Ten Poems in Six Issues of The Mozzie

Andrew has had ten poems published in six issues of The Mozzie from June 2023 to February 2024:

Volume 31, Issue 5, February 2024 – one poem: “Increments of Beauty”
Volume 31, Issue 4, December 2023 – two poems: “A Not-So-Nonsense Poem” and “Preventive Measures”
Volume 31, Issue 3, October 2023 – two poems: “Concerning Austerity and Creativity” (consisting of two tanka, “1. Inspirations for Ikebana” and “2. Ikebana Dreaming”) and “Violets” (consisting of three haiku)
Volume 31, Issue 2, August 2023 – three poems: “Locations of Red”, “Aboriginal Rock Art” and “Sculptors”
Volume 31, Issue 1, July 2023 – one poem: “Starlight” (four haiku)
Volume 30, Issue 9, October 2023 – one poem: “Zuiho-in Zen Temple, Kyoto”

Poem in The Mozzie

The May 2023 issue of The Mozzie contains a set a set of four tanka under the common title, “Found Art”. The first tanka in the set, “The Painterly Bird”, is reproduced below.

The Painterly Bird

A blackbird roosting
on a branch overarching
a lush violet patch
dollops some oily white paint
onto a small green palette.

© Andrew Lansdown

Poem in The Mozzie

Volume 30, Issue 6 (January 2023) of The Mozzie contains a poem by Andrew. The poem, “After the Fishermen”, consists two tanka. The second, subtitled “Spillage” is reproduced below.

 

2. Spillage

Pluck a red petal
from a gerbera, string it
with other petals …
Now look at the gills spilling
from the severed salmon head …

© Andrew Lansdown

Poem in The Mozzie

The Mozzie has published one of Andrew’s poems in its September 2021 issue (Vol. 29, Issue 4). The poem, “Loss”, is loosely based on the villanelle, employing its line-repetition pattern and its stanzaic structure, but not its rhyme pattern.

Poems in The Mozzie

The last two issues of The Mozzie each contain one of Andrew’s poems.

His poem “The Biblical Maples”, a set of four tanka, is in the June 2021 issue (Vol. 29, Issue 1) of The Mozzie.

His poem “Ascendant Maple”, a set of three light-hearted haiku, is in the July 2021 issue (Vol. 29, Issue 2) of The Mozzie.

Seven poems in six issues of The Mozzie

Over 2020, Andrew had seven poems published in six issues of The Mozzie.

In Vol. 27, Issue 9, March 2020 – “Saga Chrysanthemums” (a set of 4 tanka).

In Vol. 27, Issue 10, May 2020 – “Kilter” (a set of 3 haiku).

In Vol. 28, Issue 1, June 2020 – “Sandbathing Sparrows” (a set of 2 tanka).

In Vol. 28, Issue 2, July 2020 – “The Martyred Mother”.

In Vol. 28, Issue 3, August 2020 – “Durable Impressions” (a set of 3 haiku).

In Vol. 28, Issue 3, August 2020 – “Leafy Seadragon”.

In Vol. 28, Issue 4, September 2020 – “Little Endings” (a set of 6 haiku).

The poem “Sandbathing Sparrows” (below) is a gunsaku of two tanka that were published individually in Andrew’s book, Kyoto Momiji Tanka: Poems and Photographs of Japan in Autumn. (Go here for information about Kyoto Momiji Tanka.)

Sandbathing Sparrows

By the Kamo River, Kyoto

.      .1

Sprawl

The sparrows sprawling
on their sides, kicking their legs,
fluffing their feathers,
are miming the meaning of ‘Nice’
while sandblasting away their lice!

.      .2

Surrender

Washing their plumage
in a patch of river-rinsed sand,
the sparrows give them-
selves over to feelings of bliss,
as do we, to be watching this.

        © Andrew Lansdown

 

Poem in The Mozzie

Andrew’s poem, “Birds of a Feather” (a 2-tanka gunsaku), was published in the June 2018 issue of The Mozzie (Vol. 26, No. 5). The first of the two tanka is reprinted below:

BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Black-faced honeyeater

Distracted briefly
by a bird hopping sideways
up a bamboo cane.
And I observe that it, too,
is struggling to keep a grip.

          © Andrew Lansdown