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Robyn Hood Black - children's author, poet, artist

Life on the Deckle Edge

Poetry Friday: G. R. LeBlanc to Offer Haiku Critique Service

November 11, 2011
Tags: Poetry Friday, Poetry, haiku, Berry Blue Haiku, authors, editors, writing life
There’s definitely a change in the air as we transition from fall to right-around-the-corner winter – does it inspire you to write a haiku or two? Today I’m welcoming back poet and editor Gisele LeBlanc (who writes as G. R. LeBlanc), to share some news (click here for our earlier interview). She lives in Atlantic Canada with her husband, son, and canine companion. When not writing, she enjoys simple pleasures: reading, bird watching, and spending quiet evenings at home.

BREAKING NEWS - Friday, 11-11-11 - Gisele's entry into the First POLISH INTERNATIONAL HAIKU COMPETITION received a COMMENDATION today! This was from more than 300 entrants from 41 countries (myself included, but I'm thrilled for her) and the judge was Jane Reichhold. Click here to read her poem. WOO-HOO - OK, back to regularly scheduled programming....

Her fiction, nonfiction, and poetry have appeared or are forthcoming in children’s publications as well as in haiku journals such as The Heron's Nest, frogpond, Haiku Presence, Notes from the Gean, A Hundred Gourds, Haiku Pix Review, Ambrosia: Journal of Fine Haiku, Prune Juice: Journal of Senryu and Kyoka, A Handful of Stones, and Modern Haiku.

First, let’s enjoy some of Gisele’s haiku:


after the squall
the tinkling concerto
of sailboats

**Notes from the Gean, December 2010



wild rhubarb
that sudden yearning
for something more

**frogpond, Fall 2011



coastal map
the sand etched
by snails

**Notes from the Gean, June 2011



over stones
the ripple of water
birdsong

**Haiku Pix Review, Summer 2011


Poems ©G. R. LeBlanc
All rights reserved.

More of her haiku can be found here.

As editor of the online blog journal, Berry Blue Haiku, she’s extending a hand to those new to the field.

“I love discussing haiku and I look forward to helping other poets gain a deeper understanding of this wonderful form,” she says. “I hope that the knowledge and experience I have learned thus far can offer guidance to others who are just embarking on the haiku journey.”

Since I’m happily on the Berry Blue Haiku team, I always learn something from Gisele’s comments. If you write haiku, remember we’re open to submissions! We appreciate each one, even those we turn down as not the right fit. I can tell you that the privilege of reading submissions and the privilege of Gisele’s insights have made me a stronger poet.

Here are the details and guidelines about Gisele’s new service:

I am pleased to announce that I am now offering critiques for poets new to haiku. These critiques, which will be conducted through email, should be viewed as an educational opportunity and will aim to offer basic guidance and tips on writing haiku. Also included will be a list of resources, links, and markets.

I would like to offer these critiques to the first four participants free of charge. Once the free critique is completed, participants will need to answer a few basic questions and offer feedback or suggestions on the service.
After these four free critiques have been given, the cost of this service will be 15.00 US or CAD (for 5 haiku), payable through PayPal.

If you are interested in the free critique, or have any questions, please email me at berrybluehaiku(at)gmail(dot)com

**Please note that critiqued haiku will not be eligible for publication consideration for the Berry Blue Haiku Journal; however, participants are welcome to submit other haiku.

Critique Guidelines:

1. Include your name as well as a contact email.

2. Send 5 haiku, pasted in the body of the email to berrybluehaiku(at)gmail(dot)com Also indicate whether your haiku are intended for adults or children.

3. Put HAIKU CRITIQUE REQUEST in your subject field.

**4. Feel free to include any questions you may have regarding haiku, as well as a brief paragraph on how you came to discover the form. (**optional)

5. Please allow up to 2 weeks for completed critiques.
Thank you, and I look forward to reading your work.
Gisele LeBlanc

Click here for a direct link to the critique service page.

And for more great poetry, click here to visit April at Teaching Authors for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
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An Unmown Sky - Haiku from Croatia

October 25, 2011
Tags: Poetry, haiku, Berry Blue Haiku
Over at the Berry Blue Haiku blog, Gisele has posted today a rare and wonderful haiku feast if you want to broaden your horizons and indulge in fine writing from another culture.

Djurdja Vukelic-Rozic, an award-winning and widely published haiku poet, translator and editor who lives in Ivanic Grad, has shared An Unmown Sky: An Anthology of Croatian Haiku Poetry with us. You can click on the link in the post to read and/or download the pdf anthology, which includes works written between 1996 and 2007 by more than a hundred poets.

Here's the link again: Berry Blue Haiku - Enjoy! Read More 
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waving hi from SCBWI conference

October 14, 2011
Tags: Poetry Friday, SCBWI, Southern Breeze, haiku, conferences, workshops
SCBWI Southern Breeze Fall Conference
Just a late Poetry Friday wave from Birmingham, where we're enjoying the 20th anniversary SCBWI Southern Breeze fall conference. I'll be back here with bells on next week.

Today, Lola Schaefer led a wonderful all-day intensive on picture book writing. Tomorrow I'm presenting a workshop on haiku - :0)
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Snakes on a Blog, and a Jane Hirshfield poem

September 23, 2011
Tags: Poetry, Poetry Friday, authors, nature, Elachee Nature Science Center, animals, Berry Blue Haiku, haiku
Georgia's state herpetologist John Jensen holds a king snake. I held her, too - she was quite lovely!
I am loving the Master Naturalist class I’m taking this fall at Elachee Nature Science Center . Yesterday, the Georgia Department of Natural Resource’s chief herpetologist, John Jensen, led us through a litany of reptiles.

I didn’t realize my state housed the largest venomous snake in the U.S. (the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake, which is also the world’s largest rattlesnake), as well as the smallest (the Pygmy Rattlesnake), as well as the largest snake in general in the U.S. (the gentle Eastern Indigo), as well as the smallest native snake (the Florida Crowned Snake) and the country’s smallest /shortest snake, though not originally a Georgia resident (the Braminy Blind Snake). Those lengths, by the way, range from 8-and-a-half feet or more to just six inches.

In searching for an appropriately slithery poem to share this week I stumbled upon one which does mention a snake, but is so much more. Here are a few lines from Jane Hirshfield:

excerpt from “The Envoy”

Jane Hirshfield

One day in that room, a small rat.
Two days later, a snake.

Who, seeing me enter,
whipped the long stripe of his
body under the bed,
then curled like a docile house-pet.

I don’t know how either came or left.
Later, the flashlight found nothing.

For a year I watched
as something—terror? happiness? grief?—
entered and then left my body. …

(For the complete poem, and a moving reading of it by the poet, please click here.)

Now, speaking of Jane Hirshfield, I’d also like to put in a good word for her wonderful article, “The Heart of Haiku,”
available on Kindle for just 99 cents. I downloaded it to my PC. It’s a terrific introduction to the life and poetry of Bashô.

And speaking of Bashô and haiku, let me offer a shout-out that submissions are welcome over at the Berry Blue Haiku
blog, now a general online journal celebrating fine haiku. Click here for guidelines.

Finally, for this week’s Poetry Friday Roundup , please wriggle your way to Picture Book of the Day with Anastasia Suen.
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Haiku book giveaway over at Berry Blue...

August 15, 2011
Tags: Poetry, Berry Blue Haiku, haiku
book and activity book by Kala Ramesh, illustr, by Surabhi Singh
If you haven't checked out the new Berry Blue Haiku blog yet, this would be a great month to do it - Editor Gisele LeBlanc is giving away a special book of haiku written for children.

Simply titled Haiku, it comes from talented haiku poet Kala Ramesh, illustrated by Surabhi Singh. It also comes from India and is not available in North America. [I'd love to have a copy myself!]

Click on over to read a couple of the poems and leave a comment to enter! Read More 
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Gisele LeBlanc and Berry Blue Haiku

July 1, 2011
Tags: Poetry, Poetry Friday, Berry Blue Haiku, haiku
Gisele LeBlanc
beach stones
the weathered softness
of old jeans

G. R. LeBlanc
The Heron's Nest, Sept 2010


morning shadows
a band of blue jays
take flight

G. R. LeBlanc
Notes from the Gean, Sept 2010


I’m thrilled to welcome poet and editor Gisele LeBlanc today! She’s checking in all the way from the eastern part of Canada, where she writes poetry and has created and edited two online digital magazines, the most recent one being Berry Blue Haiku, which featured haiku and related forms for children.

You’ll find her own poetry (with the byline of G. R. LeBlanc) in contemporary haiku journals such as The Heron’s Nest, Notes from the Gean, Ambrosia Journal, and A Handful of Stones.

Berry Blue Haiku (the magazine for kids) is no longer publishing, but Gisele will be featuring a simplified version of it—which will be targeted at a more general audience— on her blog. We’ll get to that in a minute.

First, so glad to have you, Gisele! Tell us a little about yourself. Did you always want to be a writer? Read More 
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Haiku Hike Cont. ...

May 20, 2011
Tags: Poetry Friday, Poetry, School visits, haiku
Today we're finishing up our poetry project in two fourth grade classes. I'm visiting one last time to hand out booklets featuring a haiku poem, and in most cases an illustration, by each student poet. (Haiga!) Many added titles.

I hope this collection will be enjoyed long after these students have outgrown their fourth-grade shoes.
Perhaps reading these later will spark a memory of what it felt like to be ten years old. I posted a batch of these week before last (click here), and below are the rest. [These are the original works of students and not to be copied - thank you!] I enjoyed "anthologizing" them for the books. Thanks again to teachers Mrs. Briggs and Mrs. Roberts, and to each young poet!

Wind Blows

wind blows
purple flowers play
in the wind
(by Mary Keys)

Chirping Wind

birds chirping
in the sound
of the wind
(by KJ)

Birds

birds chirping around
flight paths between trees for birds
diving and swooping
(by Rocco)

Birds' Song

high chirp low chirp
the birds sing a song
it makes me want to sing along
(by Hannah)


chirp chirp
really really cool breeze
bugs land on me
(by Bryce)

ladybugs flying
flowers blowing in the wind
caterpillars crawling
(by Jettie)

Beautiful Butterflies

butterflies flying
ladybugs climbing flowers
spotted ladybug
(by Claire)

I see the drops on grass
the tall grass sways in the wind
I hear the bird's song
(by Natalie)

Tree

skinny tree
tallest tree I have ever seen
pretty tree
(by Sophia)

Flowers

flowers blooming
sunlight shines down on them
nature so wonderful
(by Sadie)

the bugs fly
in the big blue sky
the trees sway
(by Brauch)

Pesky Squirrels

I hear them again
jumping, running, rattling
they munch on acorns
(by Sophie)

tall grass
tall trees swaying
leaves falling
(by Clayton)

Thorns

painful thorns
always hurt
never touch them
(by Cem)

Ants

ants are scary
I say ouch when they bite me
ants are mean
(by Paxton)

lady bugs all around
the caterpillars are crawling up
the stump the river is rushing
(by Sadie)

river running by
bugs flying around
soft crunchy grass
(by Katharine)

brown and green grass
old leaves fall
creeeks flow loudly
(by Kuepper)

Creek

the creek
is rustling over the rocks
it is very cool
(by Matthew)

Water

split splat
shhh, shhh, shhh
whoosh, tickle
(by Banks)

River of Stream

river flowing
rocks smoothly flowing down
stream gone
(by Harrison)

swampy water
looks like mud
puddles that you see
(by Linda)

old river
the turtle eats the
grass as it swallows
(by Hunter)

Lizards

lizards are reptiles
camouflaging their bodies
jumping between trees
(by Dakari)

crickets singing
fireflies flying I'm
camping
(by Larsen)


the moon is very nice
the moon is white and peaceful
I really like the moon
(by Reese)

Make sure to catch the Poetry Friday Roundup at The Drift Record!
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Haiku hike

May 6, 2011
Tags: Poetry Friday, Poetry, School visits, haiku
My daughter Morgan, left, was a student in Mrs. Briggs's class in fourth grade and is now an education major. She helped bring poetry to class one day. On the right, fabulous teachers Lori Roberts and Sharon Briggs.
The past few weeks, I've had a delightful time popping in and out of the fourth grade classes at Lakeview Academy to explore poetry - particularly, haiku.

Because traditional haiku capture a moment in nature, early on we took a walk outdoors. We spent some quality time in a grassy field with woods all around and a stream on one side. The students wrote down sensory impressions and poem ideas in their journals, then worked the next couple of weeks in class to polish up their writing and choose their favorite original poem.

I am compiling these into a booklet so each young poet will have a whole collection. Many are accompanied by artwork as well ("haiga"), and a few added titles. I wish I could share all of them here, but I'm happy to post a few from each class. [These are the original works of students and not to be copied - thank you!] Many thanks to extraordinary teachers Mrs. Briggs and Mrs. Roberts, and of course to their talented students! Enjoy -

Storm

shady springs
storm clouds foreshadow
the rumbling sky
(by Jack)

Creek

crunching grass
water hitting against the rocks
rough creek
(by Claire)

tall grass
green and brown leaves fall
the grass bends
(by Briley)

Morning

sticks snapping
purple flowers
morning air
(by Lanie)

Birds' Songs

birds chirping in the sky
a robin jumps from tree to tree
the lovely songs of birds
(by Arantxa))

cheeping, rustling
around go the birds, Ah!
choo cheep swish
(by Roland)

the ground
the brisk breeze
bugs crawling around me
(by Sophia)

Butterflies

butterflies
flying swiftly
like angels
(by Reece)

Bird Wars

birds fighting over trees
time and time again birds fall
but they still fight for trees
(by Palmer)

Spring

tall grass below
birds whistling in the trees
a fresh smell of spring
(by Rachel)

Leaves

the round of rustling leaves
leaves swirling round and round
squirrels playing
(by Abbe)

The Outside

birds singing a song
little three-leaf clovers
mist is all around
(by Mary Katherine)

Nature

calm water to
clouds, blurry fog
to moist grass
(by Reed)

Flowers Falling

flowers on the ground, blossomed
flowers falling down from trees
the wind carries them off
(by Esther)

Birds

birds merrily chirping,
pecking around for seeds,
flying over the trees
(by Anne Marie)

cold wind
a leaf blows through
the sound of whistles
(by Mckenna)

Catch the rest of the fourth grade haiku in my May 20 post -
click here.

For more great poetry, visit the Poetry Friday Roundup at Family Bookshelf - http://family-bookshelf.org/ [I didn't link directly because there seems to be a problem - my Internet Explorer shuts down each time I try, and I read that this was occurring for someone else, too. Perhaps it will be up and running soon!]

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Happy Poetry Month!

April 1, 2011
Tags: Poetry, Poetry Friday, haiku
At my home in Georgia, April is making her appearance in cherry blossoms and pink and white dogwoods. I know not every spot in the world is so lovely this morning.

Here are two haiku by seventeenth-century Japanese poets, from WOMEN POETS OF JAPAN, translated and edited by Kenneth Rexroth and Ikuko Atsumi, ©1977, publshed by New Directions, 1982:

The fireflies' light.
How easily it goes on
How easily it goes out again

Chine-Jo, late 17th Century

and, with best wishes to my friends up North welcoming April with a nor'easter:

On the road through the clouds
Is there a short cut
To the summer moon?

Den Sute-Jo, 1633-1698

Wishing a Happy Poetry Month to all, whatever the weather, and continued thoughts and prayers for Japan.

Amy has the POETRY FRIDAY ROUNDUP at The Poem Farm. Read More 
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Praise for Berry Blue Haiku

September 16, 2010
Tags: Poetry, magazines, haiku, Berry Blue Haiku
I'm thrilled to have a poem featured in the second issue of the new online haiku magazine for young readers, Berry Blue Haiku. This digital publication is brimming with beautiful poetry, gorgeous art, and fun activities. The target audience is children through age 13, and from the simplest poems reinforcing colors and numbers to more subtle celebrations of the natural world, there is something for everyone (adults included!). Read More 
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