triveni spotlight A FEATURE EVERY ALTERNATE DAY! hosts: Teji Sethi and Kala Ramesh GUEST EDITOR: Michael Dylan Welch
immigrant graveyard
tombstones lean east
lean west
Jerry Kilbride Woodnotes #12, Spring 1992
About the poem:
This is one of many standout haiku that first appeared in Woodnotes. The keyword “immigrant” gives the locations of east and west added meaning. As a California poet originally from Chicago, Jerry himself participated in migration to California as I did myself, and many of us have migrated in life, so it’s easy to empathize with this poem. Californians can also imagine the many historic graveyards in the Sierra foothills, such as those of Chinese immigrants who helped to build the railroads, and their graves among those who came from elsewhere. Though many of us have migrated, it seems our loyalties and identities always lean home.
Note by the Editor
Woodnotes triveni spotlight
by Michael Dylan Welch
From 1989 to 1997, in various capacities, I edited or helped to edit Woodnotes, the quarterly journal of the Haiku Poets of Northern California, and in 1996 I took on the journal independently before replacing it with my new journal Tundra. I lived in the San Francisco area for more than a dozen years and was active with HPNC from its first year in 1989 until I moved north to Seattle in 2002. Working on Woodnotes with such coeditors as vincent tripi, Ebba Story, Christopher Herold, and Paul O. Williams was a fine education in the art of haiku. The following are selections of favourite haiku and senryu from the journal’s 31 issues, with brief commentary. These poems are expressions of wonder, or as Billy Collins once described haiku, they exhibit “existential gratitude.” In return, I am deeply grateful for the thousands of poems published in Woodnotes over the years, and the hundreds of poets who contributed to the journal’s success. * * * * * This month is going to be a treat for our members. _()_ Thank you so much, Michael.