Ameriku, the art of poetry

Seeing the World with New Eyes

2011-06-06T09:47:00.000-07:00

In each season there is wonder, but none so vibrant or hold-your-breath beautiful as whatever season is being experienced here, now. This baby robin has just flown its nest and stands immersed in grass for the first time, in the color green. What is she thinking? How does she process the abundance around her?

Could a baby bird help us to remember that feeling, the way it was when we took our first steps, when our eyes encountered a new color, when we ran our hands through the soft green leaves of grass, and smelled the smell of damp earth and could not call it ordinary?

The speckled breast of the baby bird is there to remind us that to be alive can be enough. To be receptive to what is rather than what isn't. To be empty and then to be filled.

To hunker down when the world seems too big or too cold, and to take comfort in the illusion of safety in the word and the place and the reality of home.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and in my Ameriku brand of art, my original haiku is coupled with my nature photography to create an oasis of serenity, and a focal point for reflection. I want to welcome you to visit my website (click on the title) and thank you for supporting my work.

A Wintry Autumn Day in Ohio

2010-12-02T07:40:00.000-08:00

The snow arrived yesterday, with December, and with it, the exodus of mild temperatures experienced only the day before. On the roads, accidents and near-accidents. In the yards, children tearing up the snow in the dark before bed and again before the next day's school bus.

A female American goldfinch perched at my feeder this morning, and just before she arrived, a female cardinal ate. In their muted colors, I would not have been able to identify them from much farther away, on the bony limbs of a pin oak. At the feeder, they seem nuanced in elegance.

A stray dog came through the yard, his black coat betraying his customary cloak-and-dagger approach, eliciting a come-here whistle that only served to scare him off.

And yet, officially, it is still fall. In the wintry days of haiku, the world appears new, and the snow highlights players who would otherwise remain unseen.

There is always something in nature to mirror the human spirit, and something in the human spirit to appreciate, and wonder at, nature.

Thank you for visiting this blog, and for supporting my Ameriku art.

The Trail of Time

2010-11-30T08:17:00.000-08:00

Today, at November's last gasp in Ohio, we have rain instead of snow, and it is possible to dash out to the mailbox without a coat. The chrysanthemums have faded and the grass and the weeds have gone dormant, so the only reason to mow is to bag the leaves that continue to drop.

Where did the month go?

Toward the end of autumn, it might seem as if there is nothing in nature to buoy the spirit, but that is when haiku and art become all the more important.

It is easy to see the beauty in spring and summer, but the decay of late autumn is more challenging, unless we see, as Goethe said, with new eyes.

Then, if we are lucky, we may find a slide of water on the porch rail and see, reflected in it, the entire sky in all its hues.

Thank you for visiting this blog, and for supporting Ameriku art.

Stray Basketballs

2010-11-08T12:31:00.000-08:00

Here's what I would have written about, if I'd posted during the summer, and on through the fall. There were hummingbirds, chickadees, robins and cardinals. Squirrels and chipmunks and stray basketballs.

Last week, on my birthday, a squirrel climbed the stalk of the giant sunflower planted in my next door neighbor's yard. From my second-story bedroom, I saw the squirrel scoot up the stalk, reach into the flower head and then scurry off.

Above the squirrel, before the squirrel, I saw a rainbow. There was mist in the air and it had rained gently all night long.

Downstairs, on the deck, two squirrels came to drink rain water from an upturned plastic lid. This was not a lid from a peanut butter jar, or a sandbox, or laundry detergent.

The lid had once covered a sheet cake. At least six inches deep, it now held brown water and dead oak leaves. In the spring I'd tried to grow avocado plants from seed, and the lid had served as a miniature greenhouse.

Out front, against the milky cobalt of the azure sky, the brown leaves of another oak shivered in the breeze.

These are the things that fill me. These are the things that inform my haiku, and my Ameriku art. And they are not things at all, are they?

What informs you? What fills you up?

Thank you for visiting this blog and for supporting Ameriku art.

Avian Toddlers

2010-05-19T12:51:00.000-07:00

Today marks my first sighting of the year for baby birds crouched on the railing of my deck, fluffed wide and fat, beaks open, begging for food. Between the new down and the ruffling of its feathers, this little house sparrow takes up twice the space of its mother.

Like a human toddler that crawls and then pulls itself up, the baby sparrow is mobile, but clumsy. To reach its current position, a couple of feet away from the Yankee Flipper squirrel-proof bird feeder, the stubby avian baby must fly a short distance.

As I watch the drab female sparrow dash between the feeder and the railing, filling her baby's beak in the dappled shade that the pin oak paints the deck, something wonderful fills me up, too.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku® is my art and my business and my brand. I'd love to hear from you about this topic, the blog, or my art. Just post a comment, or send me an email through the link on my website.

Meanwhile, I invite you to take a look at some of my Ameriku® art (move cursor to title and click). Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original poetry and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku® trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

All rights reserved.

Spring Observation

2010-05-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

A robin walks down the cement driveway in the rain, a comic sight, its legs stiff as if from disuse. In the holly, still bearing its winter red berries, another robin nests.

The holly is on the other side of my living room window, so that I can peek at the nest from inside the house. When the robin leaves to stretch her wings and find food, I see that she has laid four blue eggs, each one no bigger than the pad of my forefinger.

How is spring shaping up for you? What sights and sounds do you notice? Which ones make you feel something? These are the springboards of poetry.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku® is my art and my business and my brand.

I hope you'll take a look (move cursor to title and click), and see if Ameriku® art suits your decor, or gift giving needs. And feel free to leave a comment here, if you wish.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original poetry and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku® trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

All rights reserved.

Cat on a Cold Day's Deck

2010-02-09T13:52:00.000-08:00

It is not February in Ohio without snow. Yesterday the roads were clear. Today, they are a mirage. Snow has erased the path, and where to go, as well as how to get there, remains unclear.

The snow is coming down like a mist, with separate flakes that seem to have passed through a flour sifter.

Does anybody use a flour sifter any more? Only the sky.

Chickadees, starlings, sparrows, mourning doves and cardinals visit the feeder on the deck. The cat knocks over a potted parsley plant in her excitement to reach the sliding glass door. Dirt nestles into the cream-colored carpet, like bird seed scattered on the snow outside.

A snow virgin, the cat seems surprised when her paws sink. She mews. Like static electricity, her fur attracts the snow. She forgets the allure of birds and squirrels, and rushes back to the house, carrying the snow inside. It melts, leaving her in a condition no cat wants.

She becomes the alter ego of a cat on a hot tin roof.

snow---
unexpected bath
for the cat

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku® is my art and my business and my brand.

I hope you'll take a look (move cursor to title and click), and see if Ameriku® art suits your decor, or gift giving needs. And feel free to leave a comment here, if you wish.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original poetry and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku® trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

All rights reserved.

St. Martin's in the Fields

2009-08-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

I am tempted to say something implausible, that I am attracting bells, because bells are appearing to me, in print. The truth is that a bit of Buson has rubbed off on me. I seem to have a heightened awareness of literary references to bells after visiting with Buson's sound-of-the-bell haiku last week.

Tonight, I opened my copy of George Orwell's novel, 1984, to page 88 and found myself reading about bells:

"All the while they were talking the half-remembered rhyme kept running through Winston's head: Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clement's, You owe me three farthings, say the bells of St. Martin's! (George Orwell, 1984, New York, NY: Harcourt Brace, 1949, 1977)"

The main character is astonished to discover that the sing-song rhyme evokes the illusion of pealing church bells.

That is the power of language--it has the capacity to engage the imagination so fully that we see and hear and feel things we might never see or hear or feel otherwise.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku® is my art and my business and my brand.

I hope you'll take a look (move cursor to title and click), and see if Ameriku® art suits your decor, or gift giving needs. And feel free to leave a comment here, if you wish.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku® trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

All rights reserved.

Buson's Snow Globe

2009-08-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, after dealing with computer problems and a broken sewing machine and galloping thunder-thigh squirrels---I had left a bowl of raw peanuts out on the deck for them---I popped into a thrift store, hoping to treat myself without overspending.

It is a rare day when I find anything I want, but I enjoy looking around just the same.

So it was strange that the first thing I saw when I walked in the door was a cotton sweater in like-new condition, by a maker I like to wear, in my size, and in colors that appealed to me. I was not sold, but intrigued.

A few steps farther, and I saw a rice bowl in brown tones, decorated with two stringed instruments (I am guessing they are a mandolin and a lute) and two characters that I cannot read, in Japanese or Chinese.

Then I descended the stairs into the shop's basement, and there I found Buson's Snow Globe. Under the glass, I saw a tiny replica of a bonsai garden, down to the raked sand.

On the side of the base, I found this haiku:

Coolness: the sound of the bell as it leaves the bell.

Buson

The globe had no batteries. I bought it, and once home, inserted two silver and green, Fuji brand, double As, and listened.

There is a difference between hearing and listening.

I heard bells. But also, something else, something grating. It was the sort of sound that off switches are made for.

It seemed as if Yosa Buson (1716-1783) might be trying to speak from the grave. Even for one with such a voice, it is difficult to speak without a throat.

I knew at once why Buson's beautiful snow globe had been donated to the thrift shop.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku® is my art and my business and my brand.

I hope you'll take a look (move cursor to title and click), and see if Ameriku® art suits your decor, or gift giving needs. And feel free to leave a comment here, if you wish.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku® trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

All rights reserved.

The Hummingbird

2009-08-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

This week I am reading Margaret Atwood's book, "Negotiating with the Dead, A Writer on Writing."

During lunch I did not eat, but started the chapter called Nobody to Nobody. One of the things that Atwood says in this chapter, and that I agree with, is that "the thoughts and emotions in a book are not necessarily those of the writer in it."

For me, this holds true whether I am writing poetry or fiction.

While reading, a female Ruby-Throated Hummingbird came to my feeder and inserted her long needle-like beak into the yellow bee guard five or six times.

I returned to the yellowed paperback in my hands, enchanted by her visit.

When I looked up again---her wings must have caught my eye---there she was, on the other side of the window once more. I suspect that she was the same female hummingbird who had visited before, but of course, I cannot know that.

Again she sipped from the same yellow bee guard, one of four spaced evenly around the circumference of the feeder. Again she took five or six dips into the portal for nectar.

I watched the whir of her wings, and realized that next to her, I move in slow motion. If she thinks at all about humans, she might think us inanimate, like rocks, so slowly do our hearts beat, compared to hers.

How do I know that it was a female hummingbird, and not a male? I live in an area where only Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds thrive, and only the males bear the distinctive ruby-colored throats. It is too late in the season for immature birds to be flying about, although the juvenile males wear the plain, white throats of females, and mothers.

My son is grown now, but I remember when his face was as smooth and beardless as my own.

As I write this, not knowing whether another soul will set eyes on it, I am reminded of Margaret Atwood's book for and about writers. It is due back at the library in ten days.

Who am I writing for? Where will this electronic page go, and how will it be received?

silence surrounds me---
startled by the hummingbird
I spill my tea

I leave you with my latest haiku, above, and the hummingbird, who flew into the trees. The level of nectar in the feeder, for all appearances, remains every bit as high as before.

The same cannot be said of my cup.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku® is my art and my business and my brand.

I hope you'll take a look (move cursor to title and click), and see if Ameriku® art suits your decor, or gift giving needs. And feel free to leave a comment here, if you wish.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku® trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

All rights reserved.

Writing for your Life

2009-05-19T14:39:00.000-07:00

Have you ever picked up a dictionary and said to yourself, I know the word I want is in there? Have you written and rewritten a single sentence five times? Flipped through a thesaurus and then had the word you want come to you, all by itself, like a gentle poltergeist with delusions of Daniel Webster?

That's because you're a writer. I know, you knew that. You did. You really did.

But why didn't that last freelance piece sell? Why didn't your story win the contest? Why can't you research the history of Englewood, New Jersey in 30 minutes and whip out a web piece in time to make the soccer match, bearing the children's halftime snacks? Could it mean you are not the language lover you thought you were? Could it mean you should hang it up and sell shoes instead?

No.

Not that there's anything wrong with selling shoes.

Especially heels, in forty different colors, and nine kinds of stripes. Or athletic lace-ups that take the torture out of step aerobics. And those smooth-bottomed swing dancing treads. No, nothing wrong with shoes, or selling shoes, at all.

It's just that writing is what you do best. It defines you. It's who you are. And what you are experiencing is what all writers go through, the ones who care about their craft and keep on trying, that is.

Sure, it's hard to put yourself out there. You take it on the chin, all those rejections, all those pregnant essays floating about unpublished. But the simple fact is that nobody sells anything they don't send out. And nobody improves their work by slacking off.

You just have to pick yourself up, sit yourself down, and put a keyboard or a pen in your hand. You have to face the blank page and forge ahead. You have to be fearless. It's do or die. No choice. You have a Jones for the published word.

Besides, you can't be as bad as me. I have got to stop telling my friends the lame joke that the dictionary is my favorite book. But it's true, I'm hooked. I love the dictionary. I do. I have 12 of them, not counting the version on my word processor. OK, they're not all in English, but still. Twelve.

So I ask you, what's not to love? The dictionary has all the words in it, and they're spelled right. I can check five definitions and etymology and archaic uses. All the words I could ever want, in easy peasy alphabetical squeegee.

All I have to do is rearrange them. Jumble them up, like socks in the silverware. It's rather humbling, isn't it?

You'd think I could write as fast as I could say apple pie with cheddar cheese, now wouldn't you?

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku® is my art and my business and my brand.

I hope you'll take a look (move cursor to title and click), and see if Ameriku® art suits your decor, or gift giving needs. And feel free to leave a comment here, if you wish.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku® trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

All rights reserved.

Dare to Acquire?

2009-05-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

This week I am reading a collection of translations of Haiku Master Yosa Buson (1717-1783), and I am struck by this quotation, from a piece called "New Flower Picking":

"What you want to acquire, you should dare to acquire by any means. What you want to see, even though it is with difficulty, you should see. You should not let it pass, thinking there will be another chance to see it or to acquire it. It is quite unusual to have a second chance to materialize your desire."

After reading the haiku presented in the book, I do not think Buson is talking about the acquisition of material goods.

I think he is saying, look around you, take it all in. Life is short, but shorter still for those who live with blinders on. Here is one of his spring haiku:

The pond and the river
have joined together as one
in the spring rain.

---Buson

Buson challenges us to fulfill our own, deepest desires--to go blossom-viewing, or moon-viewing, as the Japanese love to do, or to sit quietly by a pond in the presence of a frog.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku® is my art and my business and my brand.

I hope you'll take a look (move cursor to title and click), and see if Ameriku® art suits your decor, or gift giving needs. And feel free to leave a comment here, if you wish.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku® trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

All rights reserved.

Chili Bugs

2009-02-22T08:52:00.001-08:00

There are days that I don't want to write anything, let alone haiku, which is blessedly short but not necessarily easy to pull off. There are days when everything goes wrong, when I'm editing a story for the umpteenth time, when I would rather not stub my fingers on a keyboard or risk paper cuts clearing a jammed printer.

Exaggeration? A bit. I don't stub my fingers or suffer many paper cuts. But maybe you have had days that screamed ouch at you, too.

Yesterday was one of those days for me, and this is the haiku that I wrote:

bugs in the cumin
tossing out spice in the snow
no chili tonight

This is not the sort of haiku to inspire romance or hope or sweet dreams. But it is real, and being real is one of the things that makes it haiku.

There is no room to describe the white larvae burrowed against the clear plastic side of the spice container. There is no extra-syllabic allowance for the tiny brown bodies of the adults, scuttling across the surface, then playing dead in not-behind-the-cupboard-door daylight.

You may have imagined these things. You may not have. But it is not up to haiku to spell them out.

Today I've written one that does not follow classic form, because it flows as one thought, one sentence:

can the ear of corn
left out for the squirrels
be called stolen?

Here I am questioning my interpretation of events. When I give something away, whether it is an ear of critter corn that I leave out on the deck for the squirrels, or pillows and candlesticks that I take to Goodwill, do I have the right to criticize what is done with my gift? Why is it so hard to relinquish control? Yes, the squirrels made off with the corn, instead of allowing me the pleasure of watching them eat, but a gift is a gift, isn't it?

Neither of these haiku is suitable for my Ameriku art, but they are my haiku, just the same. They come from personal experience. They are grounded in nature. And they are short. Painfully short.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

I hope you'll take a look (move cursor to title and click), and see if Ameriku art suits your decor, or gift giving needs. And feel free to leave a comment here, if you wish.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

All rights reserved.

Process

2009-02-17T10:57:00.000-08:00

I should probably mention that I prefer classic haiku, haiku grounded in first-hand observation of nature, sometimes with a Zen-like bent.

In my Ameriku® brand of art, it might not be clear at first that the verbal art and the visual art were created separately, and fused later. But the poetry was not written with the photo, or artwork, in mind.

Only a very tiny percentage of my haiku qualify to become part of my Ameriku® art. The ones that do are often poems that have taken a great deal of time.

For example, yesterday's spur of the moment haiku:

fresh white snow
something is always growing
cold feet

would be revised today to read:

new star-speckled snow
something is always out there--
cold feet

and could be changed again, and might be.

Normally, I keep this process to myself. It is not easy to expose raw work. It's a bit embarrassing. It's definitely humbling.

So I am being completely honest when I say that, while I would like to create a haiku that I am satisfied with on the first try, most of the time, I can't. Most of the time, it takes a little more effort than that. Sometimes, a lot of effort.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku® is my art and my business and my brand.

I hope you'll take a look (move cursor to title and click), and see if Ameriku® art suits your decor, or gift giving needs. And feel free to leave a comment here, if you wish.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku® trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

All rights reserved.

Natural Observation

2009-02-16T11:38:00.000-08:00

Observation is the essence of haiku, and particularly, observation of nature. A poem that hopes to focus on the present, ought to have its origins in a specific moment in a specific present, in other words, in a real observation by the poet.

This could be accomplished by looking out the window, without thinking about things that went right (or wrong) at work, without making a mental list of household chores---or fretting over what the doctor said.

The primary observation could be made while shoveling the driveway, pulling weeds in the garden, or walking along a wooded trail. It could be a smell, or a sound.

Not everything in nature is beautiful. To face things as they are, rather than as we wish they could be, takes discipline, and honesty.

Here is one I wrote today:

fresh white snow
something is always growing
cold feet

This involved my observation of a change in the weather, the new snow in the morning, and then coupling change to growth and fear. Real cold feet, and metaphorical cold feet. Both.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku® is my art and my business and my brand.

I hope you'll take a look (move cursor to title and click), and see if Ameriku® art suits your decor, or gift giving needs. And feel free to leave a comment here, if you wish.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku® trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Layout

2009-01-15T08:46:00.001-08:00

In Japan, sometimes haiku is written as one continuous vertical line, sometimes two or three vertical lines. An arrangement of vertical lines is in harmony with the Japanese language. In English, it is gimmicky.

But one long horizontal line doesn't usually suit English haiku, that is, haiku that are written in the English language. So, English haiku are arranged (typically) in three lines. But if you need to break up the lines a bit differently, that is OK, too.

There is nothing sacred about the rule of three lines. It is not the only acceptable layout.

Sometimes I need to move the lines around in order to arrange them onto my artwork. But the poems are still haiku. And of course, I spent many years working strictly within the 5-7-5 guidelines.

Someone once said you have to know the rules, to know how to break them. And that's true. You have to know the rules well enough, through practice, to understand intuitively when tweaking them honors the spirit of haiku.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku® is my art and my business and my brand. I hope you'll take a look (move cursor to title and click), and see if Ameriku® art suits your decor, or gift giving needs.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku® trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

How to make haiku, Step 4

2008-12-17T18:04:00.000-08:00

Step 4. Fine Tune

Now is the time to polish those words, to remove unwieldy phrases, to choose better verbs. In this step you fine tune the haiku.

Part of fine-tuning is counting syllables, and staying close to the limits of 5 syllables for the 1st line, 7 syllables for the 2nd line, and 5 syllables for the 3rd line.

While it is important to be brief and to follow the form where possible, meaning trumps form. If you need one extra syllable, and leaving it out makes the poem sound peculiar, then you put that extra syllable onto the page.

Often, the meaning does not demand that many words, or that many syllables. It's OK to go under the 5-7-5 syllabic count. You allow more empty space, you invite greater brevity, and you stay true to the essence of haiku.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku® is my art and my business and my brand. I hope you'll take a look (move cursor to title and click), and see if Ameriku® art suits your decor, or gift giving needs.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku® trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

How to make haiku, Step 3

2008-12-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

Step 3: Simmer

When you have gathered the clay and your fingers are dirty with it, and you are tired and can no longer think, then you wait. You walk away. You let the words simmer.

Simmering can take as little as a few minutes or as long as a few months. There is no rule of thumb, only that you take a break.

Simmering is why one poem might be finished in half an hour, but another might be tweaked for over a year.

Simmering is a stage that is revisited whenever it feels as though the finished poem (what is produced after the first time through step 3) is really not finished, and needs some attention. You keep it company for awhile, then simmer, then come back.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku® is my art and my business and my brand. I hope you'll take a look (move cursor to title and click), and see if Ameriku® art suits your decor, or gift giving needs.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku® trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

How to make haiku, Step 2

2008-12-09T10:12:00.000-08:00

Step 2. Brainstorm

Remember the things you have seen, as if the images were frozen in place for you to review at your leisure, examining what it is about them that draws you, or intrigues you, or makes you look twice.

What did your other senses tell you when you saw this? What season does it represent? Is it winter but warm, either in fact or emotionally, psychologically?

Step 2 is the brainstorming stage, where you try to translate your observations and feelings into language. It is when you put down the words. Do not hold back. Do not judge what falls onto the page.

At first, you may have excess words, an embarras de richesses. While haiku is brief, this is not the time to hold back. This is not the time to count syllables.

You may have a paragraph, or even a page. You may have only one line, but ten different words that fail to satisfy the sweet spot, and you keep trying on new ones for size. Write as much or as little as you need to write. Get all the words out.

They are your clay.

Does this method seem familiar to you, or foreign? What is your creative process?

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand. I hope you'll take a look (move cursor to title and click), and see if Ameriku art suits your decor, or gift giving needs.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

How to make haiku, Step 1a

2008-12-06T12:40:00.000-08:00

Step 1a: Do I have to?

Do you have to go outside to make haiku? Do you have to stand in the rain, feel the snow, burn your face in the sun? No.

There are as many paths as there are people, as there are poems.

Do you make haiku? How do you go about it? What is your approach? Feel free to leave a comment if you like.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand. I hope you'll take a look (move cursor to title and click), and see if Ameriku art suits your decor, or gift giving needs.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

How to make haiku, Step 1

2008-12-03T12:20:00.000-08:00

Step 1. Observe First-hand

This post has the word "make" in it because at one time, poets were called "makers." A poet is a maker of art with words. But how is it done? How do you make haiku?

Be aware of your surroundings, and yourself. Take time to observe the sky and the ground. Walk outdoors. Let the air touch your cheek. Is it hot and dry, or cold and wet? If the sun is out, is the day cloudy or bright? Do you hear any birds, squirrels, chipmunks, or other wild creatures? How does it feel to be out and about on this particular day, at this particular time?

You cannot write about it well, if you don't allow yourself to feel it, experience it.

Maybe your mind is on other things. That is OK. Those other things may become part of the poem. But for traditional haiku, it is good to anchor your feelings and thoughts in nature, in the concrete things that you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch.

Does the air taste of pine? What does that remind you of?

Does the wind smell of automobile exhaust? Is it nauseating, or normal?

Does the snow crunch beneath your feet? Do you like it, or does it annoy you?

These are the starting points. This is where it all begins. With specificity. One season. One day. One hour. One minute. One or two observations, and a connection, an insight.

I like to say I cannot write haiku unless I stand in the rain. It is the personal, intimate experience of nature that spurs the muse.

That's how I make haiku. How about you?

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Barnes & Noble: Fun at First Friday Event

2008-11-08T07:03:00.000-08:00

What a lovely crowd we had last night at the cafe at Barnes & Noble. I feel especially grateful for the opportunity to share some of my work in a coffee-house atmosphere filled with books, music, and of course, you.

A special thanks to Barb Darbutt for organizing the event. You helped me feel welcome and made it a joy to participate. The tea was great, and the arrangement with the cozy round tables in front of my easels, along with the stool and microphone, helped make it possible to speak about poetry and art in a meaningful way. Credit for the photo goes to Barb, too.

This was a First Friday event at Barnes & Noble, and I was not the only artist invited to participate. In the cafe with me were Jennie (we had a chance to talk before things got started) and her partner (who arrived later, and whose name escapes me). I love that you performed some original songs. You guys sound the way I wish I could, the way I've imagined I sound when I sing along with the radio!

I know that the crowd was gathered for the music and not for the poetry, so it meant a lot when my dear friend Barbara Sabol arrived with her fiance, Tom, not knowing there would be music, too.

A special thank you to the man who wanted to purchase the postcard with the bee on a coneflower. You made my day when you told me that you'd never heard poetry like this before, and that it moved you.

It was a joy to meet the woman who wanted to take a longer look at my poem that begins "Now the Sun," featured with a closeup of a red zinnia on my greeting cards, posters, and conservation quality matted prints. I'm glad that it spoke to you.

One of the paradoxes about haiku is that it appears simple because it is short. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

That poem was a long time in the making, as most of them are. I start with a feeling based on direct experience with nature. Then a lot of words pour out---too many---and most of them are the wrong words. Whittling those words down takes effort and time. You don't see the sweat or the struggle on paper, but believe me, it's there.

With the exception of a few poems written by the 17th century haiku master, Matsuo Basho (identified as such and not used in my art)---all the poems and all the art were my original work---and they fall under the category of intellectual property.

Please understand that I am trying to make a living, and honor my effort by NOT copying my words or images.

If you like what you see, mention my name to someone, or buy a piece of Ameriku art through my website (link above). As we approach the holiday season, I hope you'll keep Ameriku art in mind for your gift giving needs.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Reminder: Barnes & Noble Event Tonight

2008-11-07T10:53:00.001-08:00

You're invited to an Author/Artist event:

Come see me tonight at Barnes and Noble Booksellers in Fairlawn, that's Friday, November 7th. I'll bring along some samples of my trademarked fine art, Ameriku.

While at Barnes and Noble, I'll talk about the art of poetry, focusing on how I create my trademarked Ameriku art in three steps, including haiku, photography, and merging the two. Also, we may do a writing exercise designed to bring out your creativity.

The event is being held in the Cafe, located on your left after coming in the door.

Barnes and Noble
4015 Medina Rd
Akron OH

(330) 665-5199

Date: Friday, November 7
Time: 7-9 pm

Free to the public

Barnes and Noble does not permit any sales during these events, but you'll be able to order from me if you wish, or browse at the website so you can order by mail, in plenty of time for holiday giving. Special requests are given every consideration.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Photographing Pumpkins

2008-10-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

For a few years I've wanted to take my camera to the native habitat of the pumpkin, and catch a whole vine on its own turf. Yet each year I've forgotten until those large cardboard bins appear outside the grocery store, filled to the brim.

This month when the days grew short and the skies grayed, I was sure I'd blown it. I was feeling kind of down, when I took a different route, and up over the crest of a hill, butted against the highway, I saw them. There was a whole field of bright orange globes, like so many basketballs dropped for not dribbling.

I rushed home only to find my camera's battery dead. By the next morning I had a full charge but it had rained all night and was still coming down in a drizzle. I wanted clear skies, but the longer I waited, the more likely the pumpkins would be picked.

The field was full of mud. Cars whizzed by. The rain let up. I didn't stop until my fingers were numb from the cold, and I took home dozens of shots. That, plus mud-caked shoes and mud-trimmed pants.

Success! And the first of many steps involved in making a new piece of Ameriku art.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Pumpkins

2008-10-19T15:26:00.000-07:00

Pumpkins are like a piece of summer you can pick up and carry away in your arms. Does this one say Jack o' Lantern to you, or pie? Does it need to be something else, or is it pumpkin enough, sitting in the patch where it grew?

These are the kinds of questions I might ask myself, when beginning to play with the words for a new haiku.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Barnes and Noble Event

2008-09-22T12:50:00.000-07:00

You're invited to an Author/Artist event:

Come see me at at Barnes and Noble Booksellers in Fairlawn on Friday, November 7th. I'll bring along some samples of my trademarked fine art, Ameriku.

While at Barnes and Noble, I'll be giving a talk about the art of poetry, focusing on haiku and nature photography, and I'll be glad to entertain questions. We may do a writing exercise designed to bring out your creativity, as well. Should be a fun time.

The event is being held in the Cafe, located on your left after coming in the door.

Barnes and Noble
4015 Medina Rd
Akron OH

(330) 665-5199

Date: Friday, November 7
Time: 7-9 pm

Free to the public

Barnes and Noble does not permit any sales during these events, but you'll be able to order from me if you wish, or browse at the website so you can order by mail, in plenty of time for holiday giving. Special requests are given every consideration.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Report from Stan Hywet

2008-08-30T09:21:00.000-07:00

The Stan Hywet event took a lovely turn with live music by two musicians, alternating sets, and sunny weather without a drop of rain.

If you have never visited Stan Hywet and have the chance to come to Akron, it is well worth your time. The grounds are beautiful, the main building is like a castle, and even the outbuildings hold an otherworldly charm. Visit the website for more information:

Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens

It was a delight to run into a friend from COSE who was shopping at the Farmers' Market at Stan Hywet. COSE is the Council of Smaller Enterprises, a business group that helps people with everything from startups to expansions.

Sabrena and I are both members of the Arts Network within COSE. She and her husband own a landscaping design business under the name Salsbury-Schweyer.

Salsbury-Schweyer

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Stan Hywet Event

2008-08-18T08:01:00.000-07:00

I'll be at Stan Hywet for the Farmers Market this Thursday (August 21st) to sell Ameriku, the art of poetry. Look for me and my verbal art at the booth with the Akron Manuscript Club.

I'll bring Ameriku posters, prints, greeting cards, postcards and maybe a surprise or two. There will also be some wonderful books written by members of the Akron Manuscript Club.

Is there a birthday or a wedding on your calendar? Do you know someone who will be celebrating an anniversary? Going into the hospital? A book or a piece of art can make a wonderful gift.

Stan Hywet
714 N. Portage Path
Akron OH 44303

Phone: (330) 836-5533

Thursday August 21
4 - 7 pm

Even if you don't find something you want, it should be a good time in a beautiful location. I hope you can make it.

For those who plan to be there, when you arrive, make sure to say you are coming for the Farmers Market! This is a free event, but if they think you are coming to tour the mansion, they will charge you the usual admission.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Mountain Pose: Not Just Standing There

2008-08-13T12:04:00.000-07:00

This post is for one of my yoga instructors, Shari, who is undergoing surgery tomorrow. Shari is amazing. She's been teaching yoga for months now with two broken, dislocated toes.

Shari's transition from Up Dog to Down Dog is incredible. She rotates her feet in perfect form, up onto the toes like a ballerina, without putting her knees down to bear some of the weight.

I can't do that. I'm afraid to even try. Shari kept on doing this, even with broken toes!

In one of her last yoga classes before surgery this week, Shari directed us to stand in Mountain. "It's not just standing there," she said.

No, it's not. But to the untrained eye, it probably looks like it.

"The more you practice Mountain," she continued, "the easier it is to come into the pose."

I know what she means. Practice counts. Little tiny improvements add up.

In Mountain, we need to make sure we are standing over both legs evenly. We do not want one hip jutting out. It is not Mountain if your back is curved and your stomach sticks out. It is not Mountain if your shoulders are tight, or curled, giving you a rounded back.

Mountain is straight, tall, and balanced. It is a simple position that should be comfortable, "as if you could stand all day like that"---more of Shari's words.

But it is not effortless, thoughtless, or necessarily easy. Mountain is a conscious effort to stand erect, in balance, without a tilted pelvis or rounded shoulders.

Mountain and haiku are sisters.

Haiku is poetry in perfect balance, open, sparse, and plain. It is not fancy. There are no curlicues or pirouettes. Because of this, haiku might look effortless, thoughtless, or easy.

It's none of those things, but like yoga and the Mountain pose, it is easier to write good haiku when you practice frequently. It is easier to return to the haiku state of mind when you have been there before, and when you visit often.

Thank you, Shari, for teaching me the value of Mountain. Best of luck to you during surgery. And thank you Kim, for taking Shari's classes while she is recovering, so that we don't forget Mountain, or any of the other poses the two of you teach us so well.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Heritage Farms Event

2008-08-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

I'll be at Heritage Farms for the Countryside Farmers' Market tomorrow morning (Saturday August 9th) with the Akron Manuscript Club. The market is located at:

Countryside Farmers' Market at Heritage Farms
6050 Riverview Rd
Peninsula OH 44264

Open: 9 am to Noon.

Ameriku, the art of poetry, will be available for purchase. I'll bring Ameriku posters, prints, greeting cards, postcards and maybe a surprise or two. There will also be some wonderful books written by members of the Akron Manuscript Club.

Is there a birthday or a wedding on your calendar? Do you know someone who will be celebrating an anniversary? Going into the hospital? A book or a piece of art can make a wonderful gift.

Come by and see us! There's no charge to look, and you might find something you can't resist.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

The Nature of Art

2008-07-24T18:57:00.000-07:00

As I sit here, writing to the wind, sending thoughts on the ocean of the Internet in this imaginary bottle called a blog, I can't help but wonder about the nature of art.

Sometimes art becomes a catalyst for reflection. The artist's vision cascades over me and finds a still place and nestles there. When I create my own art, I am in that cascading place, trying to capture it somehow, trying to map the way there. It is bliss. An agonizing bliss, but still bliss.

Not all art calls me.

What is art to me is what startles me and intrigues me and ignites my childlike wonder. It is form and color and word and sound and always indefinable.

Nature is awesome. I think the nature of art is to evoke awe by what has been created by intention, by some "one" as opposed to some "thing."

What is art to you? How do you know you are in the presence of art?

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Say it Straight, Tell it Slant

2008-07-17T09:17:00.001-07:00

A poet says extraordinary things straight up. These are the things so obvious that no one notices, or acknowledges them. These are the poems that speak of death on the battlefield, drawing the bodies with words that are maimed.

Poems make us look.

They make us grieve, make us stop fooling ourselves.

But a poet also says ordinary things in extraordinary ways, over shaved ice with a touch of absinthe. The poet sidles up to the subjects we think we know so well, and shows us what we have somehow missed, or overlooked. This is what it means to say it slant.

It is not a red rose on a summer day, it is both a rose and a symbol, maybe a reminder of that lipsticked-kiss on the back of the neck. A rose is a rose is a rose, except when it's not, except when it's more.

Poems make us feel, make us slip into someone else's skin for a moment, make us connect.

Or so it seems to me, today, when the sun is hot and high.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

What makes art art?

2008-07-16T13:08:00.000-07:00

It occurs to me that what makes art art is a bit of a mystery. Is it the use of a novel material, or technique? The kudos of peers, or the reaction of a critic?

If great art stands the test of time, what about performance art? And how long do you have to wait to declare something art?

Andy Warhol's Tomato Soup Cans challenged 1960s conventional thinking.

Recently, I've seen art made of recycled materials, and everyday objects. I've seen art made of paper and glue, so fragile it seems no more lasting than a kindergarten project. Art that wants to wobble if someone so much as sneezes in the next room.

Does it have to be impractical, or shocking, to be called art? If something is practical, does that automatically mean it cannot be art? Does the best art require maintenance, even coddling? Does it qualify as art if it's comforting, like an old shirt, like mashed potatoes?

Who decides what is art, and what is not?

I'd always thought that art had to teeter between an expensive fragility, like crystal, and a rugged sturdiness, like metal. Paintings seemed to be a midpoint, and for me, the yardstick.

Now, I think that it's art, if it makes you feel something. It's art if it speaks to you slant.

This is, of course, the poet's way, to say it slant.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

A Lonely Business, This

2008-07-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

The life of a poet depends on solitude. It is necessary to be alone and to work with a blank page. Most of the time this is fine. Most of the time it is a joy, even.

I like getting into the creative meditative state, where I'm able to tap the deepest feelings, and with luck, bring them to the surface for reflection. When I've done it right, I feel as though I've been transparent.

The goal is not pretty words, it is connection. It is awe (ain't life grand?) and honesty (do we really have to die? how bad will it hurt?).

But sometimes it gets lonely.

The poet, the fiction writer, the artist, the musician—all of us hunger for our other half. We need the reader, the viewer, the audience. Reaching you is the only way to tell if we've actually done what we've set out to do.

Sometimes it feels like I am writing into a vacuum, putting my thoughts down for nobody. It is like the philosophical conundrum, if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

Meanwhile, back to business:

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Loss

2008-07-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

It is raining. It is a summer rain, soft with the swarm of heat, hard with the hiss of mosquitoes.

This day the weeds will get a break. No one will pull them. No one will dig them up. They will drink and drink and drink. They will overtake whole gardens. They will encroach the flowers and the herbs and the fine green grass.

They will unwittingly strangle daisies and lavender, Sweet William and sage.

A fellow writer, who appreciated the magic of poetry and the joy of fiction, died of cancer on June 29th. Today is the viewing. Today it is raining.

I knew David and his wife, Sarah, through writing groups. I remember an event in Canton, Ohio, where we read our work with a few other poets, and Dave's wife played the flute between sets, along with a friend on clarinet.

It is hard to let go, hardest of all to know each day arrives dragging loss more near. We fight it. We deny it.

But loss will come to us, one way or another. It will bite us when we are sleeping. It will sneak through the windows when we wake.

Poetry is a way for a poet to reach a hand across time to a stranger, a way of saying we are alone but we are not alone. We are connected, even as we separate, even as we part.

May this lover of language rest in peace, and may his family find comfort in the words he left behind.

Lacunae

2008-06-17T11:08:00.000-07:00

While studying the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca, I came across a word I didn't know.

Now, I'm a word person. I have 13 dictionaries on the shelf behind my writing desk. (Several of them are in foreign languages, but most are in English.) I have a Super Thesaurus, an International Thesaurus, and a Synonym Finder.

I don't use them all the time, but I like knowing that they are there. Sometimes I page through one of them, pause on a word, and read all the archaic definitions. When I'm searching for a word, I might jog through these books. Using the books is like having a coach. They make my mind work harder. By the time I am finished pacing through them, seeing the alternatives and throwing them all out, the right word has come to mind.

I'm a bit like Goldilocks in that regard. I think all writers are. We don't want the word that is too hot, or the word that is too cold, we want the one that is just right.

So when I find a word I don't know, I am thrilled. I like to taste its sound on my tongue, swirl it around, decide if it's fine wine or dark beer or dishwater.

Lacunae is the plural of lacuna, a word that signifies the gaps, or places where something is missing, in a manuscript or a line of argument. This isn't always a welcome thing, or a useful thing. It can be annoying. It can be infuriating. Nobody wants a book with the last chapter torn out.

But a bit of lacuna might be necessary in art, where we want to see with the inner eye.

Haiku nurtures the gaps, the open spaces. The reader is invited to interpret the poem in personal terms. The depth is in the gaps.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

The Hollow Nest

2008-06-14T13:57:00.000-07:00

These last two weeks have been exceptionally hot for this time of year in Ohio, low-to-mid-nineties, and of course, we always have high humidity, here. But I haven't turned on the air conditioner.

Now, there's a part of me that wishes I could say I didn't use the air conditioner because I am trying to do my part for the environment, and what's a little sweat? But the fact is, I wanted to switch it on. In a 2-story colonial, the whole day's heat collapses upstairs in the bedrooms, making it hard to fall asleep.

The compressor for my air conditioner is located in a 6 x 4 foot cutout near the right rear corner of the house, where I'd planted a burning bush over 20 years ago. It was short and small, then. Now, it's so large that a couple of robins decided to build their nest in it, directly above the compressor, only about 4 feet off the ground.

I'd found the nest accidentally, when planting some green beans and doing some weeding in the garden. The mama and papa birds were yelling at me, flying near and then away, trying to get me to follow them.

I pulled a few weeds around the base of the compressor, and saw them, three baby robins, hunkered down, their beaks the only definitive part that allowed me to count them.

Day after day I checked on them, taking care not to stay more than a few seconds. One day, I saw a round baby in the grass 30 feet from the nest, all fluff and too young to fly. All it could do was hop, but it hopped too fast for me to catch it and put it back in the nest before my appointment.

The next day there were only two birds huddled in the nest.

A few days after that, they were "sitting up." I could see their heads and necks for the first time, and they were looking back at me with their tiny black eyes.

The nest is empty now. I ran the air conditioner overnight, to reduce the humidity from the thunderstorm.

As much as I enjoy the air, I miss those little ones.

Maybe I will remember them in my art.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces nature-oriented art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku and photography.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Matsuo Basho's Frog

2008-06-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

With the splash of a frog, Japanese haiku master, Matsuo Basho, invigorated poetry. Until then, it was customary to write of the beauty of a frog, its appearance in a serene setting, essentially, a still life painted in words.

That's why Basho's poetic rendition of a frog shook the world of Japanese poetry. He wrote a piece tuned into the funny sound--the splash, plop, or kerplunk---made by a frog jumping into a real, and simultaneously metaphorical, pond.

This wasn't a graceful dive into water. It was an ordinary frog saying enough! I have been on this pedestal for too long. It is time to be a frog, and be real. In a way, that simple splash was as loud and abrupt as a fart. It was irreverent, and it broke the spell. It made people laugh, and relax.

For some English translations of Basho's famous frog poem, go to:

http://bopsecrets.org/gateway/passages/basho-frog.htm

Some English versions use the word "old" and others use "ancient" to describe Basho's pond in the poem's first line. Either way, the static nature of the pond is crucial. It represents tradition, and a real pond, at the same time. It represents inertia.

At first, the frog carries the romanticized weight of the traditional interpretation of frogs. Then, in a sudden move, the frog shakes off those highbrow limitations, and leaps into the discordant unknown, a bit like a child belly-flopping into the pool. Some 300 years later, Basho's frog poem still inspires.

I do not read or write Japanese, and cannot do my own translation from the original Basho masterpiece. But based on the many English translations, and what the poem has come to mean to me, here is my take on Basho's frog:

stagnant pond...
a frog cuts
a belly flop

©Rae Hallstrom

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku Ltd produces art prints, posters, greeting cards and other items, based on my original haiku.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Tail of the Squirrel

2008-05-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

Even though the change is gradual, it always feels as if the trees turn green overnight, cleansing the sky of the blacks-and-blues of winter and bringing a fresh dose of hope. I love looking up at the blue sky when it is feathered by thousands of leaves, all of them new, and unafraid, like babies.

The leaves have no way of knowing that they are destined to live for only one season, or that they might be pockmarked by bug eggs, or that one of us might come along and carelessly tear one or two of them from a branch. But if they did know, would they stop unfurling? Would they stay in their tight little buds, waiting for the perfect moment to be a leaf?

The other day, driving through my neighborhood, I noticed a tail all by itself on the road. It was the soft, fluffy tail of a gray squirrel. They are plentiful here, and for me, beloved, even though I've had to buy a special squirrel-proof bird feeder. Sometimes I buy raw peanuts in the shell, but the blue jays steal the peanuts before the squirrels find them. I will have to buy a lot more next time.

Anyhow, there was this tail, glued to the road by a squirrel, who would never be a squirrel again.

I am working on a poem about it. This is a hard poem to write, much harder than the ones about the happy aspects of nature. It is especially hard to write it short, and still manage to say something. This was a real squirrel, but as I think about what happened, the squirrel begins to feel like a metaphor for our fallen soldiers, on my mind because Monday was Memorial Day, and for their sake, I will not look away.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Angel Auction

2008-05-25T12:23:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to say I've received good news from the 2008 Angel Auction. The auction raised more than $435,000 for the benefit of Aultman Hospital.

Although my contribution--a framed piece of my Ameriku art, called Weddings--was small when compared to some of the other donations, such as a sailboat, I am pleased to have been able to give something to this worthy cause.

Thanks to all who attended the auction and also to the Women's Board, who made the event a spectacular one, and so much fun.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Beginning to Unfold

2008-05-15T15:22:00.000-07:00

This title may seem a bit strange, even cryptic. What does it mean to be folded? What does it mean to unfold? To begin the process of unfolding?

When I wrote the title, one of the things I was thinking about was a rose. There are a dozen pale peach-pink roses in my kitchen, a gift for Mother's Day. (This is one of them.)

I'd been out with one of my daughters on Sunday, buying her groceries and other supplies to take back with her, to tide her over for a couple of weeks. She is going to be away from home for the summer for the first time. We passed by the flowers being sold for Mother's Day, and she said, Do you like these? I could get these for you. Which ones do you want?

I couldn't pick.

Then we went to the checkout lines, me with my cart full of groceries, and her with the bouquet in hand. She said, I think I can go in the express lane, Mom. And the people in the line in front of me and in the next line and the next, all turned to smile.

When we got home and my daughter handed me the bouquet, the roses weren't really roses yet. They were tight little buds. They were folded in on themselves.

Ever since, they have been relaxing, and opening up.

I should admit that I was also thinking of me when I wrote the title. Not me as I am now, me as a child. Me as a tiny bud, before beginning to unfold.

I was thinking about how strange my life is now. So much has ended, and so much seems to be just getting started.

I was remembering the good feeling I'd had writing poems when I was 7 or 8, and sharing them with friends. I remember making up stories, too, and entertaining my cousins with them to keep from going to bed. Once, I made a floppy little book out of paper towels.

That was the beginning, and this is a sort of beginning, too. I am not unfolded yet. Maybe none of us are.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Ameriku® Mission Statement

2008-05-13T14:59:00.000-07:00

Here is my first attempt at a mission statement:

The mission of Ameriku® is to harmonize the tug-of-war, either-or, yin-yang relationship between the written word and fine art by a fusion of poetry with the visual arts. It is hoped this will help introduce the joy of poetry to a new, wider audience, and reacquaint others with poetry made more accessible, and less formidable, in this format.

Ameriku Ltd creates, markets, and sells original art in a variety of forms, including framed art, posters and greeting cards.

Through Rae Hallstrom's haiku—which reflects her vision and her interpretation of the poetic form—combined with her earth-centered, nature-oriented art, Ameriku Ltd strives to offer the relaxation of a stress-free moment. This is the now experience—the everlasting yes—that encourages clarity, reduces stress, and lifts the spirit through the inward journey of contemplation, however brief.

That's it. That's why I'm doing this.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Meditation

2008-05-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

Is it possible to achieve a meditative state through Hatha Yoga?

There is something about holding a pose and concentrating on the breath that helps clear the mind of clutter.

There is something about inhaling for one motion, and exhaling for another, that prevents extraneous thoughts from creeping in, the dangling participle of not-enough.

Some days, it is asking a lot to breathe, and to observe, and to hold still.

When I am in Mountain, I am not inactive. I am not just standing there. I am focused on how well my feet are planted, how well I hold my posture, and how sturdy I am. It is a restful pose, but not a weak one.

Today I will be a mountain inside and out. Today I will practice strength in ordinary ways.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Passport to Paradise

2008-04-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to say that the annual Angel Auction for the benefit of Aultman Hospital is this week, and one of my pieces will be featured. This year's auction theme is a tropical Passport to Paradise.

The sneak peak/preview is on Thursday May 1 from 5 -7:30 pm at the Canton Civic Center (Canton, Ohio). The main event is Friday night May 2nd.

After trying umpteen times to activate the URL here I've given up.

I've donated a Wedding piece shown at the bottom of page 6 on the auction listings. The piece is ready to hang in a black gallery-style frame with 8-ply white mat and artist concept fitted into a pocket at the back. It measures approximately 21 inches wide by 17 inches tall.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

I couldn't write because of the cat

2008-04-22T07:26:00.000-07:00

She lies on top of my notes, bumping the keyboard with her body, taking a bath. I have moved her. I have picked her up, cuddled her, and put her down on the floor.

I have kissed her on the nose. In return, she sniffs my breath, pretends it is fresh.

This is an old picture. She is a whole week wiser now. She is cleaning her belly in front of my Epson printer. I cannot turn it on. If I turn it on, I cannot open it. There is no space. It is all cat.

I have whispered condolences of not-now and of course you-are-still-wonderful but she won't buy the floor. She jumps back up. There must be something cat-like about a messy desk, papers strewn across, some piles higher than others, all that commotion, conquered, silenced. It makes her purr.

The cat does not seem to mind that the desk is in the dark chill of basement when outside the air is swift with spring.

The cat does not play haiku. The cat does not fret over words and art, bills and burgeoning obligations, the dentist, the mechanic, the broken freezer with the food rotting at the bottom.

The future means nothing. Meals of the past are forgotten. When she feels that itch, she scratches. She doesn't wait or postpone. When her bath is done, she naps.

The cat knows the present moment. The cat is Zen.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Is poetry a hard sell?

2008-04-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I've found very few people seem to be familiar with contemporary poetry, and out of those who are familiar with it, even fewer seem to be fans. Mention a published poet, even a Pulitzer Prize winner, and what do you get?

Crinkled noses. Shuffling feet. Eyes focused on something in the upper right corner of the room. You know what I'm talking about. All the enthusiasm of a day-old glazed donut.

Is poetry a hard sell?

If you look at how poets support themselves today, you'll see a lot of professors. You might see the occasional nurse-poet, or schoolteacher-poet, and maybe the odd banker or lawyer or engineer. The circumstantial evidence speaks for itself. Most poets don't make enough from poetry to buy stamps, let alone food. Most poets need a day job.

Yes, poetry's a hard sell. Poetry's a very hard sell.

But why?

Why isn't poetry more popular? Why aren't ordinary people reading poetry, talking poetry, buying poetry?

At an artists' panel discussion last week, Judith Mansour-Thomas, Director of The Lit in Cleveland and editor of the group's new literary magazine, Muse, said poets read poetry, fiction writers listen to poetry, and that's about it.

What about the slew of poetry readings in coffee shops and bookstores? What about poetry slams, events where performance poetry dominates (often with a lot of rhyming, often about the angst of young love or the intensity of sex).

I've seen the artistic equivalent of the Barack Obama phenom, people sandwiched into small rooms, most of them under the age of 25. I've come away after reading my own work, free verse that doesn't rhyme, that's not about young love or the ecstasy of sex, still hearing the applause in my head, and thinking whoo-hoo, poetry is back.

Poetry is a hard sell. Poetry is making a comeback. Which is it? Could it be both?

Ameriku is not your typical contemporary poetry. First, it's my interpretation, my slant on the ancient Japanese tradition of haiku. Second, it's combined with visual art, ready to hang on the wall, or display on a nightstand or desk. Ameriku is short, accessible, nature-oriented, and meditative.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Dew-drenched

2008-04-13T08:49:00.000-07:00

From my garden, before breakfast on Sunday morning. Nothing else but mulch. No scent, but no judgment, either. A meditation all by itself.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

The First Daffodil

2008-04-09T11:48:00.000-07:00

In my front yard, among everything brown, I found the first open daffodil of the season.

forever unplucked
among everything brown
the first daffodil

©Rae Hallstrom

It's a plain yellow daffodil. It doesn't have a white center, and it's not the jumbo-sized type, with petals that scream yellow as if in ALL CAPS.

It's not a jonquil, a daffodil parading about with a high-class name.

It's just a simple little daffodil, probably the same variety that's been in gardens for 50 years or more.

I don't even remember planting it, but it occurs to me now that I must have had a pot of daffodils last spring, purchased from the grocery store when the skies were gray and I needed something cheery in the house. After the flowers died off, I must have planted the pot-bound roots in the mulch by the sidewalk that leads to my front door.

Now there is that one canary-yellow trumpet, followed by two more that are halfway open, and a fourth still tight in bud.

It is spring, and I feel lucky, even though my garbage disposal broke yesterday, and my deep freezer broke a week ago, and even though I learned that the gas gauge on my car broke only by running out of gas.

The air is not yet sweet, but I can see the sweetness coming in the first daffodil.

Japanese haiku captures the sweetness and the simplicity of spring and asks nothing else but to be present, and to see, in whatever way you can.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Finally, Spring!

2008-04-07T19:59:00.000-07:00

Here in Eastern Ohio the air finally smells of spring, after an excruciatingly long and snowy winter. It is so sudden that I don't quite trust it. Will we have snow again tomorrow? By the weekend? If we did, that would just be Ohio being Ohio.

The grass is still dull and asleep. There are no crocuses. No daffodils. No lilac.

And yet, the air. The air is strangely welcoming. It does not bite. It does not sting. If you let it touch your bare arms, the air almost feels like a hug. Spring air may be the best air of all. It has so many promises and so few treacheries. After the gusts of winter, who couldn't help but love it? Who couldn't help but smile?

My neighbors celebrated the spring weather with power tools. I could hear them from inside the house, with all the doors and windows closed. It made the outdoors, with the beautiful spring air, somehow less hospitable.

Soon I hope to be surrounded by spring, so that I come home from a walk in the park with enough sensation to fill pages of poems.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Ameriku and Yoga

2008-04-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

Like hummus and flatbread, Ameriku and yoga seem to go together. They seem to be coming from the same place, a place of serenity, in the moment, in the now.

One of the things I like most about yoga is the time-out-of-time feeling that strips away the stress and pressure of the day. When I focus on each breath, inhaling for one movement, exhaling for another, I can't hold my focus on anything else. When the muscles in my legs start talking to me during Warrior Two, nothing else matters but holding the pose without falling over.

And that's good. It's good because it is so rare. Like many women, I am always multi-tasking. But not during yoga. And especially not during Triangle Pose!

With the lights dimmed and the music of birds and wood flutes in the background, yoga is a bubble bath with fitness benefits. It soothes my spirit as it strengthens my muscles. It boosts my confidence as it helps me reach a deeper stretch.

Gradually, I begin to feel as though my body is not the enemy. I've been fighting it all my life, trying to make it fit the culture's ideal. Now I see it's a good body after all. It works.

Yoga, the instructor (Shari) says, is for me. I get that. Yoga practice may be the only time during the day when I am not thinking about what I have to do for one of my children, or for work, or around the house. It may be the only time I have to focus completely on me.

Yoga is a way to appreciate the mind-body connection. It's a way to silence what has been called monkey-mind, those incessant nagging thoughts, and open up to the stillness and eternity of the universe.

This reminds me of Annie's Song by John Denver, with the lyrics "You fill up my senses, come fill me again."

Yoga fills up my senses. Haiku and Ameriku do, too.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Korean haiku

2008-04-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

Among haiku poets, the art of haiku is treasured in Korea, otherwise, it is probably the least popular and least appreciated form of poetry in the country. And why is that? Because of Japanese colonial rule, and that ended over 60 years ago.

A recent article in The New York Times (March 27, 2008) highlighted the controversy over haiku in Korea. Apparently, Korean haiku poets either keep low profiles, or endure public disapproval, disregard, and sometimes ridicule.

During the occupation, Korean schoolchildren learned Japanese customs, including the art of haiku. So haiku became tainted in many minds. It became a symbol of Japan's repression of Korean culture. Although Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945) ended when the Japanese withdrew from WWII, resentment did not.

The anti-colonial feeling is so strong that the traditional arts, such as haiku, still bear a stigma, even as Japan's pop culture catches on.

Yet, poetry lovers do not give up easily. The Seoul Haiku Club has 20 members and they meet twice a month.

This makes me wonder why I don't know of any haiku clubs in the USA.

Is it because I don't live in a large city? Or because there is nothing clandestine and rebellious, nothing dangerous, about haiku here? Is it because haiku is not known for its adrenaline rush?

For me, haiku is valuable because it is none of those things. The value of haiku lies in the present moment, crystallized on the page. The value lies in the serenity of nature, and the sudden insight that we can draw from simple things.

The value of haiku lies not in speed, but in its ability to slow us down—not in the newness of pop culture, but in the reflection of nature, which is timeless.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

Which comes first, the poem or the art?

2008-03-27T14:29:00.000-07:00

Sometimes people ask me if I'm thinking of a particular poem when I go on a photo shoot, or if I'm thinking of a particular photo when I compose a poem. The simple answer is no. I am entirely focused on the act of creating the poem, or finding and focusing and taking the picture. The long answer relates to the age-old question:

Which comes first?

Like the childhood riddle of the chicken and the egg, there is no easy answer. Or at least, no answer that fits all of the time.

For me, the two creative acts are separate. Some days the words come better than others. I write my haiku (or senryu) without thinking about how I will eventually illustrate it, because that kind of thinking would take me out of the zone and make it next to impossible to write. When I am writing poetry, my mind has to be free, and not limited to a fixed image.

And when I am outside with my camera, the last thing I am thinking about is how to count syllables. The last thing I am doing is composing poems in my head. If I tried that, I wouldn't get any decent shots.

In photographer mode, I'm 100% visually oriented. In poet mode, I'm 100% into words. These are two very different ways of being, and feeling.

So in a sense, the process of creating the two halves of Ameriku forces me to be in-the-moment. If done right, the finished piece of Ameriku will guide the viewer/reader to a similar present-moment "now" experience.

But Ameriku is more than a poem in one hand and a piece of art in the other. It's the fusion of the two forms of art. Like chocolate and orange, it's the merger of two good things to create something better and different than either one alone.

So there is a third step to creating a piece of Ameriku, and that is when I combine the poetry with the visual art. This step always comes last, of course, because the poem and the art already have to be available to me. Then I need to get into a third kind of mindset--one that is not entirely literary, and not solely visual, but still taps into both disciplines.

It might look simple, but this third step takes every bit as much concentration and effort as the other two, and no less time, either.

There is an art to choosing the right visual for the right poem. Then I have to play around with them for awhile, to see if they are really a good fit. Move this here. Change that. Try another. Good enough is not good enough. It must feel right.

Often I'll go through several iterations at this stage. It doesn't matter how long it takes. It doesn't matter if a whole day's work must be tossed. In the end, it must be art. It must be Ameriku.

I'm aiming for a unified whole, a harmonious piece. Somehow the finished Ameriku must say more than either the poem or the visual art alone. It must touch the heart.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. When you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure the work meets my high standards of quality.

A Spring Ameriku

2008-03-25T15:43:00.001-07:00

The Artist’s Concept

And Blushes Bud compares the awakening touch of the sun—which represents yang, the masculine principle in Chinese philosophy—to sexual arousal. Is this the spring of a new relationship, or is it the eternal spring in the lovemaking of a familiar couple? The wild cherry cannot bud until it has been fingered by the sun. The touch of the sun is warm and sensual, like the good lover. The sun fingers the naked limbs, and then the sap flows, in that order and not the other way around. And after that, the blushes bud. Which is what spring is all about, isn’t it?

About the Artist

Rae Hallstrom presents Ameriku®, the art of poetry, a unique form of fine art that features her vision of haiku, American style. Ameriku® is the original poetry of Rae Hallstrom—based on the simplicity and brevity of Japanese haiku—coupled with her original nature photography. Rae Hallstrom takes most of her photos in and around Hartville, including Quail Hollow State Park. She uses acid-free materials for long-lasting, conservation quality.

This represents intellectual property that is trademarked and copyright protected. If you like it, please place an order through the website. The watermark does not appear on purchased pieces.

©Rae Hallstrom

Ameriku Ltd
PO Box 323
Hartville, OH 44632-0323

www.ameriku.com

Why haiku?

2008-03-21T20:23:00.000-07:00

Ameriku® is the fusion of haiku with art, but why haiku?

I suppose I could say that when you've written over 300 of them, what else are you going to do? But that's not the real answer. The real answer is not a 10-second sound bite. It's not just this one thing, or that. It's a combination of reasons that teased themselves out of the murky abyss over time.

Of course, I like haiku. That comes first.

Next, it's no secret that haiku is highly visual and nature-oriented. Or that haiku is short. What other poetic form—besides senryu—packs so much into so few syllables?

The art of haiku is the art of simplicity and understatement. There is little room to elaborate on a thought or a feeling. Whatever the poet wants to share it must be done without fanfare, stripped to the essential images.

Since those images are almost always rooted in one of the four seasons—spring, summer, fall, or winter—coupling the words to illustration creates harmony.

Also, there is some historical precedence for illustrating haiku, just as there is precedence for altering the number of lines, or the syllables, as long as it serves the art and the meaning of haiku, and does not stray too far.

Haiku is typically written in three lines in the English language, and those lines roughly conform to the 5 syllable, 7 syllable, 5 syllable rule. These are not really rules so much as guidelines. But on the most basic level, haiku is a complete poem in 3 short lines.

A poem like this does not take a long time to read. Like the moment in time that the haiku represents, reading the haiku is also a moment in time. It's accessible. It's a rest stop that can be read on the run.

Much longer, and the poem would overwhelm the visual art.

Much shorter, and the poem might lack meaning.

But haiku is so much more than a short poem. There is no haiku without observation. Haiku forces you to be present, and to stop thinking about all the things that you have to do and all the problems that you have to resolve. Like haiku, my work is grounded in the observation of nature—

the wind that smells of rain on the day before spring

the confetti showered from the trees of October

the tinkling chimes of the ice-laden boughs of winter

the summer's heat reflected in a pool of sweat.

When I create Ameriku, I'm inspired by what is real and sensory, whether sight or smell, touch, temperature, or sound, there is always a shiver of recognition, and the sense of something both transitory and timeless.

Ameriku is the art of poetry, a trademarked form of fine art that fuses haiku (and sometimes senryu) with visual art, such as nature photography.

You might think of Ameriku (a-MARE-i-coo, where "ku" is pronounced "coo") as shorthand for American haiku Art.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

Ameriku® is the registered trademark of Ameriku Ltd. Whenever you see the Ameriku trademark, you can be sure that the work meets my high standards of quality.

Introducing Ameriku

2008-03-19T11:29:00.000-07:00

Ameriku is the art of poetry, a trademarked form of fine art that fuses haiku (and sometimes senryu) with visual art, such as nature photography.

You might think of Ameriku as shorthand for American haiku Art.

My name is Rae Hallstrom, and Ameriku is my art and my business and my brand.

I've been working on this art for well over ten years—close to 15 years, actually. It began at a difficult time in my life when I needed some space for reflection. I began taking walks along wooded paths in the state park near my home.

Sometimes the call of a bird in the trees would help me forget my troubles. Sometimes it was simply the sight of the sun trickling through the leaves to splash on a May apple, or the creek that kept moving in spite of the rocks in its path.

I always came away from these walks feeling refreshed and a wee bit stronger, even though none of my problems had gone away. The only thing that changed was my outlook, but that was a big thing, an important thing. There was something about connecting to nature in a calm and peaceful manner that rejuvenated me and gave me hope. Ameriku is my way of sharing that sense of peace and possibility with others.

I had always been a writer. As a child I was writing poetry for my friends while in grade school, and making silly little childish books with crayons and paper towels and string to tie the pages together.

A poet makes a poem. Did you know that a poet is sometimes called a maker?

Life is a beautiful thing, but living is not always fun. We have the good times, and then we get knocked down. We fall in love, and then we break up. We learn to drive a car, then after we think we've mastered the roads, have an accident. It's during the painful periods that we need poetry the most.

When I needed a way to deal with some of the blows and losses of adult life, I returned to the Japanese form we all learn in school—the deceptively simple 5-7-5 rule of haiku.

I wrote a lot of really bad haiku. Writing bad haiku is easy! Writing better haiku, haiku that I am not ashamed to share, that's a different story. In those first few years I wrote more than 300 haiku. Only a few made it into Ameriku.

I began taking a camera along on those walks, and experimenting with a macro lens. Even on my worst days, I was able to see beauty all around me, and I wanted to share this beauty with others.

One day, I put the two forms of art together—my poetry and my photography—and a whole new world opened up, and I called it Ameriku. More in a future post.

Meanwhile, please keep in mind that Ameriku is the registered trademark of my art company, Ameriku Ltd. Whenever you see the Ameriku trademark, you are assured that the work meets my high standards of quality.