Monday, July 2, 2018

Farewell to Angelee Deodhar




Recently I learned that poet and editor Dr. Angelee Deodhar had died suddenly.  Since she was not only vital to the world of haiku and haibun (a hybrid of prose and haiku) but also important to this blog-zine and my own poetry, I would like to post a tribute to Angelee and her work, including the visuals that she so freely shared.   Enjoy!

I'd like to start with a collaboration between Angelee and the American poet Thomas Canull:  

Haibun :The echo

A collaborative haibun by Thomas Canull (USA) and Angelee Deodhar(India)

new grass--
a sparrow and I
just playing
-Issa
  
Mother's Day brings back fond memories of my grandmother whom I loved dearly as she and an aunt just 8 years old at the time raised me for at least the first year of my life. My birth mother rejected me at birth as she already had one child to care for. And no one on that side of the family would ever discuss it or tell me how long I was at grandmothers but she was always there for me as I grew up. Some summers I would to stay there for the summer and for me that was a taste of heaven.

night watch-
green hills flatten
on the monitor

Total number of words 123

Issa haiku 1808 from David  Lanoue’s site http://haikuguy.com/issa/search.php?keywords=sparrow

Bio:Thomas Canull  worked for several years as an intel-op in the far and middle east. While in Japan he fell in love with  haiku. Several of his haiku have appeared in the Japanese online Asahi Haikuist Network.While in Arizona Thomas started posting a "Thought for the week" and a "Haiku for the week" at his neighborhood Starbucks. When he returned to Indiana ,he brought the idea back with him and has been posting at the same Starbucks for several years.

Thomas is also a Co-Founder of Hope 4 U Bracelet Ministries which is dedicated to uplifting of everyone he meets with a message of love and hope.


I would also like to include some of Angelee's own haibun and haiku sequences.


She gives a definition for "Thaumaturgy" here: 

Note :Thaumaturgy is the capability of a magician or a saint 
to work magic or miraclesIsaac Bonewits defined 
thaumaturgy as "The use of magic for nonreligious purposes; the art and science of 'wonder working;' using magic to actually change things in the physical world."[1] It is sometimes translated into English as wonderworking.


Autumn Interlude

pail in hand
I trace the muddy path
of childhood mushrooms

in the twilight
against dusky bougainvillea
the white wall whiter

Japanese dance
in her fan
the changing seasons

crunching underfoot 
the breakfast cereal
sounds of autumn

a sparkling cross
protruding from
myriad colored leaves

glowing pumpkins 
through the windows
a Halloween moon

burning leaves —
the incandescent scarecrow
mumbles and grumbles

spider strands anchor
the wheels of a cannon
deepening autumn chill


moonless night —
from the harvested field
the hoot of an owl 

autumn scrapbook—
I color in the leaves 
with crayon stubs

Angelee Deodhar
http://terebess.hu/english/india.html

I'll finish with a visual that Angelee had made of my poetry.  This was the last one that she sent me, I believe.


I'll also include links to other sites where you may find her work.  First is her archive at VerseWrights:  https://www.versewrights.com/deodhar-angelee.html

Next is a link to her collaboration with artist and poet Bea Garth:  https://eosthecreativecontext.com/2017/07/30/geography-lesson-poem-by-dr-angelee-deodhar-art-by-bea-garth/

She also paid tribute to poet and editor Changming Yuan:  http://yuanspoetry.blogspot.com/2015/04/gifts-from-angelee-deodhar.html

I'll finish with a link to "Elemental Gardener," Angelee's piece published by Naturewriting:  https://naturewriting.com/elemental-gardener/

For more information about Angelee's thoughts on haiku, you may read this 2014 interview published by both GLO-MAG and Cafe Haiku:  https://cafehaiku.wordpress.com/2016/08/16/angelee-deodhar-a-life-in-haiku/

Angelee was also known for her Journeys anthologies of haibun:  https://abookwormsmusing.wordpress.com/2017/07/05/book-review-journeys-edited-by-angelee-deodhar/

I will finish with a link to her notes on her haibun "Ratatouille":  http://haibuntoday.com/ht114/Articles_Deodhar_Ratatouille.html


And, of course, there is the music:

Ahmad Jamal, Wynton Marsalis, and others perform "Saturday Morning":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_VCz8-AHpc

McCoy Tyner and Ravi Coltrane perform "Walk Spirit Talk Spirit": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dFtZbha29M

I'll finish with Natraj and Chitravina Ravikiran's performance at MIT:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esiHl5km2vw&list=PLqzgFmx4Eh6Vt5xJjiRd4qO1Uc0ZAfaQG 



9 comments:

  1. It is with great sorrow and great love that I re-read all these contributions of my friend, Angelee. Thank you, Marianne for honoring her as she deserves to be honored.
    She was always there for us ( my husband and me) and he misses her too--she was so funny, her sense of humor sent as cartoons, stories, whatever. When Frank was sick, she sent article after article about things to look for/avoid. She was full of light and love. She will be missed.

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    1. It's my pleasure to set up this tribute to Angelee, Mary Jo. She was an amazing, giving woman. I hope that people will feel free to send tributes to her here as well. Or perhaps write a haiku or haibun or create a haiga.

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  2. Dear Marianne,

    Angelee was not only an accomplished writer, editor and translator, she also had a heart to help others, like me, to learn how to write Asian poetry better. I also shared a tribute to her at Whispers--http://whispersinthewind333.blogspot.com/ Thank you so much for honoring our talented and caring friend. I already miss her.

    Blessings,
    Karen

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    1. Thank you for checking in, Karen. I know that you and she were close. I will visit your tribute. Yes, Angelee was gone too soon.

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    2. i am so sorry to hear the news . Doctor Angela Dodhars works have been so meaningful . Art in itself . My condoleances to the family and her wonderful closest friends . thank you marianne for the wonderful tribute. she will forever be remembered . so sad

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    3. You're very welcome, Rita. Thank you for posting. I recommend buying one of Angelee's Journeys anthologies. Journeys 2015 is really quite good.

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  3. Thank you for posting this tribute to Angelee. I feel like I was just starting to get to know her. She will be sorely missed! I was wondering if it would be OK for me to repost this on Eos: The Creative Context. Please let me know.

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  4. lovely, Marianne, and deeply appreciated- thank you!
    ayaz daryl nielsen

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