Hello Sketchbook Writers and Readers,
April 1, 1919 ~ July 25, 2011
Wouldn't it be swell
if all those you loved, lived just
around the corner
not so to be intrusive
but just to go to dinner07-13-2000 Shiki List ~ Betty Kaplan
Long time Sketchbook contributor Betty Kaplan suddenly passed away from heart complications on Monday, July 25, 2011. Betty was an accomplished collaborative writer as well as a writer of individual genre; she wrote haibun, haiku, tanka, sijo, renhai, haigay, and Art. She was retired from the Fashion Industry and started to write haiku in the early 1990s. Betty was published in Frogpond, Lynx, Woodpecker, South by Southeast, World Haiku Review, Sketchbook, American Tanka, Simply Haiku, Heron's Nest, and CHO.
The Sketchbook editors would like to publish a tribute to Betty Kaplan in the next issue, July / August 31, 2011. The editors invite writers and readers to send a memorial contribution to Betty for inclusion in this tribute. Contributions may be in any genre—a poem, and / or note of condolence. Your contributions will be added to this web page. Thank you.
Karina and John
~
I too am very sorry about Betty. I was her Heron's Nest editor, and before that, in the late 1990's and early 2000's, she and I often corresponded about haiku and related genres. I have always admired her dedication to studying and writing. If I'm not mistaken, Betty was ninety-something, which alone is awe inspiring. I knew her only via email, but her lovely haiku spirit came through clearly, along with her delightful sense of humor. For Betty, with a deep bow for her steadfast spirit, generous talent, and joy of life. Tanka
a white butterfly rests
where the white alyssum grew
I breathe the fragrance
of a passing breeze so brief
it might have been a sigh
Ferris Gilli, US~
I was not directly her editor at The Heron's Nest, but we published her in six issues over 3 volumes dating back to 2000. Paul MacNeil, US
The Heron's Nest~
The Artist's Sketchbook
by john e. carley, betty kaplan, karina klesko
white as the silence
from this star to that,
behold the moon
the dark sea deeps:
a siren calls in song
a fetus tumbles
in her womb, the pulse
of a mother's heart
the message beating faster
than the meaning
dissonant chords
an unfinished symphony. . .
we enter new space
a shimmering void, filled
in the artist's sketchbookMay God rest her soul. JEC
John E. Carley, UK~
after the death..............
a truthful dialogue starts—..............
I am nodding to the monk's words
(Toshiko Makino translated by Eiko Yachimoto)
6 August, 2011
Dear Betty,
You have passed away before we get together even once in this world. We have been good friends for the past eleven years, haven’t we? We were so comfortable to each other, even though there were times I was so rude not to answer your renku-related questions as I should have. (forgive me, Betty…)
We felt we literally breathed in a community of Japanese short verses. Let me share my thoughts today why this community counts so much to us, because, I repeat “Because”, you have been an essential presence to make this cyber world a true community.
Bear with me for quoting from Father Shigeto Oshida (1922~2003):
A devine light that has reached one tearing through one’s consciousness
is to be crystallized when verbalized or expressed in a mathematical
formula. Such crystals, or such epoch-making discoveries, should be
considered to be a window to the enlightenment and students are to be
invited into his process on their own. But schools tend to make them as
the fixed absolute and get busy conveying the findings only externally.
This triggers the generalization based on transferring the reality into
the fictional. Then it won’t take long before the oppressive
authorization looms.
In whatever area of academic study, a hollowing out or a cut and dry
generalization begins if you lose the awe to the untrodden territory or
if you become disconnected from your innate mystic senses.
People who always lived in the comfortable world with full explanations
seem to lack the sense of the language’s sincerity to the reality, well,
before that, they lack the simple senses to the reality. They don’t wait
for an unforeseen encounter. They are not ready for an unexpected encounter
with the reality, which means they are unable to have a true dialogue.
(Let’s put it in another way) To value, respect one’s each name
maximumly is called caritus. Each of our caritus being put together is
the birth of Ma-do-i, or the true community. Here lies the basis of
humanity.
Betty, Father was not talking about haikai-no-renga, but I was struck with his points. In our cyber haikai community we do encounter poets with such organic living language from his/her own reality. And your presence has been So strong for these years. How much I miss you….
Sincerely yours,
Eiko Yachimoto, Japan~
