triveni spotlight A FEATURE EVERY ALTERNATE DAY! hosts: Teji Sethi and Kala Ramesh GUEST EDITOR: John Stevenson
hot afternoon
the squeak of my hands
on my daughter’s coffin
Lenard D. Moore
The Heron’s Nest, 6.9
John Stevenson (born October 9, 1948, Ithaca, New York), professional actor, especially in playback theater, and haiku poet and editor. He began college as a visual art major and finished with a degree in theater. Before retiring in 2015, he worked as a human resources administrator for the New York State Office of Mental Health. His first poetry publication occurred at age 8, and his interest in haiku dates from 1992. He is a founding member of the Route 9 Haiku Group and its journal Upstate Dim Sum, and has served as regional coordinator, president, second vice president, treasurer, associate editor, and editor of Frogpond for the Haiku Society of America.
In 2013 he received the HSA Sora Award for service to haiku, and from 2018 to 2019 he was the honorary curator for the American Haiku Archives at the California State Library. Since 2008 he has served as managing editor of The Heron’s Nest. His haiku collections include: Something Unerasable (1996), Some of the Silence (1999, 2008), Quiet Enough (2004, 2008, 2016, 2018), Live Again (2009), d(ark) (2014), and emoji moon (2018). He has received over 200 awards for haiku and haiku-related poetry. Since 1985 he has resided in the Village of Nassau, New York.
This month is going to be a treat for our members. _()_ Thank you so much, John.
The words 'daughter's coffin' takes away our breath. But I liked the way the poet has used a kigo and a subtle movement that leads us away from that pain and sufferings of a daughter's loss. For a moment we wonder about that sound 'squeak' apart from that loss. And that goes into the making of a good haiku allowing the reader to speculate.
Thank you.
This poem breaks my heart whenever I read this.
I have no words that are appropriate.
Most poignant. In one of the covnversations, Lenard saud he wrote so many haiku about his daughter's death and that healed him in many ways.
Deeply moved. There cannot be a darker moment. I speak from personal experience.