bear creek haiku - poetry, poems and info
bear creek haiku - poetry, poems and info
Friday, February 5, 2016
Chris Faiers (and Chase): Eel Pie Island Dharma, and, Rivers of Zen
Eel Pie Island Dharma
A Hippee memoir/haibun
by Chris Faiers
from the back cover: ‘This memoir of a sixties survivor has become a haiku/haibun classic and an oft-quoted reference for the heady ferment which was the tail end of the 1960s.’
Holy smokes, Canadian Chris, completely immersed in 60’s hippeedom, especially in England, kept his head while immersed in the dharma of legendary 60’s scenes, including Eel Pie Island, Twickenham - a Beatle, the Rolling Stones, trips, free love, banshees, music festivals, hobbits, and, through all of it, the creation of beloved haiku/haibun - and, am delighted that Chris and his dog, Chase, are now friends of ours ('us, too', state ass't. ed's
Tama and Frosty). . .
Leeks and eggs
smoke drifting over
the Cornish cliffs
Balding father
hippe son
in an English pub
LSD
these clouds reveal
too much moon
from North Shore Series
ISBN 978-1-897475-92-8
Totally cool! Plus!, a collection of haibun from Chase and Chris:
ZenRiver Poems & Haibun
ZenRiver Gardens is Chris Faiers’
Zen/First Nation shaman/poetic/country retreat center on the Crowe River, near the Canadian Shield, Canada - here are but two delightful of Chris's Zen River haibun, brief journeys into the poetic persona of beloved land he and Chase live on/within. . .
The late summer day was perfect for a relaxing suiseki stone hunt in the dry fall riverbed. . . I noticed Big Blue the heron standing on the exposed chain of rocks I had intended to explore.
planning a stone hunt
blue heron on my rocks
thinking of fish
coexisting
heron and I
exchange stares
(one more. . .)
These lighthearted reflections on fireflies and their rituals inspired this final poem.
Zen monk
playing hide and seek
with his soul
from North Shore Series
ISBN 978-1-897-897475-25-6
Chris Faiers - zenriver@sympatico.ca
asst'. ed'.s, asking,
"maybe we can visit Zen River?"
how about treats and
belly rubs as we think about it?
"far out!"
see you in a moment
ayaz daryl nielsen
darylayaz@gmail.com
(and/or)
darylayaz@me.com
Posted by ayaz daryl nielsen at 1:42 PM
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Haiku Foundation Info
On 2016-02-05, at 5:44 PM, Garry Eaton wrote:
Hi Chris Faiers,
How are you? Hope you are well.
As you may know, The Haiku Foundation has a well established and growing haiku online digital library , with approx. 400 books, 300 essays and 30 haiku journals, etc., available for all to read free of charge. This digital library is made possible by scanning and cataloging copies of books from our hard copy collection of approximately 7000 volumes of haiku related material. Ultimately, we hope to have all these books online.
Your work was recently highlighted in a bear creek haiku blogpost and I checked with Jim Kacian to find we have only one of your titles, Foot Through the Ceiling, in our hard copy collection. Would it be possible for you to donate a copy of each of the two titles mentioned by Daryl Nielsen in that post, with the understanding they will eventually appear online in our digital library? They are Eel Pie Island Dharma and Zen River. We would, of course, also be interested in having copies of any other haiku related volumes you may have published.
If so, please let me know what you can spare and I will advise where you can send them.
And many thanks for helping us preserve English language haiku!
Garry Eaton
Digital Librarian
THF
. . . . . . .
Hi Gary & Jim,
I mailed 3 books this aft for The Haiku Foundation:
EEL PIE ISLAND DHARMA, 2012, Hidden Brook Press (Canada)
ZenRiver: poems & haibun, 2008, Hidden Brook Press (Canada)
unacknowledged legislator, 1981, blewointmentpress (Canada)
The contents of EPID are basically the same as the online version, with just the correction of a typo or two (& likely the addition of some new ones), plus there's a nice introduction by John Hamley/snowflea, a local poet I've mentored in haiku. I also wrote a preface, which is basically the same as my blog posting:
http://riffsandripplesfromzenrivergardens.blogspot.ca/2011/05/haibun-as-memoir-historical-document.html
There is also an interesting afterword by fellow Eel Pie Island communard, Weed. Weed is the webmaster who kindly posted EPID online in the early 2000s. The publisher, Tai Grove/June bug, also threw in some cool pics from the time capsule, a glossary of hippie terms for fun and/or damaged memories, & a list of some of the credits and various books, docs etc. which have used EPID as an historical source or even as the inspiration for a novel (e.g. Hari Kunzru's novel "Revolutions", altho I don't remember being a member of Britain's 'the angry brigade' ; )-
Your request came at a fortuitous time (word of day), as I'm seeking out new homes in archives & such for my overflowing personal library. The fear is everything will end up in a recycle bin one day if I don't find good homes while I'm alive & still semi-functional. I've kept the address for donations, & as I find time & energy, I may ship some other items of possible historical interest & relevance for The Haiku Foundation (I'm sure there are some real old treasures stashed away since the mid-1960s if I forage hard enough).
peace & poetry power!
Chris/cricket
1 comment:
yes! more power to us and our online presence! hoping all is well there beside the River of Zen - ayaz daryl nielsen
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