Координатор
на българската страница на NaHaiWriMo във Фейсбук, 2014–
3. Какво означава NaHaiWriMo за Вас?
4. Какъв съвет бихте дали на тези, които сега започват да пишат хайку? Не се обезкуражавайте от отрицателните коментари и не взимайте похвалите прекалено на сериозно. Забавлявайте се, докато пишете! NaHaiWriMo е чудесно място да започнете!
5. Бихте ли споделили три от Вашите любими или най-добри хайку? | Coordinator for the NaHaiWriMo in Bulgarian Facebook group, 2014–present 1. How did you get started with haiku? When you start writing as late in life as I did, it’s a surprise not only for you, but for everyone around you. The good thing is that you don’t lack enthusiasm and you know (from experience) that not everything is supposed to work right away. The first three-line verses I wrote (back in 2010) were drenched in metaphors and arranged in a 5-7-5 pattern. At the time, I sincerely thought that they were haiku. Luckily for me, on the Four Seasons of Haiku blog where I decided to share some of them, poets (like Alan Summers) were posting who knew very well what haiku was. Reading their poems made me realize how far I was from understanding the nature of haiku and inspired me to learn. I started checking out books from the local library (The Haiku Handbook by William Higginson is a must read for everyone new to haiku), and joined The Haiku Foundation Forum and the AHA Forum. I am very grateful to the members of the AHA community and especially to Jane Reichhold, Susan Constable, Lorin Ford, Maya Lyubenova, Kala Ramesh, Julie Cain, William Kenney, and the late H. Gene Murtha for their patience, mentoring, and support. Learning about haiku inevitably led to learning about renku and photo-haiga, which are my new great loves. 2. Tell us more about yourself. I was born and raised in Bulgaria. After I got married, we moved around for a while (my daughter learned how to walk in Belgium, my son was born in California), and then settled in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. Staying at home with my (now big) kids gave me the chance to enjoy many hours outdoors. I still miss the mountains of Bulgaria and the snow, but I love the tall trees here and Chattahoochee River. The trickiest part, when one moves to a different country with a different language and traditions, is the constant balancing of what to keep and what to lose in order to fit in. You have to change somehow, so that you can understand the new people around you, but you don’t want to change too much. Haiku keeps the bridge between the new and the old open for me. It reminds me that change can be good and we are not so different after all. And it’s because of haiku that I met such wonderful people not only from all around the globe, but from Bulgaria too. Even though I’m writing mostly in English, my blog “Wild Lilacs” (“Диви люляци”) promotes haiku from Bulgarian authors. As far as I know, this is the only Bulgarian haiku website for now (I hope we’ll have a real online haiku journal soon!), and it wouldn’t be possible to run without the support of the poets from the Facebook group “Haiku for Beginners” (“Хайку за начинаещи”). 3. What does NaHaiWriMo mean to you? NaHaiWriMo means a great deal to me. I met most of my first haiku friends here, at the Facebook page of NaHaiWriMo. Each February the event creates such a burst of energy that it is now not National, but International Haiku Writing Month. That is why in 2014 we opened NaHaiWriMo in Bulgarian, for these Bulgarian poets who would like to join the event while writing in our native language. The Bulgarian page is more “quiet,” so to say. Most of our participants follow the daily prompts, but prefer to share their poems only in closed groups, and that’s fine. Writing daily helps develop discipline (which is not less important than talent), and keeps us from forgetting that not every draft is a brilliant verse from the very beginning. 4. What one piece of advice would you offer to those who are new to writing haiku? Don’t get discouraged by negative comments, but also, don’t take the praises too seriously. Have fun while writing! NaHaiWriMo is a great place to start your haiku journey! 5. Please share three of your favourite or best haiku. new moon— my son masters the knot of his white belt (See Haiku Here) snowflakes falling on the suitcase falling on me (World Haiku Review) autumn in Venice— a passenger boards the origami barge (Quartet: “The Origami Barge,” A Hundred Gourds) |