pi & anne

Most will know me from Instagram, some maybe from Facebook, my blog. I have some haiku and haibun in journals. And yes, so far I have none of my tanka anywhere published. I have shared some with you on social media. I have edited those, and I believe for the better, and they are included in this upcoming chapbook ‘something with feathers’ as well.

There are many in there I haven’t shared anywhere, except with my friends. And there is the one exception, a kyoka that has been in Failed Haiku as part of a sequence.

Eclipsed

the sticky road
under my shoes
stardust
from dusk till dawn
locusts on the windscreen

we all
are the sum of our parts
sometimes
a crackle of wipers
dearly wanting to move

this is
the solution
drink
as if the Red Sea
will be zipped

failed haiku, Volume 8, Issue 92

The middle verse is included. I love that sequence. It is highly metaphorical. From allusions to the bible, Indiana Jones adventures to the feeling of a science-fiction apocalypse.

Why have I included the middle verse? Because this is me. I struggle with myself often. At times I feel like breaking inside as if I’m pulled in several contradicting directions. It feels like … “a crackle of wipers dearly wanting to move”.

This is a sequence I didn’t edit at all, I adjusted a bit the line breaks after writing it down. I knew ‘that’s it’. And ‘don’t touch it, Kati, it will just be ruined then’.

Back to my initial question, why have I gathered my tanka for this chapbook, and not haiku? Because these two extra lines offer something beyond the beauty of haiku. They offer some space for emotion, conclusion and the SEARCH. I have been searching myself for a long while, and I’m not done with it, but I feel a lot more comfortable with where I am now. Also… each page in this book, take it as a letter. From me to the Universe, from me to myself, from me to you.

OFFICIAL DATE when it will be available on the publishing site is the 27th of March. Availability in online stores will follow within days after that. And I will keep you updated.