A review of Travel By Haiku by Madison Betts, just in time for summer
Published in Write Now Philly:
“The artful entwining of anecdotes with poetry created by the six collaborators brings attention to the effect of connection. Whether through the connected lines of poetry, the bonds between Deerfield and his friends, the ties to those they meet on the road, or the immersion in nature, connection is felt throughout the book. It is exactly the energy needed in 2021 and in the coming years.”
This Sunday, May 23rd at 4pm PCT (7pm EST), #TravelByHaiku is getting far out on the digital road. We’ll be teaming up with Tomorrow Today in Los Angeles for an online release party. You can tune in from anywhere in the world!
RSVP here: https://bit.ly/TBHpartyLA You’ll have to RSVP to get the Zoom link. Tickets are FREE. You can also purchase a signed copy of the new book with your ticket.
The night will feature spoken word, music, live puppetry, dance, and video art performances by John Brantingham, Kendra Adler – Word As Movement, Phoenix (Jenna Love), Lance Robertson, Holly Zimbert, Erin White & Ethan Foote, Marian McLaughlin, Stephanie Beattie, Cameron Christopher Stuart, Augustus Depenbrock, and Rowan Vanskyver Killian
The show is FREE to attend. You need to RSVP to get the Zoom link. With your ticket, you can also purchase a signed copy of the new book.
The night will include a dynamic range of spoken word, music, live puppetry, dance, and video art performances The night will be co-hosted by @therandomtearoom with tea and other cozy accoutrements.
I’ve been waiting for this moment for months! The advanced reader copies for my new book #TravelByHaiku came in the mail. This moment was made possible thanks to subscribers on my Patreon campaign.
Sign up for at least $3 per month before March 1st, 2021, and I’ll add your name to the acknowledgements when the book is published. $7 a month and I’ll mail you a copy along with some other goodies.
If you’ve enjoyed a poem in the past, I encourage you to sign up. Thanks to current patrons, I’ve been able to focus on assembling this collection, pay for professional editing, pay for peer review, and do all this despite having less access to my normal income of typing poems in public places as a result of pandemic lockdowns and winter weather.
Subscribers at any tier of support gain access to all of the behind the scenes that goes into creating a book. You’ll see rough drafts, notes about the writing, time-lapse videos of design work, a peek into special collaborations, and much more. All that, as well as special discounts for my webstore and upcoming events including the Travel By Haiku release party.
Any support will go such a long way. I’m currently hoping to reach my next goal of being able to pay all of the performers at the online book release party on March 31, 2021. If even a quarter of my followers here, signed up for $1 per month, I’d be able to achieve that goal and curate such a killer event worth remembering.
We’d bring #TravelByHaiku to life like never before seen!
Thanks all for following along. I hope to see you over on Patreon and share more of this collection with you as we get closer to the March release!
You can also RSVP to the online release party. Tickets are FREE. There’s also paid tickets where you can get tea and other goodies from event co-host The Random Tea Room! Go check it out here: https://bit.ly/TBHReleaseParty
This is just about the coolest gift imaginable! My sister commissioned the ever-amazing Marian McLaughlin to make a personalized crankie based on my cross-country road trips.
What is a crankie, you may ask? It’s an old storytelling device where a long, illustrated scroll is hand-cranked through a viewing window while a story is told. @marianmclaughlin makes them on demand on any topic or idea. Send her a message if you’d like to commission a gift like this for someone you love. She’s open for requests and as you can see an extraordinary dream laborer. This storyboard features the likes of Parse Seco, and the unicorn Ma Ja Ka, as well as a snapshot of the Poets For Peace.
As far as the new book, it includes haikus like the ones featured in this clip. We’re a quarter of the way to funding a release party that’ll feature performances like this. Your pledge to my Patreon campaign means I’ll be able to pay performers and promote the new book.
For as little as $1 a month, you can read all the rough drafts and watch the accompanying animations. For $7 a month, I’ll mail you a signed copy of the book when it’s released in March 2021. All tiers of support have a chance to contribute to the behind the scenes of a book of poetry being born out of the dust of the road.
From Jay Morris on this new collection of poems: As a follow-up to Vol. 1: Poems for Resistance, we felt called to shift our focus to the importance of resilience to grow through the burdens that weigh us down. For that reason we chose to articulate resilience through the symbolic language of flowers. What we know of flowers is that they transcend the burdens of burial to arise in light and thrive in their ultimate beauty. Consider the lotus and the common weed; one a symbol of inner peace and enlightenment, the other a reminder that we all carry the gift of breaking ground to claim our space in the world.
Volume 2 features writing by: Javan Howard, Quentin The Poet, Lindo Yes, and Cashmere Harper allied voices include: Ludlow, Valore, and Marian McLaughlin infographic about POLICE BRUTALITY + RACIAL TRAUMA by Jay Morris cover designed by Lawson Chambers
I hope that you consider getting a copy today! All proceeds from the zines go to support BIPOC organizations. These orgs provide a platform to fight systemic racism and offer various forms of mutual aid to at-risk groups throughout the region and across the country. Submit your order and I’ll mail you the zines by the end of the week!
You can subscribe to access more content like this, as well as see snippets of my forthcoming novel.
Only $1 a month and you too can #TravelByHaiku! Any support will really help me out this winter.
Let me know what you think in the comments. Feel free to SHARE with other haiku lovers if you think they’d dig.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been playing around with old haikus. Here is a haiku I wrote beneath a waterfall in the desert of Boulder, UT last September.
You can subscribe to access more content like this, as well as see snippets of my forthcoming novel.
Only $1 a month and you too can #TravelByHaiku! Any support will really help me out this winter.
Let me know what you think in the comments. Feel free to SHARE with other haiku lovers if you think they’d dig.
In May, one of my typewritten poems was featured in an article in Issue Four of The Dispatch, a magazine published by Folk Rebellion. How appropriate that this was “The American Dream Issue”. I couldn’t imagine a better title for something I’m honored to be a part of.
Thanks to Nancy Hill who included me in the stories of her cross-country journey. The poem about “Strangers” really rings true. What a beautiful spread. Ecstatic to be the icing atop this American pie of folks living out their dreams and inner discovery across the country.
Just received another stack of Travel By Haiku in the mail. If you have enjoyed following my journeys on here, y’all should be sure to grab this piece of the road for your personal collection. In there you’ll find little glimpses of the natural beauty found across the continent. And some of the wild rides I’ve taken to get there. They make great gifts and are sure to inspire the beat within us all to pursue their dreams on the road.
Travel By Haiku: Volume 1-5, Still Trippin’ Across The States is a collection of poetry written during travels across the United States in 2014 and 2015. Each haiku brings the reader along on the road across the country taking brief pauses to admire the air, the sunsets, the beaten earth, the tall trees on high mountains, and the breath of the ocean surf. Readers will find themselves transported to a humble place with a still mind and a new found admiration for their natural surroundings.
The Life and Works of Marshall James Kavanaugh 