welcome to my pechakucha presentation.
the link above is for the video, and for those who prefer to read, and have a better look at the images, i have shared those below. there is a bit more text in the version below, as it is based on the notes i prepared for my presentation. for those unfamiliar with pechakucha, it is a wonderful event where creatives share 20 slides, and have 20 seconds to speak with each slide. the time went faster than i thought it would, so i had to revise as i went along.
i love sharing both the stories around poems, and the poems themselves.
i look forward to many presentations in the future!
when i was invited to present at pechakucha, i spent some time deciding whether to base my talk around my professional life as a photographer, or my mystic life, as a poet. with year of the snake upon us, i decided to shed my photographer skin for a moment.
poetry has always accompanied me. when i applied to emily carr university, instead of presenting a portfolio, i told them i wanted to attend art school to become a better poet; that i didn’t want to take an academic approach to literature, but that i wanted to see, write and live like an artist.
somehow a side-effect of my education has been a deeply rewarding career as a photographer which gives me the chance to develop community, add to legacy, highlight inspiring stories and bring beauty to the marketplace, but when the world and work paused, in 2020, i decided to indulge into a rigorous study of short form poetry, and especially haiku.
haiku is a way of conveying the interconnectedness of all things, but in a way that jolts perception through juxtaposition – something familiar becomes fresh, something taken for granted strikes a new layer of intimacy, something that happens each spring is suddenly meaningful, or truly noticed for the first time.
as i studied haiku i learned that many linages, in japan and internationally, did not require the 5.7.5 form that we were often taught in high school in canada, and there were many other qualities of equal or more importance to consider, like brevity, season words, nature reference, and a sidestep of personal pronouns.
haiku is like wine, or tea... you can enjoy it without any knowledge of it, but if you want to get to know it better you can learn ways to attentively taste it and understand it.
there are many philosophic and aesthetic nuances that can deepen ones experience of both reading and writing haiku, but tonight i have decided just to ring its bell through some examples. some of these are haiku, and some are short form poems that are deeply influenced by its concepts. this first set is from salt spring island, and moves through the seasons.....
looking up a dogwood flower births the moon first hot day nudist dock sinks a little short cut is the long way salmonberry patch
long summer dusk a concert of boat bells slow dance through cedar summer moon island life weeding nettles out of the shower
insomnia each falling leaf replaced by a star cabin becomes a temple for listening autumn rains in the rear view deer return to moonlight
snowed in fingers dust the guitar getting used to nothing happening winter field duck pond feathers lightly frozen to the surface
haiku has become a daily devotion for me. it has tuned my senses to the subtle shifts in the natural world. it makes me slow down to notice the arrival of a lady-slipper leaf, the crazy length of baby lambs tails, the variable of mist through a valley....each day is acknowledged as unique, precious and also transient.
when i am on the road, i experience places through this observational lens of poetry – sound, taste, temperature, scent, texture, and motion. haiku allows me the pleasure of these journeys multiple times – when i am in the moment that the poem is happening, and also, each time i return to it the key, or vessel, i crafted to return to it.
the yukon on the fox trail someone else’s stolen shoe green star falls out of the sky the coming of winter briefest day sunrise and sunset share the same pink cloud
kauai abandoned lot a takeover of morning glories lost and found in heaving palm fronds tiny moon noon sun prehistoric ferns make a refuge of shadow
mexico feet in the river everything else hot dusk night storm a room of strangers listens without light diablo horns made of electrician tape tomorrow’s hangover
mountains turn pink slow bells all morning mint scented dusk following the river into darkness
victoria batch of geese flies silently - autumn chill summer sunday mistaking the neighbour's voice for an album macphearson playhouse – opening day for cherry blossoms
i am grateful to have had the chance to share this aspect of my daily life with you. it is the tender, the empathic, the ecological, the intuitive, the lunar, the cyclical and the ever deepening way that i experience the world. for me, poetry is not just words, it is a way of perceiving, contemplating and responding.
it is a way of saying thank you, it is a love note to life, and it is a boat to share on sunny days or in troubled times. thank you for traveling down the river of poetry with me tonight.
please contact me for any readings or presentations
at stasialovespoetry@gmail.com