THE HAIBUN GALLERY: 10th October 2024. Billie Dee, featured poet

hosts: Shalini Pattabiraman & Vidya Shankar

mentor: Lorraine Haig

A Thursday Feature

10th October 2024

This month we have the pleasure of celebrating the work of Billie Dee. 

Billie Dee is the former Poet Laureate of the U.S. National Library Service. A retired health care worker, she earned her doctorate at U.C. Irvine, completed post-graduate training at U.C. San Diego. Although she writes in a variety of genres, her primary focus is Japaniform poetry. A native Californian, she now lives in the Chihuahuan Desert with her family and a betta fish named Ramon. Billie publishes both online and off.

You can access Billie’s blog in the link attached below. 

Website: www.billie-dee-haiku.blogspot.com

We bring to you her submission from the HPNC Contest held in 2023.

Billie Dee

Rattlesnake Canyon

That summer my first blood arrived

while I was camped in the woods

of Montana.

rainbow weather—

turning wet stones

for trout bait

I knew what it was, but still wondered

what sin against Nature had earned me

this curse. . .

thigh-deep

in the rush of snowmelt

empty creel

. . .like the little Kumari Devi,

expelled from her Nepalese palace

when she proved herself mortal.

this deep lull

of afternoon creek song

letting the hellgrammites go

First Place: San Francisco International Haibun Contest, 2023 Read the winning haibun and Read the winning haibun and judges commentary here. 

Source: https://www.hpnc.org/2023-1

There is no doubt that Rattlesnake Canyon comes from a very special place. It is not one of those pieces that can emerge from one's imagination alone. The haiku in the poem are stunning and add depth to the emotional journey experienced by the speaker. Having read it blind for the HPNC Contest in 2023, I had been waiting for the opportunity to ask Billie to share some notes on her craft and process. 

Here's Billie’s response to my question:

I usually begin with the haikai, then wait for further inspiration. Once the narrative starts to form in my mind, I take notes and do whatever research is necessary to flesh-out the facts and details. Most of my work is based on first-hand experience, often on deeply embedded, emotionally rich memories.

Like good cheese, I usually let a new poem age a while, then tinker with it until it’s ripe. So, a publishable haibun might take several years to evolve. My first draft of “Rattlesnake Canyon” is dated 2011 and comes from such an emotionally rich early memory. Since I came to haikai from contemporary “long-form” poetry, my narrative is sometimes lineated in stanzas. I like how that formatting looks on the page, especially with an embedded haikai sequence piece, or a braided haibun. The poem for example, is one where two seemingly unrelated stories are woven together using this device. It also seems to fit the dreamy adolescent voice I was aiming for.

Prompt: 

Borrowing the structural bones from Billie’s haibun, this week, we will play and have some fun while writing. Do this task in one sitting. Then go for a long walk and when you come back, edit your piece. Submit only after you have let it rest between long and hard mundane tasks for at least two days. 

Task: Select a book of fiction or creative non-fiction. Go to page 1 and pick the first dynamic word or expression from line 10. Then go to page 50 and find the name of a place and research one thing that is unique to that place. Use it in your haibun. Finally go to the last page and choose the ending word. 

Your haibun should begin and end with these words and must do the following things: 

• Describe the first experience of reaching a milestone in your life

• Add something contrary to your feelings

• Link it with an observation from a different journey(the place or setting you selected from the book and the special thing it refers to) 

PLEASE NOTE:

1. Only two haibun per poet per prompt.

2. Share your best-polished pieces.

3. Please do not post something in a hurry or something you have just written.

    Let it simmer for a while.

4. Post your final edited version on top of your original verse.

5. Don't forget to give feedback on others' poems.

We are delighted to open the comment thread for you to share your unpublished haibun (within 300 words) to be considered for inclusion in haikuKATHA monthly journal.

Important: Since we're swamped with submissions, and our editors are only human, mistakes can happen. Please, please, remember to put your name, followed by your country, below each poem, even after revisions. It helps our editors; they won't have to type it in, saving them from potential typos. Thanks a ton!