Upwelling: haiku, senryu, tanka, and haibun

by Lorraine A Padden (Author)

Moments of awareness, radical reflection and culpability in our suffering world

Haiku and related short-form poetry often invite us into moments of awakened appreciation for the transcendent wonder of our natural and human worlds. We pause in mysterious beauty, wistful remembrance, and enduring hope. What if these poetic forms could also illuminate the shadow side of our existence, bringing us into a closer relationship with the undeniable suffering that also rests at the core of our lived experience? Moments of marginalization, oppression, and injustice expressed in these poems may invite outrage and defiance. May they also inspire our compassionate and healing social action.

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Upwelling: haiku, senryu, tanka, and haibun

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“Padden’s work levers up the world as one continuous haiku of a cry sometimes in and out of other phrases, sometimes haibun, and always extended exhalation. The pain and the poignancy is caught in blatant and determined observation, peeled back as “the otherwise” in someone’s life that could be in us too. Sometimes the filter comes fully detached, as we cannot always turn away from what is really going on: This is a book to defy the wind of society to blow it all away.”
Alan Summers
founder, Call of the Page

“This debut collection of senryu, haiku, tanka, and haibun showcases Lorraine Padden’s satirical wit in the service of her deep sensitivity to contemporary social issues, from domestic violence to racial and gender inequity to homelessness. Many of these land with the force of a gut punch or elicit an uncomfortable laugh. Her bright-eyed attentiveness to language shines through these well-crafted, compassionate poems, giving voice to the failings of humanity while not letting herself (or the reader!) off the hook.”

Kristen Lindquist, author of It Always Comes Back, winner of the 2020 Snapshot Press e-Chapbook Award

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