ATPO 2: The Autobiography of the World (reprint)

REPRINT

ATLAS POETICA 2 – AUTUMN 2008


The Autobiography of the World

The first issue of Atlas Poetica : A Journal of Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka, was met with great appreciation. The result is a truly international journal that looks at the natural and cultural places of the human heart, finding significance in a blade of grass and the footsteps of actual people in our collective myths. If tanka is the autobiography of the poet as Takuboku and Goldstein teach, then poetry of place is the autobiography of the world itself.

We were gratified to receive many sets and sequences for the first issue. Atlas Poetica’s format was deliberately designed to permit the publication of sequences that were too long to publish in other venues, and we continue to welcome sequences of up to forty tanka in length, but prefer to be queried regarding longer sequences. We also received various works that include prose in various forms, whether in the form of classical headnotes, annotations, or fully developed prose with tanka in the haibun tradition.

We think the form of prose with tanka will prove fertile, for this is one of the most ancient methods by which tanka was published: as diary entries, embedded in letters and composed in celebration of various occasions. We believe that tanka’s accessibility is directly related to the conversational way in which it was classically used, and that now more than ever, human beings need to speak to one another—not with the rants and shrills that are the usual public discourse, but with eloquence and grace.

By speaking about their experiences of place, the poets of Atlas Poetica have touched on many deeper issues: the value of the natural environment, the importance of our communities, the travails of the modern world, and the everlasting love of beauty that may be the only true definition of civilization. The appreciation of beauty is not a luxury and not a fascination with superficial features, but the ability to peer into the details of existence and find joy. Nowhere is this more important than when burdened with the devastations that humans wreak on each other and the environment.

Our first issue published content in twelve languages, and we welcome and encourage international and indigenous contributions to the ‘autobiography of the world.’ We continue to seek and encourage translations into additional languages and bilingual presentations of international tanka with the native and English versions as co-equals. We also welcome articles, book reviews and essays addressing various elements of poetry of place in tanka in English or bilingual editions, as well as announcements, resources, and book notes in any language (no English translation required).

~K~

M. Kei
Editor, Atlas Poetica

"Image courtesy of USGS National Center for EROS and NASA Landsat Project Science Office"

Issue Notes:




TABLE OF CONTENTS


Editorial

The Autobiography of the World, M. Kei 7

Tanka in Sets and Sequences 8

The Road of the Wagemakers Family, Ella Wagemakers 8

On Guam, Norla M. Antinoro 9

The Empire Chest of Drawers, Abigail Greene 10

Looking for a House, Ella Wagemakers 11

The Red Divide, M. Kei 12

Garden of Stone, Jim Doss 14

Singing Silence, James Rohrer 15

Taupiri Mountain, Patricia Prime 15

All Clear, Patrica Prime 16

Still No Rain, Amelia Fielden 16

Port Phillip fragments, Jo McInernery 17

Tree of Life, James Toupin 18

Another Spring, Marje A. Dyck 19

Along the California Coast, Deborah Kolodji 20

Elvis, Alexis Rotella 22

Tanka Triptych, Sanford Goldstein 23

Drugs, Hooch, and Mobile Phones, Paul Mercken 26

New York Matinee, Paul Mercken 26

Holbeck Hill, Liam Wilkinson 27

Something About This Light, Owen Bullock & André Surridge 28

Tirohanga, Patricia Prime & Catherine Mair 29

The Philippines, Robert Wilson 30

Doing Time, shanna baldwin moore 31

Libya, Denis M. Garrison 31

Topical Tanka 32

The Good Earth 32

Autumn 34

Individual Tanka 35

Announcements 56

19th Int'l Tanka Splendor Award 56

Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka 57

First Int'l Erotica Tanka Contest 58

Way Back Home 58

Moonset 58

Cigarettes Butts and Lilacs 59

Slow Motion 59

International News & Resources 61

Biographies, Issues 1 & 2 65

Index 71