NEWS RELEASE
ACTION READ
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What do you do when confined to your home through the long days of a Canadian winter during a global pandemic, with only your pen, the internet and an obsessive commitment to your art to keep you company? Well, if you were Guelph poet James Clarke, you would “stop, look and listen to the swirling life all around us”, and then create a book that transforms the mundane into the memorable!
Clarke recently released The Haiku Parade, with all profits going to Action Read Community Literacy Centre of Guelph (www.actionread.com), a registered charity whose mission is to change the lives of adults and families through literacy, numeracy and other essential skills.
A former Superior Court of Ontario Judge and author of over 20 books of poetry and prose, Clarke’s latest release shows that “unearthing the many layers of self” can take a lifetime. Part memoir, part philosophical reflection, and filled with observation and comedic salve, The Haiku Parade is testament to the fact that a few judiciously chosen words can accrue great power. It demonstrates that poetry can truly help us make sense of challenging times.
Haikus are three-line poems with a distinctive style: lines one and three have five syllables, and line two has seven syllables. The haiku format is strict and confining, but under Clarke’s deft hand, he shows it to be sharp and exhilarating. The Haiku Parade is 210 pages long, and moves from reflections on current events, to experiences in the courtroom, to lightning insights on love and friendship, to the chaos and majesty of nature, and more. Clarke also created the book’s cover art, a fanciful menagerie of animals and humans.
In keeping with Action Read, the poetry is accessible, heart-felt and uplifting. However, there is another story here too. The book is a tribute to the friendship and the rich interior lives of James Clarke and his editor, retired United Church minister Tom Watson. By Clarke’s admission, The Haiku Parade would not have been born without Tom’s creative input, precision, energy and dedication. Throughout the months of confinement, a burgeoning friendship grew alongside the emergence of the book. As Clarke states, “Writing this book has been a great adventure for Tom and I during a difficult and stressful time, allowing our souls catch up with our human journey”.
The Haiku Parade sells for $20 and signed copies are available through the Bookshelf in Guelph (41 Quebec St, Guelph, www.bookshelf.ca) or through Action Read (519-836-2759 or [email protected]). For more information, or to be put in touch with James Clarke, call or text 519-823-2464.
There is tremendous breadth to The Haiku Parade as it moves seamlessly from the intimate to the vast, from solitude to community. Here are some examples from The Haiku Parade;
I awake to the
Fire of sunlight,
feel the fresh
thumbprint of wonder.
Some believe that the
universe is made up of
stories, not atoms.
Haikus are tiny
sparks around the low campfire -
candles for the dark.
He used words as thin
as needles to pierce the dense
canopy of stars.
Poets weave tangled webs
of words to capture the
inexpressible.
In spring, April’s fool
skips down the laneway, singing
and tossing blossoms.
When the war ended
History licked the corners
Of its bloody mouth.
Maybe the meek will
inherit the earth…but not
the mineral rights.
True gratitude starts
When we say “thanks” for where our
journey has brought us.
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