Hello Kitty is 35 !!!!

Hello Kitty turned 35 years-old this month! Yikes! She's younger than me!

A friend sent me a link to an article in the LA Times about Hello Kitty that details this famous Japanese cat's creation and her ascent to global domination.

I had no idea Hello Kitty was on the verge of such a momentous birthday when I decided to review a book of Hello Kitty haiku on Haiku By Two, my haiku blog.

And thanks to my haiku'ing partner, Alison, I now know all about a blog called Hello Kitty Hell.

It's a funny read written by a man who's wife collects Hello Kitty do-dads and gizmos, which she then resells somewhere online. Her Hello Kitty stuff has taken over their house, causing him to live, therefore, in Hello Kitty Hell.

Dragon House -- Americans in Vietnam

I go back and forth between whether I'm a fiction or a nonfiction reader. Currently, it seems, I'm all about the fiction. Maybe that's because it's summer and I'm looking to lose myself in a story.

This past month I read an advance copy of a book called Dragon House.

It's released this month (September) but I've had a copy for several weeks now. I got it from the author, John Shors, who I met via email back in June. I read another one of his novels, Beside a Burning Sea, which has a haiku-theme, and reviewed it for my haiku blog. Then I sent him an email requesting a haiku interview.

He agreed and you can read the result at Haiku By Two.

But the interviewed opened a line of communication and as it turns out, we're both travelers. He told me about his newest book, Dragon House, which is set in Vietnam, after finding out I had traveled there, too. Before you know it, he was sending me an advance copy.

I liked the book and was able to picture the Saigon setting so clearly. The basic plot is that two Americans go to Saigon to open a home for Vietnamese street children.

There are some twists, of course. What would a novel be without some complications along the way? And a love story, too, because everyone likes a little romance.

What I found most interesting about the book was the way in which the author was able to turn his travel experiences into a novel. At the end, in the acknowledgements, he talks about a street child he met on one of his travels who inspired one of the characters in the book.

I, too, have a pocket full of stories about street kids I've encountered in my global wanderings.

It all got me thinking about how writers mine their own experiences to craft other tales -- and about how I might do the same...

Haiku By Two in MN Women's Press

I wrote a piece that was published in this month's issue of the Minnesota Women's Press about my poetry web site, Haiku By Two.

It is for the regular department, Book Shelf, in which a reader shares her fascination with a particular subject and a list of five books written by women on the topic.

The piece I wrote explains the origin of Haiku By Two, offers a collection of haiku titles and shares a couple haiku.

Read the article by following this link:

How to Haiku

Stopping to Smell Flowers with Basho

One of the joys
of travel -- rare
talk about an iris.

Matsuo Basho

I have discovered the writings of Matsuo Basho, the original haiku master, and oh, what joy!

Who could imagine, that in 2009, a gal in Minneapolis would be reading these teeny poems penned by an dude who lived in Japan during the 1600s?

But Basho was not just any dude. He was a dude after my own soul -- he was a traveler.

He packed up all his belongings and hit the road, walking across all of Japan. More than once! And his haiku chronicle his journey.

I especially like this haiku about the iris. He's right. Travel has the power to pull you outside of yourself. Because you're not at home, following convention, travel gives you permission to stare at a flower, talk about it, take its picture and smell it with utter abandon.

Here's a flower picture I snapped in Bangkok. Not an iris, but the purple color reminded me of one...

Great Travel Memoir - Haiku Apprentice

I have died and and gone to heaven.

Actually, that was last week. Now, I'm alive again and back on planet Earth.

The reason behind my transformative state was a book called The Haiku Apprentice.

During the time that I was reading it, I was "in heaven." Now, though, I've turned the last page and am wondering how the next book I pick up has any hope in topping it.

The book combined two of my obsessions: Travel and Haiku.

It was written by an American woman who is living in Japan and working as a diplomat. At a work function, an older Japanese gentleman invites her to join his haiku group. She doesn't consider herself a poet in the least, but decides to attend on a lark.

But she gets hooked and the rest of the book is her investigation into what makes haiku "Japanese."

She launches into a cultural study of the art of haiku and in the process reveals so many fascinating tidbits about the mindset and history of the Japanese.

I've never been to Japan, and truth be told, hadn't really had much interest. But now, I'm chomping at the bit to go.

Until reading this book, it had never occurred to me that I could plan a "haiku themed trip" to Japan. Now though, the idea is budding.

April is National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month and I just have to take a moment to mention this.

Travel is one of my loves, but so is writing haiku, and I also publish a haiku blog called Haiku By Two.

Since it's the month to celebrate all things poetic, head on over and check it out.

Today, we've got an open call out to our readers to send us a haiku on the topic of "kitchens."

The Jolt of the City

I am in need of a Spring Break. So many people these days are getting away to the beach. I, however, am yearning for the "jolt" of a big city.

Here's the haiku I posted the other day on my haiku blog, Haiku By Two:

I need Manhattan,
Bangkok, Buenos Aires, Rome,
out of these suburbs.

Photo - Bangkok

Rick Steves Likes Travel Haiku

In the course of my recent web wanderings, I came across something that caught my eye. It involved two of my interests: travel and haiku.

Rick Steves, as many of you might know, writes guidebooks for European travel. He also does a travel radio show. On his web site, he's got an open call out for the submission of travel haiku.

If your travel haiku is chosen to be read on the air, you get a $20 gift certificate to be spent in his online store.

Some of the previously submitted haiku are posted on his site.

After taking a look at them, if you think you've got one in you, you can read up on how to submit.

I've got some travel haiku I'm thinking of submitting.

Among them, this favorite, which I composed years ago in Rome . . .

Sticky table top
hot waiter winks and I will
forgive anything

As always, if you're interested in more of my haiku, check out Haiku By Two.


Photo: (c) Rick Steves

How Can I Get to Haiku?

Today it was my turn to post a haiku on my haiku web site, Haiku By Two.

Winter is getting long here in Minnesota and my mind has turned to vacation dreaming. This is what I wrote about in today's haiku.

Vacation dreaming and a place I've recently learned exists . . . a place called Haiku, Hawaii.

Perhaps I could stay here, at this lovely Haiku B & B.

Haiku By Two

I'm so excited!

Everyone simply must, must, must
go and check out my new web site,

Haiku By Two.

My friend Alison and I worked all autumn long to
brainstorm, write and craft the whole thing.

Every single day, for the entire year,
one of us will post a new haiku on the site.

We are alternating turns. Alison. Kelly. Alison.

The project is a way for the two of us,
who met in Buenos Aires teaching English,
to stay in touch.