Tags
Jacob Salzer conducts haiku poet interviews and here were my responses to questions
he asked:
https://haikupoetinterviews.wordpress.com/2022/08/01/tom-clausen/
30 Tuesday May 2023
Tags
Jacob Salzer conducts haiku poet interviews and here were my responses to questions
he asked:
https://haikupoetinterviews.wordpress.com/2022/08/01/tom-clausen/
26 Friday May 2023
sidewalk sale-
wind twists a lifetime
guarantee tag
Woodnotes
***
taking me back…
water laps gently
at the shore
Dim Sum
***
our turn
to stand here-
falls overlook
Frogpond
***
mountain brook-
the indistinguishable spring
of voices
Mayfly
***
in the garden
sitting alone-
who i am now
Dim Sum
***
in the dark
through the window light
my wife and child
Modern Haiku
***
daybreak-
the spider centered
in its web
Dim Sum
***
long wait alone
in the parking lot…
a dog in the next car
Raw Nervz
***
on the way home
more geese
on the way home
Frogpond
***
returning the water
from the vase
to the flower garden
Dim Sum
***
letting her
walk all over me
– ladybug
bottle rockets
***
potluck luncheon
a yellow jacket cleans
its antennae
Dim Sum
***
the cat’s eyes
so wide…
for a gnat
HN 2001 Members Anthology
***
undefended:
in the cold raiN
their snow fort
Frogpond
***
the way
rain takes
the mountain
Frogpond
***
Ducks riding the lake
brushed rough by wind;
pilings rimed with ice
Modern Haiku 1988
***
mountaintop:
giving back
each breath
Brussels Sprout v.XI : no.1 Jan. 1994
***
lunch alone
without a book
i read my mind
Brussels Sprout v.XI : no.1 Jan. 1994
***
rushing
to the zendo to sit
still
Brussels Sprout v.XI : no.2 May 1994
***
daybreak-
rubber duck alone
in the empty tub
Haiku Quarterly summer 1994
***
on the trail again…
walking deeper
into myself
Frogpond summer 1994
***
autumn moonlight
folded in
the clothes on the floor
Modern Haiku summer 1994
***
the way
the light bulb rests
in the rest of the trash
Modern Haiku fall 1994
***
day break-
from the bread truck’s roof
frost swirls
Woodnotes #25
***
one tree
one bird, one song
the dusk
Frogpond 1995
***
x-ray room
they remove
her crucifix
Modern Haiku fall 1995
***
alone in the waiting room
checking the plant
for reality
Woodnotes 1996
https://livinghaikuanthology.com/index-of-poets/213-c-poets/134-tom-clausen.html
25 Thursday May 2023
Posted haiku, Haiku Way of Life, Interviews, Tom Clausen biographical info
inTags
24 Wednesday May 2023
Posted americana, close up details, haiku, Haiku Way of Life, nature, photos, poems and photos
in20 Saturday May 2023
Posted americana, Dim Sum, haiku, Haiku Way of Life, photos, poems and photos
inUpstate Dim Sum is the biannual journal/anthology of the Route 9 Haiku Group. It was first published in 2001 and has appeared in spring and fall ever since then, recently celebrating its 20th anniversary of publication. The publication was inaugurated by Route 9 founding members John Stevenson, Hilary Tann, and Yu Chang. Tom Clausen joined the group in 2002 and Mary Stevens in 2021. Ion Codrescu, residing in Romania, began participating in 2006. Thus, an issue of Upstate Dim Sum usually contains 15–20 haiku and senryu from each group member and six more from a guest poet. Codrescu contributes two haiga to each issue, including one on a haiku of his own and another with a haiku by the issue’s guest poet.
Selection of material for an issue of Upstate Dim Sum begins at the Route 9 Haiku Group meetings. The group gathers monthly at the Tai Pan Restaurant in Halfmoon, N.Y. (or online via Zoom during the Covid-19 pandemic). Each member offers a dozen or so new haiku or senryu, with each verse written on index cards, one for each member present. The first card is then dealt out, read silently and discussed by the group, followed by the next poet’s first poem, and so forth. At the end of the session, the favorite poems are added to a pool for the next issue of Upstate Dim Sum. Only about half of the poems in the pool are eventually used in the journal, but many others will be accepted by other haiku publications. Yu Chang is responsible for making the final selection and sequencing them in the issue (influenced by the principles of renku composition).
A centerfold spread in each issue presents six haiku by an invited guest poet. In the back of each issue, John Stevenson introduces the guest poet and provides an update on group members’ activities. A list of all UDS guest poets also appears at the back of each issue.
UDS cover art comprises photographs, most often black-and-white images by Yu Chang or Hilary Tann’s sister Helen.The journal is printed by Vincy’s Printing, Rotterdam, N.Y., in two colors, black and red, in Bernhard Modern Bold typeface. Trim size is 5″ by 7.5”. Tann and Chang handle arrangements with the printer, and Stevenson is in charge of fulfilling subscriptions. Clausen and Chang maintain the stock of back issues that are still available. Copies are $5 each, $8 for a year, and $20 for five issues; remarkably, the price of subscriptions has remained unchanged for 20 years. The Upstate Dim Sum website was started by Yu Chang; its new incarnation, by Mary Stevens.
19 Friday May 2023
Global Haiku Tradition
Millikin University, PACE Summer 2003
I picked Tom Clausen as my essay subject. I really like Tom’s haiku, they are very real and easy to understand and see the message he is portraying. He writes about events or moments that probably happen to most of us, but we just don’t realize it. Most of us, including myself, are so busy rushing around; we don’t stop to ‘smell the roses’. Tom’s haiku let me do just that. Reading some of them I thought to myself, ‘oh yeah I never realized that’. It was great. Tom has a way of capturing all the little events in life.
Tom Clausen grew up in Ithaca, New York. He works at his alma mater (1969-1973), Cornell University in the library. Before settling down with a family, Tom traveled Central and North America for 10 years. He did this by bicycle, bus, canoe, trains, cars, and by foot. Tom had always loved to write, but after having two children, he didn’t have the time to write as much and that is when he turned to haiku. He has published three chapbooks “Autumn Wind In the Cracks” (1994), “Unraked Leaves” (1995), “A Work of Love” (1997), and “Standing Here” (1998).
I have chosen nine of my favorite, and discussed why I like them and what they mean to me.
park twilight—
a light comes on
by itself
I like this one because I can just feel myself there alone, deep in thought, not noticing anything around me, and suddenly the park light comes on and you realize you have been there for quite awhile. Maybe even what I was in such deep thought about, finally becomes clear and I have and answer or understanding to the problem at hand. The light could represent the light going off in your head and you are say, “oh-yeah”.
standing here
at this window, remembering mother
standing here
This one is quite sad because he is remembering his mother who probably stood at that window many, many times. Maybe it is the kitchen window in her house and now she has passed on. This could be right after the funeral and he goes back to the house and is remembering all the things mother did. I have done this before when my daughter is at her dad’s house for the weekend. I am missing her so I will go sit on her bed and replay some of things she does in her room and it makes me smile. Hopefully this guy was smiling from happy memories of his mother standing there.
on the trail again . . .
walking deeper
into myself
This one is probably my favorite. I love going hiking in the woods; the smells, the sounds, the peaceful serenity of it. Even when I am with someone I find myself going into deep thought, and the more I walk the deeper in thought I go. Walking in the woods is very meditating for me. I find myself thinking of all kinds of things. Relationships, or what I want to do with my life. It’s great. I can just feel the coolness of the shade and the sunlight peeking through the trees every now and then. I can feel the bumpiness of the trail and having to concentrate on where I am walking or I will probably trip on a tree root and fall on my face. I can hear the birds singing and talking to each other, and something crackling in the leaves on the ground. I get nervous because I don’t know what or who is out there, but then it stops and I go on my merry way again. I feel as if summer is almost over and fall will soon begin because I can see the leaves turning colors slightly. Tom puts me in such peaceful mood reading this one. Good job Tom!
one tree
on bird, one song
the dusk
This one gives me the feeling of spring. The days are getting later and the birds are coming out and it is getting warmer. I can just hear the one bird singing his favorite song to me as the sun is going down. Maybe the bird is looking for a mate? I can see this being a pretty bird like a yellow finch, or a bright red cardinal. His brilliant colors making him stick on in this tree. After thinking about this one, I realized you usually only hear one bird at a time. I have a tree right outside my bedroom window and one bird usually serenades me. Only the bird is loud and doesn’t have a very pretty song to sing me at 6:00 in the morning. Tom gives me a sense of peace with this haiku also. I like the way he stops to notice the little things and to let his readers go there with him.
reading her letter—
suddenly aware of the look
on my face
I really like this one also. It paints a very vivid picture in my mind of a man reading a “Dear John” letter and his mouth is wide open with shock and despair that she is leaving him. He probably is rereading that one line over again that put that look on his face and then he thinks about it and realizes that he mouth is wide open and he hasn’t blinked for a minute. He shakes off the initial shock and then starts rereading again. I have done this people watching before, where I find myself staring at someone and then realizing my mouth is wide open, so I look around to see if anyone saw me and then I shake it off and try not to stare again. I get the feeling this is not a good newsletter and I feel sorry for the man reading it. He probably has to sit down to stop his knees giving out on him. I get the feeling his life is going to change drastically and that although sometimes that is good, I am not getting that feeling here.
back at the office
after sick leave—
watering her plant
This one is my office. If I were gone for a while, I would be lucky if my co-workers even noticed I was gone let alone water my plant. I don’t have any plants at work, but if I did they would be dead by the time I got back. This haiku made me chuckle. I can just picture this poor women coming back and the last thing she wants to see is her poor plant dying even though there is a sea of people around, no one was thoughtful enough to take care of her plant. Just goes to show that people are inconsiderate. I hope I am not this person and would water someone’s plant if they were gone.
twilight
the only car ahead
turns off
I picture this one as someone driving a long time to go see a loved one maybe and it is getting dark and they are in the middle of nowhere on a highway. They have been following this car for quite a ways and then this person has finally reached their destination and gets off and the driver of this car now is all by themselves; wishing they were at their destination. It is a very lonely haiku and we probably all know how this driver feels to be the only person on the road, just you and your thoughts. I do like this haiku though. It reminds me of when I drive the 5 hours to go see my mom and dad. It is light when I leave here and dark when I get there. By the time it hits twilight, I am ready to be out of the car and with my family.
a child standing guard
over a last little bit
of snow
This haiku reminds me of me when I was a kid and it had snowed and spring was coming so you knew this could be the last snow of the season. The sun is out and the snow is melting and this could be the snowman that was made and now the last of him is about to melt away. It represents to me a changing of the seasons, a long cold winter is turning into spring. I like this haiku because it has such an innocence to it. Like the child looking at the snow doesn’t realize that the snow will once again come next year. The child is probably sad that the snow is leaving us for warmer weather.
waiting to see
the odometer’s big change . . .
missed it!
I really like this haiku, it cracks me up because it is so true. I have done this many times before and have missed the big change and then I have to wait for the next big change. I don’t even notice how many miles are on my car, and then one day I will notice that I am close to another 10,000 miles, but then will forget to look again and the next time I look it will be over. I like this haiku because it tells me that I am not the only one who notices these little things in life.
Tom’s haiku have such an insight into everyday life. Most of us just go through the day without stopping to smell the roses, but Tom points these little things out, and it makes me stop to think about these little things of life. That is what I like. I have noticed since taking this class that I try and take notice of the little things that happen during the day, just to see if I can make a haiku about my day. I think that is what Tom has done, and I want to thank him for reminding me that it is the little things in life that are important.
—Michelle Ground
17 Wednesday May 2023
17 Friday Jun 2022
Posted haiku, Haiku Way of Life
inSome thoughts on Why We Write Haiku ( this list contains a lot of overlapping and was intended just as a consideration of what might be some reasons…)
to express gratitude
to report something real with honesty
to share something directly and concretely
to share and create meaning
to say something meaningful in as few words possible
to communicate
to find a voice
to give a voice to nature and discovery
to celebrate our connection to nature, to all that is non-human
to sharpen and develop our awareness as a witness
to express observable truth
to give praise
to celebrate existence
grounding and centering
transcendence
to express admiration
to identify those primordial forces we love or relate to
to feel a sense of purpose
to express our longing and belonging
love for our being here now
to express joy and happiness in a moment
to show what is lost and found
as a means of catharsis
to show the aha moment and suggest the wonder of existence
the desire to turn words into greater awareness and understanding
in the eternal search for meaning and identity
to maintain a healthy focus and awareness
to attain some levity or lightness to our being
prayer like reverence and respect for what is before us
to achieve some clarity
to reduce confusion
to express insight
to improve and gain relationships and understanding our place in the world
in hope of finding a peace of mind and heart
to have an epiphany
to reaffirm what we know but had forgotten…nostalgia for our child mind
for the practice and routine of forgetting ourselves
an alternative focus and refreshing point of view
alter-identity
as a release from what bothers us or distracts us from the poetic in our lives
as an antidote to anger
to exercise a spiritual communion with our place/world
to commune with the muse
to attain credibility
to fulfill the searching aspect of our being here now
to recognize what is mortal and immortal in us and our world
as a form of satori and connection
because we love poetry and sharing something
because we feel inspiration in moments freely found anyplace, anytime, anywhere
because we are in tune with a universal reality
to get some satisfaction
as a path out of depression
to find ‘the way’
to see and feel light
to report natural ‘news’
to commune with nature
nurture of a spiritual relation
to join a community of people sharing a poetic point of view
to be in the now
because we believe in nature and the poetic relationships small, large and wonderful
as a means of disciplined expression
in recognition of natural nuance
to exercise our senses
to praise the life in the inanimate
to write concisely
to write what is in the heart
to find our-self outside our-self
to respond to a calling
01 Sunday Dec 2019
Posted americana, Chapbooks, haiku, Haiku Way of Life, Lynx,, tanka, Published Poems, senryu, tanka
inTags
book review, chapbook, family, family life, haiku, home, homework, life, poems, poetry, senryu, tanka, writing
Homework by Tom Clausen. Saddle-stitched, full color cover, 4″ x 6″, 36 pages. $10., ppd. ISBN: 1-903543-00-2. Order from Snapshots Press, 132 Crosby, Liverpool, L23 8XS, England.
To quote the jacket notes: “Focusing squarely on domestic life, this collection of haiku, senryu, and tanka is often funny, often sad and always paradoxically both familiar and eye-opening.” It cannot be said better nor more succinctly what this newest book by Tom Clausen contains. I can only add my continuing praise for Tom’s work. It is always a revelation and delight how he seizes on the tiniest experience, and through his examination of it and the cool observation his own feelings, carries it over into a major event. This leaves the reader wondering, “Now, why did I not notice that?” and “Why did I not think of that as material for a poem?”. It seems that tanka is especially designed for the methods of Tom Clausen. Even when aware of the smallest thing, he is also aware of how that thing or event is affecting him. This occurs even in his haiku.
While some purists might fault his haiku for not being closely enough aligned with the nature-nature viewpoint, his sensibilities are absolutely accurate for tanka. This collection gains, I think, by the inclusion of his haiku (which often portray the lighter moments of family living). They seem to play off and actually highlight the attributes of his tanka. Altogether, the editing and arrangement of the poems seems especially fine and relevant. For anyone who has grown up in a family or is living in a family now, this book will take away those terrible moments of aloneness when one felt that no one else in the world ever had such moments of doubt, despair and pure undiluted joy. Tom has been there, and he has the courage to face them directly and honestly, and to continue to hang with the feelings until he has created pure poetry out of them.
no longer me
it proves a mystery who it is
I’ve become
walking around this house
with my family there inside
I sort of knew
my coffee cup
was empty –
so much I look in it
just to see
The sensitivity of the editor, John Barlow, is shown in the choice of a drawing done by Tom’s young daughter, Emma Clausen, as cover along with the insider joke of the title of the book – Homework. Delight piles on delight with this one. Review written by Jane Reichhold
23 Friday Jun 2017
Posted clouds, Favorite Haiku, haiku, Haiku Way of Life, Ithaca, landscapes, nature, poems and photos, sun, sunsets, Wabi Sabi
inTags
art, haiku, inspiration, life, photography, photos, poetry, relationships, sunsets, writing
Why We Write Haiku ( this list contains alot of overlapping and was intended just as a consideration of what might be some reasons…)
to express gratitude
to report something real with honesty
to share something directly and concretely
to share and create meaning
to say something meaningful in as few words possible
to communicate
to find a voice
to give a voice to nature and discovery
to celebrate our connection to nature, to all that is non-human
to sharpen and develop our awareness as a witness
to express observable truth
to give praise
to celebrate existence
grounding and centering
transcendence
to express admiration
to identify those primordial forces we love or relate to
to feel a sense of purpose
to express our longing and belonging
love for our being here now
to express joy and happiness in a moment
to show what is lost and found
as a means of catharsis
to show the aha moment and suggest the wonder of existence
the desire to turn words into greater awareness and understanding
in the eternal search for meaning and identity
to maintain a healthy focus and awareness
to attain some levity or lightness to our being
prayer like reverence and respect for what is before us
to achieve some clarity
to reduce confusion
to express insight
to improve and gain relationships and understanding our place in the world
in hope of finding a peace of mind and heart
to have an epiphany
to reaffirm what we know but had forgotten…nostalgia for our child mind
for the practice and routine of forgetting ourselves
an alternative focus and refreshing point of view
alter-identity
as a release from what bothers us or distracts us from the poetic in our lives
as an antidote to anger
to exercise a spiritual communion with our place in this world
to commune with the muse
to attain credibility
to fulfill the searching aspect of our being here now
to recognize what is mortal and immortal in us and our world
as a form of satori and connection
because we love poetry and sharing something
because we feel inspiration in moments freely found anyplace, anytime, anywhere
because we are in tune with a universal reality
to get some satisfaction
as a path out of depression
to find ‘the way’
to see and feel light
to report natural ‘news’
to commune with nature
nurture of a spiritual relation
to join a community of people sharing a poetic point of view
to be in the now
because we believe in nature and the poetic relationships small, large and wonderful
as a means of disciplined expression
in recognition of natural nuance
to exercise our senses
to praise the life in the inanimate
to write concisely
to write what is in the heart
to find our-self outside our-self
to respond to a calling
to give voice to wabi -sabi aesthetics
to be at home on this seamless journey through the here and now