Ginko

Ginko (Haiku Walk, San Andreas Canyon 

in India Canyons of Paom Springs)

—Photo by Deborah P Kolodji, Pasadena, CA

—Poems by Deborah P Kolodji


white marble


I am small at the feet


of Lincoln



(first pub. in The Heron’s Nest, 2003)



* * *


floating purple—


my daydreams follow


the water hyacinth


(first pub. in The Yuki Teikei Haiku Society Anthology, 2007)



* * *


highway


of sleeping towns


the milky way 



(first published in Rattle, 2015)
    


* * *


thistles in bloom


grandmother’s needle


threaded with purple



(first pub. in World Haiku Review, 2002)


* * *



his oxygen tube

stretches the length of the house


winter seclusion

(first published in GEPPO, 2011)


* * *

          


we promise each other


nothing will change

slack tide



(first pub. in Modern Haiku, 2011)
 


 * * *


rust in the cedars


the quiet interrupted


by heron cry



(first published in Lighting a Candle, Two Autumns Chapbook 2010, 

Haiku Poets of Northern California) 


* * *


cold summer


one suitcase circling


baggage claim



(first pub. in The Heron’s Nest, 2014



* * *


moon bridge


a woman broken


by spring ripples



(first pub. in Mariposa, 2009)


* * *


moving day


the clatter of marbles


in a shoe box



(first pub. in bottle rockets, 2013



* * *


in spite of your silence the birth of stars


first pub. in Intercontinental Astro-Ecologic Verse, SARM (Romanian Society 

of Meteors and Astronomy, 2008)


* * *



gray morning


the whole world

a foghorn



(first pub. in Daily Haiku, 2010)


* * *



the square root


of negative one


clouds



(first pub. in frogpond, 2014)


* * *
         

Euler’s number


your litany


of unrepeatable excuses



(first pub. in Bones, 2015)


* * *



lingerie drawer


after the divorce


skimpier



(first pub. in  “Go-Shichi-Go” column, Daily Yomiuri (Japan), 2004)


* * *



morning tidepools


a hermit crab tries on


the bottle cap



(first pub. in World Haiku Review, 2002)


* * *



summer quiet


the stars dare me


to count them 



(first pub. in Daily Haiku, 2010)


* * *



moonflower


a love letter


to Captain Kirk

(

first pub. in The Heron’s Nest, 2012)


* * *



silent cannon


at Gettysburg


bird song



(first pub. in dandelion breeze, 2013 SCHSG Anthology)

 Deborah P Kolodji
Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden, Pasadena, CA
—Photo by Naia



Deborah P Kolodji [note: no period after the P] has been writing poetry as long as she was able to hold a pencil. She has long enjoyed Japanese art and fell in love with haiku in the late 1990’s when she started attending workshops of the Southern California Haiku Study Group (www.facebook.com/SoCalHaiku). At the time, Walnut Creek poet Jerry Ball was living in Southern California and moderated the monthly workshops. As a result of the group’s mentorship, Deborah began to publish haiku in the early 2000’s.   



When Jerry Ball moved back to Northern California in 2006, Deborah wanted to ensure that the haiku study group continued, so she began moderating the group workshops. Haiku study group activities remain a priority for her, whether the monthly workshops or the occasional ginko (haiku walk). Deborah currently serves as the California Regional Coordinator for the Haiku Society of America (www.hsa-haiku.org), and is on the Board of Directors for Haiku North America, a haiku conference which occurs every two years (www.haikunorthamerica.com).


After the publication of a few chapbooks, Deborah’s first full-length book of haiku and senryu was highway of sleeping towns, published by Shabda Press in 2016 (www.shabdapress.com/deborah-p-kolodji.html), which won a Touchstone Distinguished Book Award by the Haiku Foundation and an Honorable Mention in the Haiku Society of America Merit Book Awards. The above haiku are selections from that book. 


Although Deborah enjoys teaching haiku and generally conducts about 20 haiku workshops a year, her background is in mathematics and information technology. She received a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Southern California and currently works as a senior technical consultant for a business software company. Some of her poems reflect her interests in mathematics, technology, and science.



Fueled by interests in science and technology, Deborah also enjoys writing speculative poetry. [Scifaiku ("science fiction haiku") is a form of science fiction poetry first announced by Tom Brinck with his 1995 Scifaiku Manifesto. It is inspired by Japanese haiku, but explores science, science fiction (SF), and other speculative fiction themes, such as fantasy and horror.] Before embracing haiku, most of Deborah’s poetry publications were in places like Star*Line, the journal of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association, Strange Horizons, Mythic Delirium, and Dreams and Nightmares. She served as the president of the Science Fiction Poetry Association from 2006-2010 (www.sfpoetry.com). 


Now Deborah often writes poetry inspired by both of these passions for haiku and science fiction & fantasy. In 2012, a speculative haiku sequence, “Bashō After Cinderella”, was published by Rattle (#38) in its Tribute to Speculative Poetry (Winter 2012). “Haiku #3 (autumn)” in this sequence was awarded a Dwarf Stars Award by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association in 2013, which lead to the “pumpkin vine” haiku’s inclusion in the 2015 Nebula Awards Showcase by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writer’s Association (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebula_Awards_Showcase_2015). It may be heard at www.rattle.com/basho-after-cinderella-by-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



Bolsa China Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach, CA   



—Photo by Deborah P Kolodji

Some other samples of speculative haiku:



drooping tulips


the outstretched arm


of a rusted robot



(first pub. in Grievous Angel, 2016)
   

         
* * *



unexpected delay


opening the airlock


butterflies



first published in Star*Line, 2016)
 

* * *


not what you seem


under the surface


water on Mars



(first pub. in Star*Line, 2017)
  

          
* * *


nuclear winter


a new orbit


for the half moon



(first pub. in Dreams & Nightmares, 2018)
  

  

______________________
      

Today's LittleNip:


quicksand


under the lander


your goodbye static



(first pub. in Grievous Angel, 2017)
   

 
_____________________

—Medusa, with many thanks to Deborah P Kolodji for joining us in today’s Kitchen! Don’t be a stranger, Deborah!

Deborah reminds us that the Haiku Poets of Northern California’s annual Two Autumns Reading will take place this coming Sunday, 1-5pm, at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Info: www.hpnc.org/schedule/. She also notes that there is some interest in forming a haiku group up in our area. Interested?

 Southern California Haiku Study Group, July 2018 meeting 
—Photo by Lynn Allgood.
Standing: Kathabela Wilson, Debbie Kolodji, Wakako Rollinger, 

Bonnie Santos, Vibiana Aparicio-Chamberlin, Sharon Yee, 

Toni Steele, Scott Galasso
Sitting: Janis Lukstein, Greg Longenecker, Lynn, Beki Reese, 

Kim Esser, James Won

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