With Words.

The blog of Alan Summers, Recipient of the Japan Times Award (2002) and owner of With Words, a UK provider of literature, education and literacy projects, often based around the Japanese genres. For events and workshops for families, children, and schools contact us through our With Words website: With Words.

small kindnesses

small kindnesses

My small kindnesses are helping those with heavy luggage who forget they can use lifts/elevators at train stations. Also, I allow people to leave the train by not blocking them, as so many others do. Plus anyone smaller than the crowd, I make sure they can get onto a train first, and be able to put away any luggage, and find a nice seat, as I'm a big man I can discreetly block,  and so protect those less able.

dark morning...
the sushi bar opens up
for the train station

Check out Fiona's free book offer for today:

http://www.writingourwayhome.com/p/small-kindnesses-blogs-taking-part.html

 

All about small kindnesses we offer or receive:

http://www.writingourwayhome.com/2012/11/what-small-kindness-do-you-remember.html

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Selected Haiku by Alan Summers

A selection of haiku across the years from Alan Summers

bright breeze

a sighted person fingers

the statue’s eyes

Publications credits: City: Bristol Today in Poems and Pictures (Paralalia 2004); tinywords.com (USA 2007); Moonset Vol. 3 Issue 2 (Moonset Literary newspaper llc. USA 2007)

City: Bristol Today in Poems and Pictures:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/City-Bristol-Today-Poems-Pictures/dp/0954811704

Old Man’s Beard a cyclist wobbles the length of it

 (one line haiku)

Publications credits: a handful of stones (celebrating the extraordinary in the ordinary - the official small stone e-zine 2011); A Blackbird Sings, a small stone anthology ISBN 978-0-9571584-2-9 ed.  Fiona Robyn & Kaspalita Thompson (Woodsmoke Press 2012)

sunheat -

also parted in death

a ladybird’s wings

Publications credits: Blithe Spirit  vol. 8. no.3  (British Haiku Society Journal 1998); Does Fish-God Know (Yet To Be Named Press 2012 ISBN-10: 1479211044)

Old Curiosity Shop -

lacquered dolls

out in the mid-day sun

Publications credits: Shamrock, Haiku Journal of the Irish Haiku Society (Ireland 2007)

white sails...

a wind has also shaped

the tree

Publications credits:Azami issues #21 #22 & 27 (Japan 1994 & 1995); Mainichi Shimbun (Japan 2005); a procession of ripples (USA 2006); tinywords.com (USA 2006); Aesthetics, (Bath Spa University, Summer 2007)

an attic window sill

a wasp curls

into its own dust

Publications credits: Woodpecker Special Issue, Extra Shuttle Issue ISSN 1384-6094  (Holland 1997); Snapshots Four  (1998); First Australian Online Haiku Anthology (1999); Haiku International 2000 Anthology, Japan ISBN 4-8161-0675-8 (2000); HaikuOz Information Kit (2001); The Omnibus Anthology, Haiku and Senryu, Hub Editions ISBN 1-903746-09-4 (2001); Cornell University, Mann Library, U.S. "Daily Haiku" poet (October 2001); tinywords.com (2002); Yomiuri Shimbun, Japanese newspaper (for my birthday, September 16th 2002); The New Haiku (Snapshot Press 2002); Raku Teapot: Haiku Book and CD pub. USA Raku Teapot Press in association with White Owl Publishing Book: ISBN 1-891691-03-1 CD:  ISBN 1-891691-04-X (2003); First Australian Haiku Anthology, Paper Wasp ISBN 0 9577925 9 X (2003); Yomiuri Shimbun Go-Shichi-Go Language Lab(Japan 2005); Swot, arts & literature magazine, Bath Spa University (2007); Travelogue on World Haiku Festival 2002 , Part 2  (Akita International Haiku Network Japan 2010); The Haiku Foundation USA haiku 2012 iTunes app

Award credit:

Highly Commended, Haiku Collection Competition, Snapshot Press (1998)

Joint 7th Best of Issue, Snapshot Five (1999)

Education:

HaikuOz Information Kit, the Australian Haiku Society’s Getting Started With Haiku (2001)

over the nettles

where I know I just can’t go

orange-tip butterfly

Publications credits:Presence issue 42 (2010)

almost lost

in the shimmer of water

several ducklings

Publications credits: Blithe Spirit vol.6 no.1 (British Haiku Society Journal 1996); "English/Japanese Haiku" article by Nobuyuki Yuasa read and translated for the Baiko Women's College (Japan 1996) by Nobuyuki Yuasa:  mizu haete  hikari ni kasumu  kogamo kana; "English/Japanese Haiku" by Nobuyuki Yuasa article (Blithe Spirit, British Haiku Society Journal vol.8 no.3 1998); First Australian online Anthology 1999; HI #42, Haiku International Association (Japan 2001); See Haiku Here (Japan 2001); tinywords.com (USA 2001); Flowers on a Shoe String  (Institute of Physics 2002); Wild Flowers, New Leaves, Ami-Net International Press (2002); Raku Teapot: Haiku  Book and CD pub. USA Raku Teapot Press/White Owl Publishing  (2003); First Australian Haiku Anthology, Paper Wasp ISBN 0 9577925 9 X  (2003); Haiku Pathway Katikati, Katikati Open-Air Art Inc. ISBN 0-476-00060-2  (2003); Yomiuri Shimbun  (Japan 2004);  See Haiku Here (Japan 2009); "water" haiga eBook series, ed. Kuniharu Shimizu (Japan, 2010); Haiku Pathway Katikati, Katikati Open-Air Art Inc. (10th Anniversary Edition 2010); The In-Between Season (With Words Pamphlet Series 2012)

Haiku Park Credit:

Haiku Pathway,  Katikati, North Island, New Zealand

handcarved into a river boulder 2000

http://area17.blogspot.com/2007/08/new-katikati-haiku-pathway-guidebook-is.html  http://members.dodo.com.au/janbos/katikati.html  

http://www.katikati.co.nz

the wind sways

a woven hat brim

once grass

Publications credits: Albatross, Contantza Haiku Society, Romania Issue vol III no. 1 Spring-Summer/No. 2 Autumn-Winter 1994; Moonlighting, British Haiku Society Profile (1996); sundog, an australian year (sunfast press 1997 2nd print 1998); California State Library USA

Haibun credit: The Crow Walk haibun HAIKU HIKE (World Walks) Part of Crossover UK's 2006 'Renewability' project (2006)

woodfire

flickering in the silence

corralled horses

Publications credits: Modern Haiku vol. xxvi  no. 3 (USA 1995); Moonlighting  (Intimations Pamphlet Series British Haiku Society Profile, 1996); sundog haiku journal: an australian year  (sunfast press 1997 reprinted 1998); California State Library USA - 1997; First Australian Haiku online Anthology (1999); First Australian Anthology (Paper Wasp 2000); Haiku Dreaming (Australia 2006); The Crow Walk haibun (HAIKU HIKE, World Walks, Crossover UK 'Renewability' project 2006)); Stepping Stones:  a way into haiku ISBN 978-0-9522397-9-6  (British Haiku Society 2007)

the rain

almost a friend

this funeral

Publications credits: Azami #28 (Japan 1995); Snapshots 4 (1998); First Australian online Anthology (October 1999): Blithe Spirit article On minimalism and other things  DJ Peel Vol 9 No.3 (British Haiku Society Journal 1999); tempslibre (Belgium 2001); Cornell University, Mann Library, U.S.A. "Daily Haiku" (Oct 2001); The Omnibus Anthology, haiku and senryu  (Hub Haiku series 2001); Hidden (British Haiku Society Anthology 2002); The New Haiku (Snapshot Press, 2002); First Australian Haiku Anthology (2003); Birmingham Words Magazine Issue 3 (Autumn 2004); seven magazine feature: “Three lines of simple beauty”  (2006); tempslibre (Belgium 2010); Blogging Along Tobacco Road: Alan Summers - Three Questions (2010); Travelogue on World Haiku Festival 2002 , Part 2  (Akita International Haiku Network, Japan 2010);  The Temple Bell Stops: Contemporary Poems of Grief, Loss and Change (Modern English Tanka Press USA 2012); The Haiku Foundation USA haiku app for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch (2011); The In-Between Season (With Words Pamphlet Series 2012)

Award credit:

Highly Commended, Haiku Collection Competition, (Snapshot Press 1998)

Joint 9th Best of Issue, Snapshot Five (1999)

all my mistakes

each click of the pen

the robin moves

Publications credits: Presence #24 (2004);  "D'un ciel a l'autre" Anthologie de haiku de l'Union Europeenne, (Edition de l'Association francaise de haiku 2006); Seven By Twenty twitter-length fiction and poetry magazine (2011)

Oxford Street

the sweet chestnut vendor’s

blackened fingers

Publications credits:Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar 2011

Award credit: Runner up, Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar 2010

vigilante movie

my elbow

heavy on your knee

Publications credits: Symmetry Pebbles (2011); The Humours of Haiku (Iron Press 2012 ISBN 978-0-956572-54-7); Does Fish-God Know (Yet To Be Named Press 2012 ISBN-10: 1479211044)

open window

the cat dozes

half in half out

Publications credits:Presence 3  (1996); Woodpecker, Extra Shuttle Issue  (Holland 1997); Iron Book of British Haiku, (Iron Press 1998, Third print 2000  ISBN-10: 0906228670 / ISBN-13: 978-0906228678); tinywords.com (USA 2001); The Haiku Calendar 2002 (Snapshot Press); Raku Teapot: Haiku Book/CD (USA Raku Teapot Press/White Owl Publishing 2003)

Award credits:

Runner-up, The Haiku Calendar Competition 2001 (Snapshot Press)

late deadline

keeping owl hours

with the mice

Publications credits:haijinx volume IV, issue 1 (USA 2011)

snowing

through the blizzard

particles of me

Publications credits: 

The Haiku Calendar 2012 (Snapshot Press); The Humours of Haiku (Iron Press 2012 ISBN 978-0-956572-54-7 )

Award credits:

Winner,The Haiku Calendar Competition 2011 (Snapshot Press)

netsuke...
the hare with amber eyes
jumps back in again

Publications credits:Mainichi Shimbun (Japan 2011)

Award Credits: Honourable Mention, Best of Mainichi 2011 (Japan)

bouncing rain
I force the hotel window
a little wider

Publications credits:

Blithe Spirit (British Haiku Society Journal 2012); Does Fish-God Know(Yet To Be Named Press 2012 ISBN-10: 1479211044)

fading stars
a hedgehog haphazards
its way back home

Publications credits:The Heron’s Nest (USA 2012)

thunder snow
the wind-shifting scent
of fox

Publications credits:Fox Dreams (USA 2012 ed. Aubrie Cox)

dandelion wind

mending bridges

in the mist

Publications credits:  Blithe Spirit (British Haiku Society Journal Vol 22 No. 3 2012); Does Fish-God Know (Yet To Be Named Press 2012 ISBN-10: 1479211044)

dandelion wind haiku by Alan Summers translated into Farsi:

باد پر قاصدک
مرمت کردن پل
در غبار

 

bade por ghasdak

maremat kardan pol 

dar ghobar

Farsi translation by Reza Aerabi

rain on the river–

when does white become

its darkest colour

Publications credits:Haiku News (online newspaper written in the Japanese poetic form of haiku: the personal is the political is the poetical 2012)

sleep disorder

the gas station lights

keep me company

Publications credits:Blithe Spirit (British Haiku Society Journal 2012)

toy suns

the winter-dark rain

smashes the city

Publications credits:Blithe Spirit (British Haiku Society Journal 2012); Does Fish-God Know (Yet To Be Named Press 2012 ISBN-10: 1479211044)

green clouds
the scarecrow worries
a loose thread

Publication Credits:Asahi Shimbun (Japan 2012)

drifting rain 

my hundred autumn rooms 

to be alone

Publication Credits:Mainichi Shimbun (Japan 2012)

cloud mountain
she screams her daughter's name
into the month of march

Publication Credits: British Haiku Society Member’s Anthology, Air (2012)

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Alan Summers will be giving a TEDx talk with haiku as its subject

'CRAFTING THE UNEXPECTED' 
TEDxBradfordonAvon is an independently organised event. The aim is to bring together speakers from fields as diverse as engineering and haiku poetry to act as catalysts  for participants to explore creativity in its widest sense. The theme is 'Crafting the Unexpected'.

Speakers and participants come from a wide range of disciplines including engineering, sculpture, contemporary art, advertising, film direction, haiku poetry, screenplay writing, music and education.  

TED stands for: 
Technology, Entertainment, Design. 

TED itself, is an annual event where some of the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to share what they are most passionate about.  Speakers have included Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Frank Gehry, Paul Simon, Sir Richard Branson, Philippe Starck and Bono. 

All TED talks are uploaded onto the Internet. This is a key factor in spreading and sharing ideas. Please visit www.ted.com

The TEDx weblink:
http://www.tedxbradfordonavon.com/


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