HAIKU RHAPSODIES – ANOTHER EXCITING REVIEW!

Tags

Afriku, Celestine Nudanu, Ghana, Gilly Goldsworthy, Haiku, Haiku Rhapsodies

I’m tickled pink to scarlet today (if it is possible under by black hide) 🙂 🙂  for I woke up to this lovely review of Haiku Rhapsodies from Gilly Goldsworthy of UK, blogging at https://lucidgypsy.com/

Please read on:

Celestine Nudanu has been a blogging friend for several years. We met through our shared love of Haiku, the Japanese short form poetry. She hails from Ghana, a country I fell in love with in 2007, unfortunately before Celestine and I ‘met’.

Haiku Rhapsodies, Celestine’s first publication, is a real feast for Haiku, the book is divided into five sections, Afriku, Nature, Haiku My Heart, The Divine and Death.

Afriku is my favourite. Our poet’s words are so very evocative, bringing back memories of my brief visits to West Africa flood back. Here are just a few examples to tempt you.

in tandem
child’s thumping feet
and fufu pestle

rush hour
hawkers trail the cars
bumper to bumper

mirage
the cocoyam leaf
shimmers

From ‘Death’, Celestine brings us the moving,

dreaming of the stars
you forgot to say goodbye
that final journey

and has a firm belief that poetry has a place in our final moments.
Haiku Rhapsodies deserves a place on the book shelves of those who enjoy the form, not just in Africa, but wherever we find ourselves in this vast world of poetry.

Well done Celestine!

What are you waiting for my dear on? 🙂 Order your copies from Amazon or just inbox me! 🙂

Links for Haiku Rhapsodies:

Amazon

Amazon.co.uk

Goodreads

Review: Afriku (Haiku and Senryu from Ghana) by Adjei Agyei Baah

Tags

Adjei Agyei Baah, Africa, Afriku, Ghana, Haiku, Red Moon Press

Title: Afriku (Haiku and Senryu from Ghana)

Author: Adjei Agyei Baah

Binding: Paperback

Genre: Poetry (Haiku/Afriku)

Pages: 87

Publication Date: 2016

Publishers: Red Moon Press, USA

Review

Happy New Year to you all my lovely friends. I pray this year brings us all much joy and achievement. I am on leave but I shall be blogging every now and then.

Today, I’m posting well, a sort of review of AFRIKU, HAIKU AND SENRYU FROM GHANA. by Adjei Agyei Baah, a fellow Ghanaian and one of the first to write haiku, (long before me) in Ghana. He is the first to coin the term Afriku; haiku written to denote the peculiar culture and imagery of Africa.

Adjei’s is able to capture the depth and wealth of African sounds, sights, images and smells in simple and yet rich language. The added beauty of this debut jewel of a haiku and senryu collection is the translations from English into the local vernacular, Akan. 

How excited l was yesterday as l delved into the book and feasted my eyes and senses.

Simply check these out:

morning dew
perhaps heaven weeps
for mankind.

How very apt. How so profound.

distant cry
the heart fall
of a mother

My heart did a flip when l read this. Motherhood, the joys and pain.

just a moment –
distant lightening connects
sky and earth.

The sheer brilliance, the beauty of such a phenomenon as l imagined it.

Oh and many more.

It is a must to grab a copy of AFRIKU, HAIKU AND SENRYU FROM GHANA. Well done my brother. You make Ghana proud. Adjei’s book is yet to hit Amazon but copies can be obtained from the Red Moon Press.

 

About the Author

Adjei Agyei-Baah is a founding partner of Poetry Foundation Ghana, a teacher, and lecturer for Serwaa Nyarko Girls Senior High School, Kumasi and Institute of Continuing and Distance Education, University of Ghana respectively. He is also the co-editor of Poetry Ink Journal, a yearly poetry anthology in Ghana. He is widely anthologized both home and abroad and among his outstanding works are the praise songs “Ashanti” and “Ghost on Guard” written for the King of Ashanti and the late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana respectively.

Adjei is a devotee of the Japanese poetry form haiku and has written and published in e-zines and international journals such as Frogpond, World Haiku Review, The Heron’s Nest, Shamrock etc. and is one of the top winners of 3^rd Japan–Russia Haiku Contest 2014, organized by Akita International University, Japan, making him the ultimate recipient of the Akita Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Award.

Adjei is a co-founder of Africa Haiku Network, and co-launched ‘The Mamba’, Africa’s first international haiku journal.

Carpe Diem: Full Circle

Tags

full circle, Haiku, Nature

Done for Carpe Diem and Haiku My Heart.

At Carpe Diem We are to use these words to write four sets of haiku; rain, young leaves, buds, mountain, silence, monk, river, summer breeze, she, snow, sparrow, blue sky.

Full Circle

overnight rain

young leaves sprout into colours

a carnival of buds

2

mountain dew

kneeling in the silence

a monk in prayer

3

by the moonlit river

she dances naked

summer breeze wanes

4

overnight snow

the sparrow’s flight

tracks the blue sky

Copyright © Celestine Nudanu

21/10/16

 

Buy links for Haiku Rhapsodies:

Amazon

Amazon.co.uk

Gillena Cox Reviews Haiku Rhapsodies

Tags

Afriku, Ghana, Gillena Cox, Haiku, Haiku Rhapsodies, Lunch Break, review

My friend and haiku poet from Trinidad and Tobago, Gillena Cox recently received a copy of my debut poetry collection, Haiku Rhapsodies in a book swap. I received a copy of her lovely collection, Moments which I’m currently delving into.

With her kind permission, please read below Gillena’s review of HR which she originally posted on her blog, Lunch Break.

❧✿❧Saturday Share❧✿❧ #19
Review of ‘Haiku Rhapsodies (verses from Ghana) by Celestine Nudanu

‘Afriku’ opens the rhapsody, with a serenade of rushing streams and weighted sun dances. Our hearts are steered to a few sampling from nature’s basket – of humanity, hunger and loss, and the mystery of divining.

bamboo flute
rushing stream calms
the savannah

black night
the voodoo priest
shivers at the moon

market day
the stench of unsold wares
fills her stomach

These micro aha moments traverse to wider meanderings, for the inclusion of a Ghana secular in a global essence. Her chapter ‘Nature’. Shares such moments as

carnival
masquerades display
autumn

At the chapter ‘Haiku My Heart’, i paused a little longer in reflection, for the naming of this chapter, made me go back to first meetings with this sister haijin. We met through the linky redirecting of listed blogs at ‘Recuerda Mi Corazon’ – a Haiku blog hop hosted by Rebecca Brooks. So it was through blog hopping that i first read the works of sister haijin Celestine Nudanu. But this is side tracking a bit.

Celestine chapter ‘Haiku My Heart’ sensitises us to icons of family, sentimental, and passionate love. Here her ‘i-she,’ flaunts, who is Celestine.

mother’s pride
his bead earrings
adorn me
(for Cyril)

chocolate delight
Valentine’s day
on my tongue

And finally in her chapters ‘Divine’, followed by ‘Death’; here she identifies for us glimpses of life in: joy, nature’s share of blessings, pain, and strife by a unique perspective, that is Celestine.

raindrops
ticking off the days
to Easter

fresh lilies
the little girl’s gift
sways the coffin

These are some of the signposts, planted along the way in Celestine’s rhapsody: the high roads, the low roads, the mud tracks, the lighted paths; as she takes our hand and invites us to journey with her, through her heartland Ghana. She presents in her epic wanderings gems of glittering haiku. Taking us along treks of delight, mood swings of teardrops, and the pauses for extra pensive murmurings from our heart.’Haiku Rhapsodies (verses from Ghana) is a definite must read, or you don’t know what you are missing. Thanks Celestine for a journey and a serenade unique to Ghana.

–gillena cox, Oct 2016.

Buy Links:

 

Amazon

Amazon.co.uk

 

 

 

 

A Thrilling Review

Tags

African Haiku Network, Afriku, Brendon Kent, Haiku, Haiku Rhapsodeis

Lovely folks, yet another thrilling review of Haiku Rhapsodies from Brendon Kent, a more than satisfied customer. And linking the haiku below to Haiku My Heart. Enjoy! 🙂 “Being an avid reader and writer of haiku, I am thrilled that Africa has found yet another ‘haiku voice’!

Thanks to their active and inspiring organisations (in particular the Africa Haiku Network) many previously unheard African poets are now appearing in journals and e-zines worldwide…ah the power of internet…and how refreshing!

This wonderful debut collection ‘Haiku Rhapsodies (Verses from Ghana)’ is no exception. Celestine captures her part of the world beautifully, transporting it via the brevity of haiku to us, allowing us to participate in each African moment.
From the very first haiku we are swept into her world and carried musically across its terrain…

bamboo flute
rushing stream calms
the savannah

One can almost feel the savannah’s music!

market day
a mother’s sweat
soaks into her child’s

What an image! Can you feel the heat of this market day? The closeness of mother and child oozes from this haiku, a scene that could be related to anywhere in the world…a truly universal picture that paints its story without the need to explain with too many words….the essence of haiku.

noonday heat
the priest’s words
drip on his cassock

I am absolutely thrilled to add this collection of Celestine’s poetry to my haiku library and would thoroughly recommend Haiku Rhapsodies to everyone!

-Brendon Kent (a member of the British Haiku Society)”

The links to HR, for your purchasing pleasure:

https://www.amazon.com/HAIKU-RHAPSODIES-Verses-Celestine-Nudanu-ebook/dp/B01LEZ39YS#nav-subnav

https://www.amazon.com/HAIKU-RHAPSODIES-Verses-Celestine-Nudanu/dp/9988232861/

https://www.amazon.com/author/celestinenudanu

Ese Reviews Haiku Rhapsodies!

Tags

Anthology, Celestien Nudanu, Ghana, Haiku, Haiku Rhapsodies, Poetry, Self Publication

With kind permission from my dear friend Ese, I’m happy to post her review of my book HAIKU RHAPSODIES. I had earlier given Ese an Advanced Review Copy. 🙂

Dear Celestine,

It has been some time since I received your book on my email – thank you very much for thinking of me and sending it! It really means a lot and is appreciated, hugely.

I do apologize for my delay though, reading it but with various things piling up… Anyway, I needed that time to come…for myself, to be able to just sit down and read it, slowly, feeling all the colors, scents, tastes, hearing all the notes, letting them all melt together and sink in. Knowing you a bit and the way you write, I was looking forward to be able to enjoy the whole book instead of separate haiku I have read on your blog before.

Now, after the last page of “Haiku Rhapsodies” has been read, I must say it truly was such a beautiful experience, a journey “through” everything, dear to your heart and soul. You do paint the pictures with words so vividly that for the one never been in Ghana (like me), now it feels like I have. Even if for a brief moment, feeling aromas, hearing birds and cicadas, chatter of children, walking through a market, “Hosanna” resonating in the church walls, noticing almost “live scenes” of nature, God’ s presence in our lives and human life itself – with not only light but also heavier moments that are inevitable. Yes, I even had that a bit naughty, yet so sensual peek through your bedroom window! 😉

There is so much love, appreciation and kindness in your haiku that really embraced and moved me. And your lovely wit that always makes me smile…it definitely did. I honestly don’t believe your haiku can leave anyone indifferent. Thank you for this unique experience, my dear friend!

how long

to wait for your return

the mangoes bloom

 

PS: Keep writing…!

PPS: I wrote some haiku down…for me…like I do with lines from the books I read. Will just copy them here that you know the ones that will be saved in my “Quote Notebook”. It really exists, handwritten, thought by thought, through years. Handwriting slightly changes but appreciation for beautiful thoughts never does.

noon heat

a lizard basks

in yesterday’ s raindrops

 

how long

to wait for your return

the mangoes bloom

 

reflection

my mother stares

back at me

 

the night

in flames

fireflies

 

reckless night

the moon

goes pale

 

raindrops

ticking off the days

to Easter

 

freezing cold

the warm breath

of dying love

 

What cans I say? Much appreciated, my dear Ese. From the bottom of my heart.

Note: Haiku Rhapsodies will soonest be on Amazon!!!

Review: Haiku Rhapsodies by Celestine Nudanu

Tags

Anthology, Celestine Nudanu, Ghana, Haiku, Haiku Rhapsodies, Poetry, Self Publication

I do not know if it is ok for me to publish on my blog a review of my haiku collection, Haiku Rhapsodies, by a fellow blogger in Ghana, Paapa Kwesi Amerado. Mind you, Paapa and I have never met face to face though we visit each other’s blog and live just four hours apart. We do communicate also on FB. And I must add that his copy of HR is a verified purchase. 🙂 As I was saying Paapa wrote this review and sent it to my mail and after reading it, I fell in love with it. Oh yes and I said ‘ah, Cestone, why don’t you post this on your blog?’ Does it sound right? Well, I must market my book, must I not? 🙂

Title: Haiku Rhapsodies
Author: Celestine Nudanu
Binding: Paperback
Genre: Poetry (Haiku)
Publisher: Celestine Nudanu (Self Publishing) Ghana
Pages: 84
Publication Date:  April 2016

A Review of Celestine Nudanu’s Haiku Rhapsodies by Paapa Kwesi Amerado

What’s Haiku? A very lucid definition appears in the mind’s eye after one has read Haiku  Rhapsodies by Celestine Nudanu. The book is her first published work and I must confess that I’ve enjoyed every bit of it. Her poems center on Africa, Nature, Love, the Divine and Death. She makes that categorization in the book for the reader’s ease I think but you’ll notice that some of the poems belong in two or more categories.

With her observant eyes, Nudanu captures moments of nature and daily life, like an expect photographer; you can’t help but fall in love with the images she captures and forces into your mind. For most people the cockcrow is the alarm that wakes us up. It heralds the beginning of the day and she captures this moment aptly here:

new day

a cockcrow stirs

the leaves.

The leaf is life itself being stirred awake by the cockcrow. Celestine also captures the image of the moon in a barrel:

windless night

the full moon

in my barrel.

his image is close to home. It’s more than just three lines of a poem; it’s a memory of growing up as a kid, fetching water with buckets and placing them under the sky to claim the moon as one’s own or even to try to touch the reflection of the moon. She captures this moment so beautifully with her words.

On Nature, the images she captures are more than delightful. Nudanu opens the eyes and mind to beautiful moments in nature that they’ve for so long ignored. I found these lines quite revealing:

reflection

my mother stares

back at me.

Not only does she capture how a mirror can reproduce our reflection, she also captures in those three lines the wonder in resembling someone. For a moment your reflection staring back at you is not important rather the idea of being the exact copy of another person or having a doppelgänger becomes something wondrous all over again. In those three lines we come to appreciate again that wonderful thing in nature.

Fireflies have always been insects with lights at their “bottom” for me but for Nudanu it’s more than that. She writes:

the night in flames fireflies.

Here these fireflies are flames in the dark of the night. She does it again in:

moonless night

suddenly the forest is ablaze

with fireflies.

She has moved the fireflies from a sort of obscurity and given them prominence in these two poems and one cannot help but fall in love with the image she has created.

Nudanu also captures images of love/the heart in the haiku form and again she does so wonderfully. The first poem in this category especially got to me; it’s the pride a mother feels in adorning herself with an ornament her son made for her. The poem:

mother’s pride

his bead earrings

adorn me.

She not only captures the moment but she captures the pride and love too and leaves the reader in absolute awe. In another poem she captures the feeling of a lover longing for his/her partner but you can trust Nudanu to put it in a more beautiful way. She puts it this way:

sleepless night

I cradle

your cologne.

This is more than the ordinary hanging on to the pillow or sheets: this is hanging on to an intangible part of the missing partner and only Nudanu can capture it like this. She goes on to capture very aptly the downside of love that many people in relationships eventually have to deal with. She writes:

balancing act

the precarious road

of a crooked love.

She’ s right in calling love a balancing act whether it’s crooked or not, after all it’s not always a straight line in matters of love. It’s a balancing act that must be learnt well and she captures it beautifully.

I must say that poem after poem, Haiku Rhapsodies has been for me, a confetti of delightful pleasures and beautiful moments and I entreat everyone to dig in.

Note: Haiku Rhapsodies will soon be on Amazon!!!

Carpe Diem Haiku: Roadside Beggar

Tags

Africa, Beggar, Ghana, Haiku, Nana Fredua Agyeman, Nature, Roadside Beggar

Done for Carpe Diem. I couldn’t resist again and here I am. 🙂 This time my fellow Ghanaian friend and prolific Haiku poet and reviewer, Nana Fredua Agyeman has been featured on Carpe Diem. Nana’s haiku below is the source of inspiration today. 

looking at the sun
for a silver coin –
roadside beggar

My attempt in the same mood and spirit!

fading sun

shadows the beggar

empty bowl

2

roadside beggar

empty calabash

reflecting the fading sun

Copyright © Celestine Nudanu 

(18/11/14)

I appreciate your patience with me as I catch up on your blogs. Thanks a million! Shalom.

Published In Ballads

Tags

Anthology, Dagda Publishing, Haiku, Music, Poetry

I’m pleased to announce that three of my haiku have been published in an anthology, Ballads by Dagda Publishing. Ballads is a collection of poetry on the subject of music edited by R J Davey with works contributed by some of the best new poets around including moi. 🙂

Copies of the book can be found here: Please hurry up and  pick a copy now! 🙂

‘Western Haiku: A Collection’ Is Out!

Tags

Anthology, Dagda Publishing, Haiku, Poetry

‘Western Haiku: A Collection’ is out! Great news for all lovers of poetry, including Haiku. This is also an opportunity to  support a great cause. Dagda Publishing has released their latest anthology titled ‘Western Haiku: A Collection.’ This collection, edited by R J Davey and E Hulme is a mix of both traditional and non-traditional haiku, with a myriad of emotions and observations within, by some of the best new talents in writing today. (including moi 🙂

Well, this is super, is it not? My haiku is included in this anthology. Wow! Yes, you read it well 🙂 Then again, 50% of the proceeds from the sale of this anthology will be donated to Scope, a charity based in the UK. (Well, how I wish it had been a charity in my country Ghana. But never mind, this will happen one fine day 🙂

So, pick up your copy and help support this great cause! And feed your eyes and senses with varieties of exciting haiku.

You can get an eReader version from here. Those interested in the.ePub version can visit here. And for a paperback kindly visit here. You can also use code FAST5 to get 5% off your order!

I’m grateful to you all for dear friends for your love and support. Wishing you all an enjoyable read. 🙂 My thanks to Dagda, for including my work in this wonderful anthology.