Poetry (including Haiku) of Peggy Heinrich

Modern Haiku. The Heron's Nest. Roadrunner e-magazine.

Yuki Teikei Haiku Society: Join. GEPPO magazine. Annual anthologies.

Toward an Aesthetic for English-Language Haiku by Lee Gurga. 2004 Pescadero Haiku Weekend Workshop (including exercises) with Christopher Herold.

Highlights of Poetry. Index of poetry. How to Write Poetry. Books read.

How to write specific forms: Haibun. Haiku. Hay(na)ku. Rengay. Tanka. Ballade. Concrete. Ghazal. Lai. Pantoum. Prose poem. Rondeau. Rubáiyát. Sestina. Skaldic verse. Sonnet. Terza rima. Triolet. Tritina. Villanelle.

Poets: Bashō: Haiku, haibun, and renga of Matsuo Bashō. Barnhill's Basho's Haiku: Selected Poems of Matsuo Basho. Oseko's Complete Translations of Basho Haiku. Reichhold's Basho: the Complete Haiku. Bashō. Beverly Acuff Momoi. Claire Gallagher. Hosai Ozaki. J. Zimmerman. J. Zimmerman (haiku). J. Zimmerman (haibun). J. Zimmerman (tanka). Jane Hirshfield. Kay Ryan. Kay Ryan's style. Kay Ryan The Best Of It: New and Selected Poems. Marianna Monaco. Ouzel (James Arnold). Patricia J. Machmiller. Peggy Heinrich. Shiki.

The Haiku Seasons: Poetry of the Natural World by William J. Higginson. A classic. Writing and Enjoying Haiku: A Hands-On Guide (2003) by Jane Reichhold, whose many skills include a keen sense for the writing and appreciation of haiku. Guidelines on writing haiku and related forms.

• Bio for Peggy Heinrich
• Books by Peggy Heinrich

Bio for Peggy Heinrich

Peggy Heinrich has been exploring poetry for three decades. Her poems have appeared in scores of journals, including Negative Capability, Blue Unicorn, and Texas Review and have been anthologized widely. Her many awards include a medal for literary achievement from the State of Connecticut. She was editor of Connecticut River Review from 1985-87. A native of New York City, she resettled in Santa Cruz, California, after many years in Connecticut in order to be closer to her two West Coast daughters.

Books by Peggy Heinrich

FORWARD MOVING SHADOWS

FORWARD MOVING SHADOWS Tanka by Peggy Heinrich Photographs by John Bolivar iUniverse, 2012 $10 from author (+ $3 shipping) $9.95 from iUniverse or Amazon

A selection of poems:

for the first time I find myself alone and yet . . . winter sun seaside café — he refuses my offer of vitamins, says I'm interfering with his death today missing him I try to recall one of our arguments autumn chill dropping the sweater I knit him into the Goodwill bin . . . a snow plow clears the road when did I cross the border from Alice in Wonderland into the world of Miss Havisham?

REVIEWS OF FORWARD MOVING SHADOWS

Whimsical, humorous, poignant, and wise, the poems in Forward Moving Shadows span the full range of tanka expression. I admire the honesty and courage of Peggy Heinrich's poems — from the intimacy of "in my teens / despite the fear / I used to pray / don't let me die / a virgin" to the realization that she's grown old in "when did I cross / the border from Alice / in Wonderland / into the world / of Miss Havisham?" Peggy welcomes us into her recollections of change, loss, and gratitude, and into her heart, filled with warmth and empathy. Like Japanese haiga, John Bolivar's photographs reflect the sentiments evoked by her tanka with exquisite visual reverberations. - Margaret Chula, President, Tanka Society of America *** The photographs and poems in this wonderful book engage in an evocative and generative dialogue. Don't rush through them. You'll find yourself, as I have, speaking back and seeing with your feelings and your eyes. John Bolivar's beautifully-wrought images will reward your curiosity; Peggy Heinrich's tanka will grow on you. Each becomes a nurturing environment for the other. Happily, they welcome us into a delicate but sturdy sacred space. - Don Rothman, author of One Way of Seeing, Looking for Bethlehem, How to Teach Writing...and Why, and Facing Portugal and Spain *** Peggy Heinrich's lyrical tanka are utterly convincing. They stem from personal depths and open into universal themes. Often they evince an element of surprise; a fresh perception. In an intuitive interplay of word and image, Bolivar's photographs integrate with the poetic themes, inviting us to deeper contemplation and insight. - Beverley George, Editor: Eucalypt: a tanka journal *** Composed by a consummate poet, Forward Moving Shadows is a moving tanka collection which is focused on personal growth. There is some elegant pairing with photographs by John Bolivar as Peggy Heinrich records in poetic form her reminiscences of, inter alia, ...hopscotch / sex manuals, therapy, kids / widowhood, birthdays. These tanka, presented in a subtle autobiographical order, delicately sketch Heinrich's life. "how comforting / to sail through memories, / blind to icebergs floating by" she writes. For the reader, how illuminating it is to accompany the poet on her journey. - Amelia Fielden, Master of Arts (Japanese Literature); author, Light on Water; co-author, In Two Minds

A MINEFIELD OF ETCETERAS

A MINEFIELD OF ETCETERAS iUniverse, 2006 Poems by Peggy Heinrich $11 from author (+ $3 shipping) $10.95 from iUniverse or Amazon

A sample poem:

MATCHES My best friend in sixth grade split a pair of paper matches down the middle then split the halves making sure to keep the head intact She set one upon the other and lit them they writhed against each other entwined She said that's what men and women do or did she say your parents? I stared and felt my breathing stop She said the woman lies beneath the man and wraps her legs around him In the movies, couples only hugged or touched their lips together their lips were always closed their noses never bumped they did nothing, nothing like these matches nothing like she said Back in my apartment when no one else was home I split many pairs of matches rested them together set each pair aflame and watched unbelieving scared

REVIEWS OF A MINEFIELD OF ETCETERAS

In this carefully crafted collection, Peggy Heinrich delivers poems that range from childhood recollections and family situations to poignant elegies in which she wrestles with the pain of loss and the "mind buzz of persistent thought." Whether she speaks in her own voice about her own experience, or adopts the voice of Eve in Eden, or of Penelope in Ithaca, her poems are always intensely personal, exploring a subtle range of mood and feeling. "I connect myself to ordinary things," she writes in one of her poems. Nevertheless, her work reveals a sensitivity beyond the ordinary, and an uncommon eye for image and metaphor. There is, too, in the broad sweep of her poems, a quiet humor — at times a delightful whimsicality — that celebrates the joys of life while contemplating themes of separation, loss, and the rigors of time. She can speak of her lover who "stirs my curves like dunes of sand," then identify, in a neighboring poem, with a fallen leaf "to learn winter from the ground." Nicholas Rinaldi, author of Between Two Rivers *** Intensely seen, musical and wise, these poems visit ghosts and dreams "that vibrate with monkeys and flowers" all the while engaging easily with worlds of osprey nests and shrinking tides, family lessons and loss. Heinrich writes with admirable clarity and grace. Colette Inez, author Spinoza Doesn't Come Here Anymore and Horseplay

PEELING AN ORANGE

PEELING AN ORANGE Haiku by Peggy Heinrich; Photographs by John Bolivar Modern English Tanka Press 2009 $12 from author (+ $3 shipping) $11.95 from Modern English Tanka Press or Lulu.com

Sample poems:

a child on the beach spooning sand in a bucket... today the sea is still fresh sea breeze the mimosa he planted tall enough to wave frozen puddle faces on an old front page stare through ice

REVIEWS OF PEELING AN ORANGE

"January sunset / putting aside her journal / to peel an orange" This fine collection of haiku, Peeling an Orange, showcases the exquisite work of Peggy Heinrich, a widely published and award-winning poet. These poems carry the reader through the seasons of a life as well as the seasons of the year. Heinrich's work has been described as insightful and empathetic and, according to one editor, always finely rendered and thought through. The final haiku in Peeling an Orange: "around the fire / the widening circle / of silence" was cited by well-known artist and teacher Kaji Aso as "an original, neither a second-hand Basho nor Buson, [in which] a basic sense of human life and warmth of heart is well captured." Equally evocative are the stunning black-and-white photographs by John Bolivar, a prize-winning photographer based in Seattle. [Back cover] *** The poems in Peeling an Orange can only be written by a master poet and Peggy Heinrich is one. This book captivates the reader with its haiku & senryu, and just when you think that it can't get any better, it does. Over the years I've thinned out my bookshelves, but this book is a keeper and it is wonderful to have a collection of such work in a single volume. Stanford M. Forrester, editor of bottle rockets: a collection of short verse *** Poet Peggy Heinrich is an insightful and empathetic companion as she invites the reader to travel with her through the seasons of haiku. Her poems are marked by intricate layers of juxtaposition: city and country, sun and rain, solitude and company, humor and poignancy, and above all a deep appreciation of the present steeped in the remembrance of things past. Peeling an Orange is like an enso, offering the reader a complete journey from the ripples in a spring pond to deep winter's "widening circle/of silence." Pamela Miller Ness Past President, Haiku Society of America

SHARING THE WOODS

SHARING THE WOODS Old Sandal Press, 1992 Poems by Peggy Heinrich $5 from author (+ $3 shipping)

Sample poems:

FOR ELLEN My daughter is learning to drive we sit together in the front seat watching the road I turn my head and stare at the curve of her cheek remembering My daughter has returned from California she tells me she is into screaming she offers to teach me tantrums I hear the screams of the mother I hear the screams of the child My daughter is trying to remember her birth I tell her about the fear ripping wrist straps from the table clenching muscles to lock the dark tunnel because I could not believe the miracle of a melon slipping through a cat's eye because I would miss a second heartbeat ANSWERING MACHINE If this is a personal call, press 1; if this is a business call, press 2. Thank you for pressing 1. If you are male, press 1; if you are female, press 2. Thank you for pressing 1. If you are heterosexual, press 1; if you are homosexual, press 2. Thank you for pressing 1. If you are a former lover, press 1; if you are not, press 2. Thank you for pressing 2. Please enter the first letter of your astrological sign. You have pressed L. If you are a Leo, press 1; if you are a Libra, please hang up now, our signs are incompatible. MOON GODDESS A hawk taught her archery. Drawing her bow in its beak it pointed the way. She knows the secrets of moss and mushrooms; she calls each creature by name. She runs, kicking dust in the eyes of a turtle, scattering hares. Rooted like beech trees women stare at the ground blunting the song of the wind. The one who raises her eyes to the moon discovers the seed of her self; her shoulders unwind like new fern. She runs an inch above ground braiding the wind with her song.

FORTY-FOUR FRECKLES, a story in rhyme for children 4-11

FORTY-FOUR FRECKLES, a story in rhyme for children 4-11 by Peggy Heinrich with illustrations by Barbara Levy Longmeadow Press, 1995 $15 from Peggy Heinrich (8 copies left) (+ $3 shipping)

A book about twins with a message about differences and individuality that will have meaning for any one with a sibling or best friend.

Lizzy and Jenny were look-alike twins with look-alike scowls and look-alike grins ... The only way anyone knew who was who: Jen wore red ribbons while Lizzy wore blue.

Identical twins Lizzy and Jenny look exactly alike-right down to having 22 freckles each! It seems, even to them, that they are exactly alike. Then their parents announce that they'll be moving from the city to the country. Liz is ecstatic and Jen is devastated by the news. For several weeks after the move, the twins go their separate ways, seeming to grow more and more different. Then one morning they bump into each other and notice ... they each still have 22 freckles. But they really are two different people — and they like it that way!

HAIGA-HAIKU

HAIGA-HAIKU art by Barbara Gray accompanied by haiku by Peggy Heinrich. Eight etchings and aquatints, created in Paris at S.W. Hayter's Atelier Dix-Sept in sepia tone, were produced in 1982 by artist Barbara Gray, each with a haiku by Peggy Heinrich. Fifteen copies, hand-printed on rag paper, were produced, twelve of which were signed and numbered, and three artist's proofs. The pages are enclosed in a folded engraved rag cover which is tied with string and further enclosed in an engraved leather outer cover. For more information, contact Barbara Gray: bgray1 at optonline.net

Poems:

In the tea house stillness, except for steam rising So often this Spring at this spot between hedgerows I felt a cobweb break In Mirror Lake blue sky and a crow cawing madly The evening sun reflected in cracked windows of the old farmhouse Sun warms the leaf pile; the wounded finch sits upright -- flies away I remember this cold wet grass; how much I have traveled Limp dragonfly scooped from the swimming pool dries and flies off There, just ahead -- those woods once seemed so far ...

NON-FICTION —
THE SOUL OF FIRE: How Charcoal Changed the World

NON-FICTION THE SOUL OF FIRE: How Charcoal Changed the World by Peggy Heinrich and John Uhlmann American Fireworks News, 1987 $20, 8.5x11 paperback, illustrated, from American Fireworks News

Everything you ever wanted to know about charcoal and may not have asked. Each one of its nine chapters explores the multiple aspects of this remarkable substance, from its role in the development of the bronze and iron ages to its value as an ingredient in gunpowder and fireworks to its ability to save lives from both small and large-scale poisoning. A single chapter profiles the charcoal burners who produced this precious substance for centuries; another explores its close relative, the diamond.

REVIEWS OF THE SOUL OF FIRE

"Written in a breezy style with fascinating illustrations that span centuries, The Soul of Fire is informative and fun to read." Jean Bolivar, Library Media Specialist, NBCT

Links and Books

Links and Books

• Best American Poetry series.
• Best Poems by the Best Poets - Some Lists of Winners.
• Laureate: the Poets Laureate of Britain
• Laureate: the Poets Laureate of the U.S.A.
• Other Books of Poetry Form.

Related pages: Poetry index. How to Write Poetry. How to write specific forms: Haibun. Haiku. Hay(na)ku. Rengay. Tanka.

Books of Poetry Form.

Copyright © 2000-2016 by J. Zimmerman The quoted poems are © 2000-2016 by Peggy Heinrich

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