hand, my line editor is responsible for grammar, punctuation and spelling. Ultimately, each is tasked with making the text stronger and more cohesive.

They work in different yet complementary ways. Whereas my editor encouraged me to look at the big picture, to stand back and connect each part of the story scene by scene, or poem by poem, to ask how the unifying theme flows through every paragraph or every poem; my line editor has a knack or an eye for detail. She asks how things could be changed on a micro level for a smoother flow, a more fluid read. She works to dissect the text and rebuild it sentence by sentence.

I liked working with the two of them because each was methodical with his/her comments and served as a good listener, a sounding board when I needed it. It helps that I have worked with this editorial team on a previous project, so they know how to communicate with me.

Working with the two of them has been such a pleasure. It has opened me up to the possibilities of my own work. Working with my editor, in particular, has helped me appreciate the richness of my work, that there are alternate interpretations, multiple layers or shades of meaning to my poetry. Rather than having my ego busted, I get an ego boost by working with my editor.

To conclude, I think that I am working with the right people because they are well-qualified for their roles and because they have helped me understand that book production does not have to be painful. At its best, it can be quite inspiring.

The Bookcover: The Lily & The Aster

The Haiku of Sonia Sanchez

Sonia Sanchez is a longtime poet and professor at a well-known Pennsylvania university. Haiku is a favorite form for Sanchez. She makes the haiku form really stand up and come alive. I read a lot of her poetry when preparing to write The Lily & The Aster. There is something indescribably marvelous about her haiku, like this:

Love between us is
speech and breath. Loving you is
a long river running.

~

Come windless invader
I am a carnival of

Stars a poem of blood.

~

I am you loving
My own shadow watching
This noontime butterfly.

~

Derelict with eyes
I settle in a quiet
Carnival of waves.

Her other poetry speaks volumes as well. Here’s what she had to say about haiku:

The Haiku For Me Is

Silence. crystals. cornbread
and greens. laughter. brocades.
The sea. Beethoven. Coltrane.
Spring and winter. blue rivers.
Dreadlocks. blues. a waterfall.
Empty mountains. bamboo. bodegas.
Ancient generals. dreams. lamps.
Sarah Vaughn. Her voice exploding
in the universe, returning to earth
in prayer. Plum blossoms.
Silk and steel. Cante jondo
Wine. hills. flesh. perfume.
A breath inhaled and held.
Silence.

Brilliant, just brilliant, I say.

On Writing The Lily & The Aster

I did most of the writing for The Lily & The Aster last summer. I was inspired by the fact that, here in suburban Connecticut, I am surrounded by nature. From a rumble of thunder in the sky to the rhythms of a cricket’s cry, I became sensitive to the details in the vast and remarkable natural backdrop. These subtleties came to the foreground and found their way into my haiku. I wrote in a purely methodical manner, alternating between reading haiku and writing it. It became a particularly pleasant and meditative process as I challenged myself to a daily quota, writing for hours on end.

In The Lily & The Aster, I was forced to write within the bounds of a form, the haiku, which has pre-existing rules for style and structure. A haiku is three lines, 17 syllables and generally concerns nature. Naturally, in the early stages, I seemed to break all of the rules until I adapted to the form. When I did adapt, I could sense whether there were enough syllables without counting and I could easily adjust components of style without much effort. I wrote a total of 400 haiku and narrowed the sum down to 150 for the book. I hope that you have enjoyed haiku shared previous to this text.

As far as the title, I chose two summer flowers, perhaps the most ubiquitous one and a rarer variety. Together I think that the names sound both poetic and musical. It sounds, to me like the name of a classic jazz album from a certain day. I chose the title for all of these reasons.

The title too says something about the book. It says that the book is definitively about summer and essentially about nature. It is about those seasonal ornaments (flowers) which adorn our doorsteps and are among nature’s marvels which inspire just the sort of poetry that is in this book.

Haiku poetry...

1.
In the stillness of
Day, watch the snow fall
Effortlessly.


2.
Under the pale stars,
A winter sky pregnant with
Possibility.


3.
The wind whispers
Hushed stories of bright days
And blue skies ahead.



....From The Lily & The Aster - available in stores April 2012.

More Haiku...

1.
A crater-faced
Moon is shy
Even with the stars.




2.
The fire-flies fix
Themselves in the sky
Feigning the stars.



3.
The sun and the moon
Like brother and sister
To the wind.

From The Lily & The Aster which will be available in stores April 2012