{"id":7430,"date":"2007-03-31T17:22:01","date_gmt":"2007-03-31T22:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2007\/03\/31\/npr-spotlights-baseball-haiku-book"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:53:51","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:53:51","slug":"npr-spotlights-baseball-haiku-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2007\/03\/31\/npr-spotlights-baseball-haiku-book\/","title":{"rendered":"npr spotlights Baseball Haiku book"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"infielderG\" Anticipating tomorrow’s Opening Game, National Public Radio’s All Thing’s Considered<\/em> did a feature this afternoon titled “Spring Signals the Return of Baseball (Haiku)<\/a>” (Debbie Elliott, March 31, 2007). Click the Listen<\/a> button to hear the audio version of the segment. Here’s the online description:<\/p>\n

All Things Considered, March 31, 2007 \u00b7 Japan’s love for baseball has translated into an art form: baseball haiku. Cor van den Heuvel<\/font><\/a> has edited a new anthology of baseball haiku, including a poem by Jack Kerouac. He speaks with Debbie Elliott about the book.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cor tells why baseball and haiku are made for eachother. He reads a few haiku, and a recording is played of Jack Kerouac reading one of his own baseball haiku. Kerouac is believed to be the first American poet to write a baseball haiku.<\/p>\n

\"BaseballHaikuCover\" Of course, we’ve been featuring poems the past few days from Baseball Haiku<\/em><\/a> (Cor van den Heuvel and Nanae Tamura, eds., W.W. Norton<\/a> Press, April 2007) (see here<\/a>, there<\/a>, here<\/a>; and told you all about the book back in January, here<\/a>) The book is officially released on opening day, April 1, 2007.<\/p>\n

Louisville Slugger
\nthe boy’s fingertips caress
\nthe trademark<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

rumble of thunder
\nthe boy still looking for the ball
\nin the grass<\/p>\n

…………………………………. by Lee Gurga – Baseball Haiku<\/a><\/em> (2007)
\n“rumble of thunder” orig. pub. Too Busy for Spring<\/em>, 1999 HNA Anthology<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"infielderG\" Click<\/a> for dagosan<\/em>‘s nod at Magnapoets <\/em>to baseball’s Opening Day.<\/p>\n

update<\/em><\/strong> (April 1, 2007): The Los Angeles Times<\/em> had an opinion piece yesterday on the new Baseball Haiku<\/em> book. Unfortunately, the headline helps to perpetuate the incorrect plural spelling of haiku (by using an “s”): “Baseball haikus<\/strike><\/a>” (LATimes.com<\/em>, March 31, 2007; free registration needed to see the entire piece<\/a>). update<\/em> (April 22, 2007): Cor van den Heuvel emailed me today to say that the LATimes<\/em> review includes fifteen poems, one of which is my “umpire\/BlackBerry” senryu. The print edition had the headline “Three Lines and You’re Out.”<\/p>\n

\"playboyLogo\" I only read it for the poetry<\/em>: Speaking of national pastimes, the Playboy weblog<\/em><\/a> also featured Baseball Haiku<\/em><\/a> in a posting titled “Poetry in motion<\/a>” (April 2, 2007). Rocky Rakovic says the anthology is “a far cry from Casey at the Bat<\/a>.” Rocky was kind enough to include my “umpire\/BlackBerry ump” senryu among the three poems he chose to highlight.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

afterwords<\/em><\/strong> (May 25, 2008): The Poet’s Corner<\/a> in today’s Washington Post<\/em> Book Review section features a column by Mary Karr about the Baseball Haiku<\/em> book. With examples, Karr says “single-image poems capture moments from my own baseball-centered childhood.” She concludes: “Such feeling in such a small space. These haiku prove that in a secular culture, the stadium — from little league through the majors — may be the closest many Americans get to a house of worship.”<\/p>\n