The Portland Haiku Group
New Bridges:
The Portland Haiku Group Anthology
New Bridges is a haiku anthology by The Portland Haiku Group dedicated to Johnny Baranski (1948-2018) and Lorraine Ellis Harr (1912-2006). This anthology features 3-line haiku, 2-line haiku, 1-line haiku, and tanka by 17 poets in The Portland Haiku Group, with a foreword by Japan Times award winning author Alan Summers. Edited by Jacob Salzer. 148 pages. Price: $12.50
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Some proceeds from New Bridges book sales will be donated to a community organization: The Friendly House, in Portland, Oregon: https://www.friendlyhouseinc.org/
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Here is the link to buy New Bridges on amazon: ​
Here is the link to amazonsmile (where a small % of the purchase goes to a charity of the buyer's choice):
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Authors:
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Margaret Chula
Jacob Salzer
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Artists and Photographers:
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Shelley Baker-Gard
Jodi Burton
Margaret Chula
Bruno Jakob
Jim Lewis
Jone Rush MacCulloch
Thomas Martin
Kevin Nusser
Jim Rodriguez
Diana Saltoon
Linda Dalal Sawaya
Carolyn Winkler
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Preface
New Bridges is the theme and title of our anthology. Traditionally, haiku revolves around community, sharing haiku, and building relationships. In turn, this relates directly to the actual writing of haiku, as we juxtapose images and discover subtle connections between humans and other forms of life.
Our anthology features three-line haiku, two-line haiku, one-line haiku, and tanka by both well-known and new haiku poets living in and around Portland, Oregon.
In a time when it seems more walls are being built around us, it is my hope that this anthology will encourage more people to build friendships and come together to create a better world for now and our future generations.
Jacob Salzer, Managing Editor
Blurb by Alan Summers
“Anthologies can become a call for understanding, for tolerance, and a sense of identity. They can become a place to feel safe and secure, and to ensure the dignity of others, through connection, and noticing. That is, if we notice, we can include those differences we observe into our community, and attempt to make ourselves, individual by individual, a better and more inclusive humanity. Haiku can allow us to be a bigger part of ourselves if we allow the "little poem" to build new bridges.
If we do not notice can we have empathy, one of the most basic building blocks of "being", and of being a human? This book helps us listen between the cracks of moonlight, and pulls aside the first rays of sunlight, to find those bridges. These short poems deal with humour, and sadness, and the in-betweenness we sometimes cannot utter aloud. It encapsulates moments often deemed so irrelevant in daily life they become invisible, but they are stepping stones to our identity. Make this anthology a touchstone to construct new bridges for you.”
Alan Summers
President, United Haiku and Tanka Society
co-founder, Call of the Page"
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New Bridges
By Jacob Salzer
July 16, 2018
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Corrupt egos appear to be prisoners of their own minds. They seem to be trapped within narrow, limited viewpoints, unwilling to embrace the unknown. They seem to be unable to truly listen and seem to believe they have all the answers. This “my way or the highway” mentality seems to do nothing but strengthen the sense of ego and results in the loss of any real sense of community.
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In my view, true communities work to alleviate problems and challenges. They do not ignore, repress, or shy away from problems or challenges, but rather faces them with courage and compassion. The principles of courage and compassion are available for all us and are more powerful than any mental concepts.
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It seems corrupt egos do not know how to build true bridges. Even the connections they do have appear to be hollow and empty, devoid of any true values; they are like ghosts or layers of fog temporarily covering bridges, obscuring the view. Even as a group, it seems they do not truly know each other. They appear to only know their common corruption.
While some walls are necessary to protect us from danger, just as firewall and security programs help protect our computers, or just as our roofs protect us from the snow and the rain, this does not replace the necessity for new bridges to be created.
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As we navigate, I encourage us to use our intuition as a guide day by day, to connect with people who have open hearts and open minds. These are the people who can truly build new bridges. This is where a real sense of community takes precedence and automatically alleviates feelings of isolation and fragmentation.
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This is especially important for those struggling with a myriad of mental diagnoses such as schizophrenia, bipolar, and depression, and for those struggling with past trauma, including PTSD. Traumatic events and mental conditions can take precedence within certain individuals and significantly impacts their lives. But, when we build new bridges, we can help alleviate their struggles, and discover a real sense of community, founded on the values of respect, understanding, and compassion. All it takes is one caring individual. No matter what hardships you face, they remind you that you are not alone.
As creators of our anthology, I think we have both an opportunity and the responsibility to keep building new bridges for now and our future generations. Building relationships seems to be a foundation of the global haiku community at large, and this collaborative spirit is evident in the linked-verse forms of renga, rengay, tan renga, and renku. Our Portland Haiku Group was founded on the basic principle of respect. Each bridge between us is unique from person to person, though every bridge appears to arise from the same principles. While some bridges are firmly established, other bridges are still in construction, and may extend to unseen horizons. In a world that far too often appears violent and fragmented, our anthology has a strong message to connect people and build new friendships.
All this being said, I would like to thank all the contributors for participating in the creation of this important anthology.
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This essay and an interview about the New Bridges anthology can be found online here:
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https://deowriter.wordpress.com/2018/07/19/poetry-friday-new-bridges-a-haiku-anthology/
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