| Oregon Haiku & Tanka Society |
| B o o k R e v i e w |
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| Johnny Baranski, Convicts Shoot the Breeze SAKI PRESS ANNOUNCES THE WINNERS OF THE THIRD BIENNIAL VIRGIL HUTTON HAIKU MEMORIAL AWARD CHAPBOOK CONTEST FOR 2001-2002 Haiku poetry collections by Johnny Baranski of Portland, Oregon; D. Claire Gallagher of Sunnyvale, California; Elizabeth Hazen of Winooski, Vermont; and Robert Major of Poulsbo, Washington, snatched the four winning slots for publication in the Virgil Hutton Haiku Memorial Award Chapbook Contest for 2001-2002. In this time of world change and reconsideration of what is important, haiku poetry continues to sustain us while providing hope and beauty, even joy and a pinch of wisdom, with insights not only for this time but for all time... Haiku offer continuity and a meaning to our existence on this earth and help to bring us into harmony and balance with nature and our fellow man. The four winning chapbook collections for this year's contest illustrate the diverse mix of the traditional form and celebrate, each in its own way, those unique haiku moments as seen through special "eyes" and in circumstances that touch and involve us all in that moment as well. The contest was sponsored by the Hutton Family and Saki Press, Normal, Illinois, as a tribute to the memory of the late haiku poet, Virgil Hutton. It is also a celebration of the haiku form. The third biennial haiku chapbook memorial award contest attracted entries from the U.S.A., Canada, England, Austria, Sweden, New Zealand, and Australia. The four winning poets' collections will be published in March of 2002 by Saki Press, Normal, Illinois, with distribution scheduled for April 2002. The published chapbook collections will be contributed for placement in The American Haiku Archives, California State Library Special Collections, Sacramento, California, and the Tokyo Museum of Haiku Literature in Japan. Limited numbers of review copies will also be distributed by the publisher upon request. The four winning chapbook collections are: CONVICTS SHOOT THE BREEZE by Johnny Baranski (Saki Press Chapbook ISBN: 1-893823-11-3), who is a haiku poet and working bookkeeper living in Portland, Oregon. In this collection the poet's "haiku moments" center on his glimpses of the human spirit and its oneness with nature from behind bars. Structured within such a confining environment there remains a universe of experience for the poet that enables him to provide a tone of strength and unity encompassing man and nature throughout his work. Prevailing wind! neither prison bars nor spider web yield to it "In prison...the haiku poet is held captive...by images that reflect the true nature of liberation." -- Johnny Baranski * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * For more details and information about the next Virgil Hutton Haiku Memorial Award Chapbook Contest, please visit the Saki Press Website at its new location: http://www.geocities.com/sakipress/ Or, to contact the poets for additional information and background, e-mail LenoreHutton at <[email protected]> The four winning chapbook collections of haiku may be purchased directly from Saki Press, 1021 W. Gregory St., Normal, IL 61761 U.S.A., for $4.50 U.S. funds each (please order by title and author) plus postage for each chapbook ordered: 57� U.S.A.; 85� U.S. funds to Canada and Mexico; and $2.55 for overseas in U.S. funds only, starting March 31, 2002. U.S. dollars or a check/money order in U.S. funds only payable to "Lenore Hutton." |