Upwelling - haiku, senryu, tanka, and haibun
by Lorraine A Padden
Moments of awareness, radical reflection and culpability.
Here's a blurb I wrote about it:
Haiku and related short form poetry often invite us into moments of awakened appreciation for the transcendent wonder of our natural and human worlds. We pause in mysterious beauty, wistful remembrance, and enduring hope. What if these poetic forms could also illuminate the shadow side of our existence, bringing us into closer relationship with the undeniable suffering that also rests at the core of our lived experience? What might arise as we contemplate moments of marginalization, oppression, and injustice? These poems are an invitation to reflect and perhaps inspire our own compassionate and healing personal and social action.
And, here's a blurb that Alan Summers, master poet, teacher and founder of Call of the Page provided for the back cover:
"Padden’s work levers up the world as one continuous haiku of a cry sometimes in and out of other phrases, sometimes haibun, and always extended exhalation. The pain and the poignancy is caught in blatant and determined observation, peeled back as “the otherwise” in someone’s life that could be in us too. Sometimes the filter comes fully detached, as we cannot always turn away from what is really going on: this is a book to defy the wind of society to blow it all away."
Finally, I couldn't be happier to include my sister Pene's stunning wood block print on the cover.
You can find my book here:
Thank you for receiving my news, and much gratitude for your interest in my work!