Our newest guest haiku’er is Joanne Dibble. She’s a collage artist, a writer, a compulsive reader and a poet.
She is also an organic farmer, which she finds funny as in college she studied French literature and art history. But, she said, “You never know where life will carry you!”
Now that her son is grown and out in the world (“my finest accomplishment,” she said) Joanne lives by herself in her hundred-year-old farmhouse on 30 acres of land. She has three dogs, two horses and a mule.
Joanne’s haiku will appear over the next seven days. Here is what she had to say about writing haiku.
Mine is a peaceful country life, full of daily tasks, but wonderful for writing and making art.
I love the wordplay of writing haiku. It quiets the chatter of my monkey-mind and allows me to focus with intent, in a meditative state. Since I am bipolar, neurons sparking within a calm quiet place are essential to me.
I write about my aha! moments on the topic of life in general and about the wonders of the natural world.
I enjoy both the writing and the reading of others’ work, from the love of nature
to each brief moment of daily life, conundrums abound!
Hi Jonanne,
As someone who recently moved to a quieter, simpler place surrounded by farmland, I am very much looking forward to your haiku this week. I also thought what you said about quieting the mind and “neurons” so interesting and so true. There is something so grounding about a haiku practice - I’ve been thinking about this a lot and thought about this when I wrote the Richard Wright review. And I’ve been thinking about this during my too hectic relocation!
This is going to be a great week:)
Comment by Alison — June 22, 2009 @ 9:53 am
thankyou, alison….glad to be here! vty, j.
Comment by johanna — June 22, 2009 @ 11:24 am
Joanne! Do you remember me from high school? I’ve looked for you on myspace and facebook and classmates.com over the years - always wondered what you would do with your life. In high school, I thought you and Valerie Hagenbush were two of the most artistic, intelligent people I knew. I’m delighted to find that you’re farming organically, creating art and writing.
Valerie (do you remember her?) is in Arizona, and has self-published a book that I enjoyed reading. She’s married and has two daughters.
I’m a high school English and history teacher, mother of five, grandmother of five, living in beautiful Wilmington, NC, with my youngest son, my “domestic partner” - yeah, it’s a man, and no, I’m not getting married again…long story. Anyway - It’s so great to see your picture - I’d recognize you anywhere.
I hope you still get notices from this site, because I’d love to reconnect. If you’d like to, my email is kmarshall53@yahoo.com.
Namaste,
Karen
Comment by Karen( Hazelrigg)Marshall — September 1, 2009 @ 8:03 pm