{"id":6466,"date":"2019-06-20T09:48:13","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T16:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=6466"},"modified":"2019-06-20T10:22:55","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T17:22:55","slug":"gabriel-rosenstock-inch-by-inch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/20\/gabriel-rosenstock-inch-by-inch\/","title":{"rendered":"Gabriel Rosenstock – inch by inch"},"content":{"rendered":"

inch by inch
\nby Gabriel Rosenstock<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

inch by inch
\nthrough the trees
\n\u2014 the rising moon<\/em><\/p>\n


\n<\/em>
\norlach ar orlach
\ntr\u00ed na crainn
\n\u2014 an ghealach ag \u00e9ir\u00ed
\n<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n


\n\/ Image by Gautam & Chitrabhanu Chakrabarti<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

A haiku today in honor of the recent full moon.<\/p>\n

Notice the way this poem unfolds, each short line shifting the frame of our mind\u2019s perception\u2026<\/p>\n

inch by inch\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

Something is moving oh so slowly, we might even say that it is creeping up. And the phrase, \u201cinch by inch\u201d is so minute that the initial frame of our mental image is minuscule.<\/p>\n

But with the next line\u2026<\/p>\n

through the trees\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2026we suddenly have trees in our minds eye. Our inner vision has widened. It is as if we went from a peering crouch to having to stand back in order to take in the picture.<\/p>\n

Then we get that unexpected shift \u2014 what we call the kireii<\/i> or cutting word in a haiku \u2014 where the focus of the haiku leaps in an unanticipated direction:<\/p>\n

\u2014 the rising moon<\/i><\/p>\n

We\u2019re not really looking at trees at all, but the rising moon behind them.<\/p>\n

The frame in our mind\u2019s eye has just slammed wide open to include the moon and the entire night sky. We went from our crouch to standing back to being knocked flat on our backs.<\/p>\n

Now that\u2019s a rising moon!<\/p>\n

Are you wondering which language the second version is in? This poem is by the great Irish haikuist Gabriel Rosenstock, and he usually writes his haiku in both English and Irish. I\u2019m assuming that most of you, like myself, don\u2019t speak Irish, but try to sound it out anyway. What does the shape and rhythm of the language say to you? Perhaps you will witness a second rising moon in its lines.<\/p>\n

==<\/p>\n

New Book on Haiku \u2013 Coming Soon<\/b><\/p>\n

There is another reason I selected this poem today. This is a sort of pre-announcement to the Poetry Chaikhana community that I am currently preparing a new book for publication. The new book \u2014 yet to be titled \u2014 is an exploration of haiku by Gabriel Rosenstock, a master of the art meditating on his art.<\/p>\n

Unlike other similar books that might tend to be scholarly or focused on the technicalities of craft, this is a delightful, often playful look at haiku as a personal practice and a spiritual path \u2014 for both the reader and the writer of haiku. Through the eyes of Gabriel Rosenstock, haiku becomes a practice of attention and awareness. It is a way of stepping out of ordinary mind and encountering each moment with openness. Noticing what is overlooked. Walking in the natural world. Recognizing how the minute and the mundane reveals immensities. Ultimately, haiku is the art of presence.<\/p>\n

From the book\u2026
\n
\nWhat will be the next haiku moment? Anticipation is foolish. Each moment is as unique as your fingerprints, your iris, each second as fleeting as your breath. And a haiku moment can happen at any time. But it will not happen without you. You must be there for it to happen. You must be there, before you disappear. It takes two to haiku, you and the witnessed phenomenon in a unifying embrace. <\/i><\/p>\n

It can occur in such an intense, pure form that it appears to have happened without you. That brief, piercing insight, that moment of haiku enlightenment, strips you of the thousand and one items that are the jigsaw of your ego, the patchwork of your identity. Then we\u2019re simply jumbled back again into the duality of the world, its conflicts, routines and distractions. But we know that another pure surprise waits around the corner, whatever it may be. The wellsprings of the haiku moment are infinite, bottomless, inexhaustible.<\/i><\/p>\n

***<\/i><\/p>\n

Haiku can be pursued by atheist, sceptic and believer alike. It can adapt to any language, any culture. Someone once asked the former Zen teacher, Toni Packer, \u2018Can a leaf swirling to the ground be my teacher?\u2019 Her answer is what every haikuist should know. \u2018Yes! Of course! This instant of seeing is the timeless teacher, the leaves are just what they are \u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/i><\/i>summer drought \u2014
\nthe dazzling stars
\nall become pale
\n~ Marijan Cekolj
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

I am so pleased that I will soon be able to make this book available. As you can see, its pages are filled with illuminated moments of creativity and awareness. This is a book that should be read in classrooms and meditation halls and coffee shops, as well as all of you wise, wild folks within the Poetry Chaikhana community.<\/p>\n

Look for it in late summer or early autumn. I will let you know more as we get closer to the publication date.<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Gabriel Rosenstock<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Longing in Between: Sacred Poetry from Around the World (A Poetry Chaikhana Anthology)<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nBliain an Bhand\u00e9 \u2013 Year of the Goddess<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nUttering Her Name<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nHaiku Enlightenment<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nHaiku: The Gentle Art of Disappearing<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\"Gabriel<\/a><\/td>\n\nGabriel Rosenstock<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Ireland (1949 \u2013 )
\nSecular or Eclectic<\/a><\/a>
\nPrimal\/Tribal\/Shamanic<\/a> : Celtic<\/a><\/em><\/td>\n

<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Gabriel Rosenstock is the author\/translator of over 160 books, including 13 volumes of poetry and a volume of haiku in Irish and in English, as well as numerous books for children. Prose work includes fiction, essays in The Irish Times<\/i>, radio plays, travel writing and a novel, My Head is Missing<\/i> (2012).<\/p>\n

A member of Aosd\u00e1na (the Irish Academy of Arts and Letters), he has given readings in Europe, South, Central and North America, India, Australia, Japan and has been published in various leading international journals including Akzente, Neue Rundschau<\/i>, and die horen<\/i> (Germany), Poetry<\/i> (Chicago), World Haiku Review, Irish Pages, Poetry Ireland Review<\/i> and Sirena<\/i>. He has given readings at major festivals, including Berlin, Bremen, Struga (Macedonia), Vilenica (Slovenia), Medell\u00edn, Ars Poetica (Slovakia) and twice at the nomadic Kritya festival in India. Rosenstock taught haiku at the Schule f\u00fcr Dichtung (Poetry Academy) in Vienna. Among his awards is the Tamgha I Kidmat medal for services to literature.<\/p>\n

He has brought out Irish-langua6ge versions and translations of among others, Francisco X. Alarc\u00f3n, Seamus Heaney, Rabindranath Tagore, G\u00fcnter Grass, W M Roggeman, Said, Zh\u0101ng Ye, Michele Ranchetti, Michael Augustin, Peter Huchel, Georg Trakl, Georg Heym, Hansj\u00f6rg Schertenleib, Hilde Domin, Johann P. Tammen, Munir Niazi, Ko Un, G\u00fcnter Kunert, Iqbal, Michael Kr\u00fcger, Kristiina Ehin, Nikola Madzirov, Agnar Art\u00favertin, Walter Helmut Fritz, K. Satchidanandan, Elke Schmitter, and Matthias Politycki as well as Irish-language versions of classical haiku and modern haiku by amongst others John W. Sexton (Ireland), J W Hackett (USA), Andres Ehin (Estonia), Petar Tchouhov (Bulgaria) and Janak Sapkota (Nepal).<\/p>\n

Rosenstock is the Irish-language advisor for the poetry journal THE SHOp<\/i> and a Foundation Associate of The Haiku Foundation. His vast output includes plays, work for TV, novels and short stories, children\u2019s literature in prose and verse, including Irish versions of such classics as The Gruffalo<\/i>. Recent succesful picture books include Sa T\u00f3ir ar an Yeit\u00ed<\/i> (Cl\u00f3 Mhaigh Eo) and his retellings of ancient and medieval Indian tales, Birbal<\/i> (Cl\u00f3 Iar-Chonnacht). He is the Irish-language translator with the new children\u2019s imprint Walker \u00c9ireann.<\/p>\n

Among the anthologies in which he is represented is Best European Fiction 2012<\/i> (Dalkey Archive Press, USA).<\/p>\n

His Selected Poems \/ Rogha D\u00e1nta<\/i> (Cl\u00f3 Iar-Chonnachta) appeared in 2005 and the the bilingual volume Bliain an Bhand\u00e9\/ Year of the Goddess<\/i> came out in 2007 (Dedalus). He is the Irish translator of numerous films and TV shows including Watership Down<\/i> and The Muppet Show<\/i>. He is also well known as a translator of song lyrics into Irish by Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and others and as a translator of plays by Beckett, Frisch, Yeats and others.<\/p>\n

Two books on haiku as a way of life, Haiku Enlightenment<\/i> and Haiku, the Gentle Art of Disappearing<\/i> from Cambridge Scholars Publishing are available from Amazon. Uttering Her Name<\/i> (Salmon Poetry) is his d\u00e9but volume of poems in English. Dialann Anama<\/i> (2007) is an interactive diary drawing on the world\u2019s wisdom traditions, mostly Advaita. The Pleasantries of Krishnamurphy: Revelations from an Irish Ashram<\/i>, is published by Non-Duality Press, www.non-dualitypress.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More poetry by Gabriel Rosenstock<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

inch by inch by Gabriel Rosenstock inch by inch through the trees \u2014 the rising moon orlach ar orlach tr\u00ed na crainn \u2014 an ghealach ag \u00e9ir\u00ed \/ Image by Gautam & Chitrabhanu Chakrabarti \/ A haiku today in honor of the recent full moon. Notice the way this poem unfolds, each short line shifting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[761,346,125,2276,1356,84,419],"class_list":["post-6466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-full-moon","tag-gabriel-rosenstock","tag-haiku","tag-inch","tag-irish-haiku","tag-irish-poetry","tag-moon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6466"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6472,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6466\/revisions\/6472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}