The Chained Hay(na)ku Project
curated by Ivy Alvarez, John Bloomberg-Rissman, Ernesto Priego, & Eileen Tabios

Index of Poetry. Highlights for Poetry. Books of Poetry Form. How to Write Poetry.

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

Las formas de la poesía en Español: El Poema Concreto.

Eileen Tabios, mother of Hay(na)ku Hay(na)ku books by Eileen Tabios Haiku by Shiki. Haiku by J. Zimmerman.

Books of Poetry Form. Latest books read.

See the Publisher's webpage: The Chained Hay(na)ku Project 2010 Curated by Ivy Alvarez, John Bloomberg-Rissman, Ernesto Priego, & Eileen Tabios Meritage Press: publisher. Review of The Chained Hay(na)ku Project

The Chained Hay(na)ku Project
curated by Ivy Alvarez, John Bloomberg-Rissman, Ernesto Priego, & Eileen Tabios
reviewed by Ariadne Unst

An exciting adventure in creating linked poems in the hay(na)ku form.

Factoids:

• Third anthology based on hay(na)ku form.
• First anthology of collaborative (three or more participants) hay(na)ku form: compare with the rengay and the renku.
• Includes not only linked poetry but poetry associated with art: compare with the haiga, a combination of painting and a poem; in the Japanese tradition the poem is most commonly a haiku or a tanka.
• Includes work by about 100 poets and artists.
• 168 pages.
• Curated by Ivy Alvarez, John Bloomberg-Rissman, Ernesto Priego, & Eileen Tabios.

Comments by Ariadne Unst:

• The shorter hay(na)ku are more cohesive and shine more as poems than the longer pieces, much as rengays coheres more than renku. Favorites among the shorter poems include:
  • "lemon moon" (pp. 60-61) by May Garsson, Adele Mendelson, and Edna Cabcabin Moran.

    yellow pages peel back with lemon ...

    Check out its use of rhyme and repetition.

  • "Almost Mindful" (p. 78) by Peg Duthie, Donna Carter, and Neal Jettpace.

    This mind ain't quite Buddha yet ... this nearly Buddha mind's got game.

  • Individual poems from "Daisy Chain Poems" (pp. 68-74), a set of small poems resulting from collaboration by Margo Ponce, Michael Fink, and Jean Vengua.

• The art-poetry mixes are eye-catching. (In a few cases the text is unclear and should have been reproduced adjacent to the image, for the reader to come closer to getting the intended effect.) Favorites are:
  • "A wicked likeness" (p. 93), a collaboration by Ginger Stickney, John Bloomberg-Rissman, and Ernesto Priego.
  • "The things words" (p. 96), a collaboration by Amy Bernier, John Bloomberg-Rissman, and Ernesto Priego.

• The notes (pp. 152-153) by Margo Ponce, Michael Fink, and Jean Vengua: particularly informative about process, especially Michael Fink's summary of individual and collaborative editing of the linked poems. [Several poems (especially the longer ones) in this collection could have been strengthened by Fink-approach editing by their collaborators.]

• Conversation #1: "Is the Poem Finished" (p. 115 onward) is particularly interesting in that it discusses the collaborative process and the variations among the four participants in "Four Skin Confessions". Those participants (Ivy Alvarez, John Bloomberg-Rissman, Ernesto Priego, & Eileen Tabios) are also the curators of the book.

• The longer hay(na)ku often have interesting stanzas or sequences. But they are less successful as poems than the shorter poems on the whole. [See comments above on possible improvement by editing.]

• All-in-all, a great experiment. This book is a useful addition to the library of any hay(na)ku poet:

Also see: Hay(na)ku Books by Eileen Tabios
reviewed by Ariadne Unst

Hay(na)ku History. Hay(na)ku Example. Hay(na)ku Form.
Eileen Tabios, mother of Hay(na)ku.
Eileen Tabios Hay(na)ku chap (chapbook): The Singer and Others: Flamenco Hay(na)ku.
Interview with Jean Vengua, anthologist of Hay(na)ku.
Your Hay(na)ku Composition. References on Poetry Form.

The hay(na)ku is a 21st-century poetry form invented by poet Eileen Tabios, and officially inaugurated on the Web on June 12th, 2003 (Philippine Independence Day).

Latest books read.

Index of Poetry. Highlights for Poetry. Books of Poetry Form. How to Write Poetry.

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