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homework- review- by tom clausen

01 Sunday Dec 2019

Posted by Tom Clausen in americana, Chapbooks, haiku, Haiku Way of Life, Lynx,, tanka, Published Poems, senryu, tanka

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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

autumn colors by tom clausen

01 Saturday Oct 2016

Posted by Tom Clausen in autumn, close up details, haiku, hills and mountains, Ithaca, landscapes, leaves, nature, paths, poems and photos, trees

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art, autumn, haiku, home, Ithaca, leaves, life, photography, poems, poetry, trees

autumn field-
the vitamin slowly dissolves
in my mouth

 

3-trees-turning
5-a-photo-from-my-lunch-time-walk-around-beebe-lake-10-1-12
10-one-type-of-red
5-leaf-work
8-a-rain-enhanced-leaf
9-rain-drops-gather
4-leaves-in-the-rain
dscn4704

home free by tom clausen

17 Saturday Sep 2016

Posted by Tom Clausen in americana, clouds, poems and photos, trees

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art, beauty, design, details, dreams, Finger Lakes, found art, free, haiku, home, Ithaca, light, nature, New York, New York State, now, observation, peace, photography, pine, pines, poetry, reflections, satori, sky, summer, sun, time, trees, wabi sabi, witness, writing, zen

back home…
the refreshing journey
to get here

 

back-home-the-refreshing-journey-to-get-here

squirrel outing by tom clausen

16 Saturday May 2015

Posted by Tom Clausen in americana, cats, close up details, haiku, Ithaca, nature, poems and photos, summer

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art, haibun, haiku, home, life, pets, photography, photos, poetry, writing

At one time we served as a foster home for motherless kittens that had been abandoned and turned over to the SPCA. We often grew attached and would have trouble letting them go when the time was right and they were ready for adoption. ‘Squirrel’ came to our local SPCA from someone who found him and two other kittens covered in maggots next to a Dollar Store.  He and his siblings were weak and a mess but little by little they took to the bottle and prospered although Squirrel was easily the most difficult of the three. My daughter and I both became very attached to Squirrels siblings, me one, my daughter the other one. When the time came to give them back we had a terrible time and decided to keep just one… and yes it was Squirrel!  He had been super needy, frantic, very difficult to bottle feed and quite vocal. He is now almost six years old and a lovely cat but very skittish, private, and often hides under a bed or goes in the basement up in the rafters if there is any visitor or commotion. He has been a near totally indoor cat but this morning he sniffed the outside air at our deck door and after several scared runs back inside he actually ventured out to the top of the deck stairs until a passing truck scared him, terrified he ran back inside and that was that… but here is proof that on 5-16-15 that Squirrel did indeed venture outside…

asleep
in my lap the new kitten
I didn’t want

skittish but he musters up a brief outing on the deck

skittish
but he musters up
a brief outing
on the deck

DSCN6058 DSCN6059

DSCN6053 DSCN6054 DSCN6056

back inside safe and sound to sleep and relive the outing...

back inside
safe and sound
to sleep
and relive
the outing…

home by tom clausen

15 Friday May 2015

Posted by Tom Clausen in poems and photos

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fences, haiku, home, lilacs, park, paths, photography, poetry, seasons, spring, walking, writing

heavy rain-
lilac blooms smush
against the window

the way home so many times in sun, wind or rain

the way home
so many times
in sun, wind or rain

morning by tom clausen

29 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by Tom Clausen in poems and photos

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days, haiku, home, morning, now, photography, poetry, roads, spring, time

just a shiver
of not being here
– the stars

out front the view looking east as  day  begins

out front
the view looking east
as day begins

DSCN5208

theater by tom clausen

24 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by Tom Clausen in poems and photos

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beauty, home, marriage, moving, nature, photography, place, poetry, psychology, reading, sky, space, spring, time, wander lust, weather, writing

in the company of friends
our marriage takes on
an air of comfort
as we all attend to things
other than ourselves

for free the sky theater open

for free
the sky
theater open

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