Dragon Soul Press took the opportunity to interview Monica Kakkar, an author featured in the Soul Ink: Volume Two anthology.
- Introduce yourself.
- I value my freedom, peace, silence, and solitude. My glass is full, my mind is open, my spirit is oneness, and my heart overflows with gratitude. I enjoy location independence. I explore, express, connect, and celebrate through haiku, senryū, sciku, and short poetry. My haiku have won awards, reached the final shortlist, been translated in three languages, and published in four continents.
My works have appeared in journals, anthologies, magazines, newsletters, booklets, zines, library binders, curated blogs, cedar pole, gardens, window clings, online gallery of viewing stones appreciation, community farmers’ market celebration, immersive projection-projects event at an art gallery, tear-off-strip flyers for passers-by to take in a city-wide poetry festival, video reading at a centenary festival, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, among others.
- I value my freedom, peace, silence, and solitude. My glass is full, my mind is open, my spirit is oneness, and my heart overflows with gratitude. I enjoy location independence. I explore, express, connect, and celebrate through haiku, senryū, sciku, and short poetry. My haiku have won awards, reached the final shortlist, been translated in three languages, and published in four continents.
- What prompted you to begin writing?
- I woke up one day and started writing. I have not stopped writing since that day. I neither read haiku nor aspired to write prose or poetry.
- Do you have a favorite story or poem you’ve written? What’s it about?
- I cherish my poetry, whether published, unpublished, not accepted for publication or award winning. There are no favorites as I savor the journey and try to improve.
Haiku published in honor of my maternal grandmother, oldest paternal aunt, second oldest paternal aunt, my erstwhile home of thirteen years, my first and forever home and memories of that city are most poignant and in the public realm for posterity. I will publish more haiku in remembrance and celebration in the future.
- I cherish my poetry, whether published, unpublished, not accepted for publication or award winning. There are no favorites as I savor the journey and try to improve.
- How many projects do you have planned over the next few years? Tell us about one.
- I am open to projects and writing full-time, including:
- translation of poetry and haiku from Hindi to English and vice versa.
- haiku to spotlight species on The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
- Red List of Threatened Species, biodiversity and conservation priorities, and tangible
- and intangible cultural heritage.
- haiku on request for celebration, commemoration and greeting cards.
- a blog or website with my published works.
- a collection of all of my published haiku.
- I am open to projects and writing full-time, including:
- What is your writing process like?
- It is spontaneous. Haiku happen! I share haiku with a peer-reviewed poetry contest (kukai), contests, festivals, gallery of viewing stones, anthologies, and journals open to submissions on a weekly, biweekly, triweekly, monthly, quarterly, biannual, and annual frequency.
- Where do you draw inspiration from?
- Mother Nature and Mother Earth! Tangible and intangible cultural heritage—languages, cuisines, music, dance, theater (drama, plays), poetry, textiles, rituals, social practices, festive events, fine art, crafts, viewing stones, monuments, among others.
I appreciate the rigor and meter of traditional haiku in three-line, seventeen-syllable, five-seven-five format with season words (kigo) and seasonless topics (muki). My haiku span the five haiku seasons, New Year, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, across many locations in multiple countries.
The World Kigo Database by Dr. Gabi Greve, Daruma Museum, Japan, is my primary almanac (saijiki) for kigo and muki and for translation of kigo and muki into English. I also refer to The Yuki Teikei Haiku Society’s Season Word List. I have begun to explore The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words, a season word guide (kiyose) selected by Professor Kenkichi Yamamoto and translated by Ms. Kris Young Kondo and Mr. William J. Higginson.
- Mother Nature and Mother Earth! Tangible and intangible cultural heritage—languages, cuisines, music, dance, theater (drama, plays), poetry, textiles, rituals, social practices, festive events, fine art, crafts, viewing stones, monuments, among others.
- Who is your favorite author / what is your favorite book?
- The next author and the next book, repeat . . .
- What is one goal you have for your writing future?
- I aim to read haiku by the greats—Matsuo Bashō, Yosa Buson, Kobayashi Issa, and Masaoka Shiki, and women haiku masters Fukuda Chiyo-ni, also known as Kaga no Chiyo-jo and Chiyo-ni, Sugita Hisajo, the four ’T’’s Takako Hashimoto, Takajo Mitsuhashi, Teijo Nakamura, Tatsuko Hoshino, and Madoka Mayuzumi.
- What do you hope readers enjoy most from your work?
- I hope the universality of my haiku will be of interest to readers. They are my observations of the changing seasons. Haiku are fleeting moments in my natural world with space to imagine and wonder. My haiku may evoke curiosity and empathy. They are open to interpretation and appreciation without boundaries.
- Where can readers learn more about you?
- I only use LinkedIn.
Dragon Soul Press 