James Kirkup
April 23rd, 1918 – May 10th, 2009
- Poet, Translator, Writer, Teacher
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
- First President of the British Haiku Society
- Poetry Advisor, Kō Haiku Magazine (Japan)
I switched off the light
over the kitchen sink, and
the frogs stopped croaking
Obits by the Guardian, the Telegraph, Times Online and The Sydney Morning Herald
{ 5 comments }
I never met James, but met his books in every bookshop I visited in every country, he made me feel at home.
He was also the first British Haiku Society President, of which I later became General Secretary. Again I never got to meet him. Please read his wonderful haiku, tanka, and other poems.
ps: I had an idea [fiction] for a poem that God is Bisexual [no offense folks]
which is based on single cell organisums that produce both sperma & ova.
I first thought of a haibun, but I can see having issues within the haiku. I’ll
kick the idea around.
PPS: I’ll make a query to see if this would have a market? haha, I can issues..
thanks for posting this Merrell, I would have liked talking to James. In person.
gene
I would like to offer my condolences to the Kirkup family, and to the haiku
community.
Sincerely,
Gene
fishing
where my brother stood–
twilight chill
Some items from JAMES KIRKUP published in AZAMI early part of August 1998:
INTERNATIONALISM
Your Christ is a Jew,
your new car is Japanese,
and your couscous is
Algerian. It is Greek,
your democracy — or was.
Your coffee comes from
Brazil, your wristwatch is Swiss,
your shirt is Indian,
your radio Korean,
You holiday in Turkey,
Tunisia or
Philippines. Your chocolate
is from Ghana
your figures are Arabic
your letters come from Latin.
– The whole world lives in
your house, your office, your street.
So will you tell me
how you can treat a neighbour
as such a total stranger?
The antiracist
is not the one who proclaims
the equality
of races, but who affirms
the human race as one.
James Kirkup
(from TANKA TALES, University of Salzburg Press, 1997)
Another page from Azami brought home…Merrill Ann Gonzales