It is always a great pleasure for us to announce an upcoming new release. This time, it’s all about the fourth volume in our PoArtMo Series.
Like every year, The Auroras & Blossoms PoArtMo Anthology: Volume 4 will offer a selection of inspirational and uplifting works from Cendrine Marrouat, David Ellis, and Azelle Elric. This edition is complemented by the words of Nichola Napora and Marjolein Rotsteeg, two writers who also grace the pages of our beautiful Haiku Anthology.
On the menu, drawings, short fiction, poetry, and photography!
We are almost ready to hit the publish button. If everything goes well, The Auroras & Blossoms PoArtMo Anthology: Volume 4 should be available on October 31, 2023. So watch this space!
Welcome to our mini-series on The Auroras & Blossoms Haiku Anthology, which celebrates the poets featured in volumes 1-3.
Today, Flo Au and Siddhi Pawar are telling us what inspired the haiku & senryu they sent us.
Flo Au
Flo Au’s poetry has received many accolades, including commendation in Norman Nicholson Lockdown Poetry Competition 2020 and a top 10 finalist spot in Voice of Peace: 1st International Poetry And Short Story 2021 Asia Edition. Her monologue was also selected to be one of the top 30 in Lancaster One Minute Monologue 2021.
Flo has three haiku featured in Volume 3:
Haiku give me the opportunity to explore the relationship between Nature and us in the form of three lines. I love to write and read haiku poems. I also enjoy how we can pay more attention to our surroundings through words. With only a few words, we connect to Nature and relate our stories to it. We can ponder over the images, release our emotions and distract ourselves from the anxiety of life.
The aesthetic quality of haiku lies in their conciseness and precision. I am always inspired and enthralled by how a few words can tell a long tale and how silence can convey messages. These are the reasons why I wrote those poems.
Siddhi Pawar
Siddhi Pawar is an eighteen year old who finds her heart in literature and poetry. She believes that there is positivity everywhere in the nature around us.
#1 – I was on a visit to the town of Manali when I came across pastures, a shade of green that I had never seen before. It made me want to stop and observe them. Little did I know that a colourful treasure awaited me in the next few moments.
#2 – Summer vacations mean beaches, a mixture of sea, sky and warm breeze. Gazing upon the waters of an ocean is inspiration in itself!
Flo and Siddhi, thank you for sharing what inspired your haiku. We are honored that you sent us your work.
Today’s instalment concludes our mini-series. We hope that you enjoyed learning more about our contributors and what inspired them.
Don’t forget to pick up your copies of The Auroras & Blossoms Haiku Anthology: Volumes 1-3!
The wait is over! The Auroras & Blossoms Haiku Anthology: Volume 3 is here!
Welcome to an incredible series of haiku and senryu compiled by Cendrine Marrouat and David Ellis from Auroras & Blossoms.
Feast your senses on a unique collection that is moving, thought-provoking, inspirational, hauntingly beautiful and deeply insightful.
This anthology is a delightful showcase of superbly crafted poetry that is extremely easy to get into but handsomely rewards the reader with each subtle nuance and twist. It is like spending time with loved ones and old friends, comforting in the extreme, endlessly endearing and so compelling, you will never want the experience to end!
Contributors to Volume 3 include Sarah Ambata, Ruby Appleby, Flo Au, Papp Győző Benedek, Joshua Blaine, Sierra Conn, Lauren Cuppy, Danny Daw, Mary Beth Defer, Timothy Dillehay, Connor Flinn, Darby Goulden, Farah Aqeelah Marwilis binti Helmi, Edward Cody Huddleston, Govind Joshi, Chris Langer, Ella Leith, Leo Liu, Fionntán Macdonald, Jemma Marie, Beth McCoy, Alex McMahon, Templeton Moss, Yvette O’Kay, Siddhi Pawar, Vishnu Rai, Archer Roehrig, Ayodele Sasegbon, Thomas Shaw, Ruben Whitter, and Ting Ze Zhi, Isaac.
Price: $3.99 $1.99. (This limited offer ends on October 12, 2023.)
NB: We do not accept direct payment for the anthology. You have to purchase directly from one of the online stores on the page. That is how our contributors can be paid.
If you don’t see your favorite online store in the list, please wait a couple of days, and it should appear.
Promo Banner for Our Contributors!
For those interested in sharing the news with their audiences, here is a promo banner. Display it proudly on your website, blog, and/or social media!
Volume 3 is the last volume in this year’s series. But we have great news for you. We have decided to make the anthology a yearly event! You can expect our submission call to open during the first quarter of 2024.
In the meantime, we wanted to remind you that there are only a few days left to submit to the first issue of our magazine! Don’t delay, click the banner below to view our guidelines and send us something.
That’s it for today! We hope you will enjoy Volume 3 as much as we do!
Welcome to our mini-series on The Auroras & Blossoms Haiku Anthology, which celebrates the poets featured in volumes 1-3.
Today, Ellen Tandojo and Joelle A Godfrey are telling us what inspired the haiku & senryu they sent us.
Ellen Tandojo
Ellen Tandojo, Jakarta-born and raised, is a student of the life sciences. In between lectures, she sorts insect samples in a lab and writes letters to her long-distance family and partner.
The classical haiku poets drew inspiration from their feelings about the natural world. I wrote these haiku in the space of time between winter and spring, which is also unfortunately the exam period where I am studying. The promise that spring (and the end of my exams) is around the corner, and the longing for endless days under the sun when I finally get to see my long-distance partner, is truly a powerful driving force!
I hope these haiku remind us all of springtime and the warmth of summer that follows.
Joelle A Godfrey
Joelle A Godfrey is a project manager, anime lover, poet, and fantasy / science fiction writer. When she is not writing, she enjoys listening to D&D podcasts, taking theology courses, playing video games, reading, and knitting.
Most of my haiku were inspired by being in nature: Walking on sunny days at the Morton Arboretum, sitting around a campfire on a summer night, and visiting a temple in Japan on a rainy day in late summer 2010.
Ellen and Joelle, thank you for sharing what inspired your haiku. We are honored that you sent us your work.
See you soon for the next instalment in our series.
In the meantime, don’t forget to pick up your copies of The Auroras & Blossoms Haiku Anthology: Volumes 1 & 2!
Welcome to our mini-series on The Auroras & Blossoms Haiku Anthology, which celebrates the poets featured in volumes 1-3.
Today, Julie Blitzer and Larissa Pereira Moraes are telling us what inspired the haiku & senryu they sent us.
Julie Blitzer
Julie Blitzer thrives on creating opportunities to support people in self-reflection and inquiry, as she believes these practices are fundamental to experiencing aliveness. She does this as a Grief Recovery Method® Specialist, end-of-life doula, Hoffman Process graduate leader, JourneyDance FacilitatorTM, wife, mother, hospice volunteer, community builder, and budding writer.
Julie has nine haiku featured in Volume 2 and is sharing what inspired two of them:
“Duality” was inspired by a dharma talk given at the start of a yoga class that I attended years ago. It came to mind recently because I am getting more involved in the “Death Positive” movement. I’m hopeful that our culture remembers that embracing death is actually life-affirming.
“Receiving” was inspired by a painting that I discovered after unpacking from a move. The subject in the painting has an outstretched arm with something white in her hand. It’s a beautiful depiction of one side of a peaceful exchange.
Larissa Pereira Moraes
Larissa Pereira Moraes was born in Brazil but feels more Indian than Brazilian, having lived there for 15 years. Her passion for poetry started at a young age, always writing (and drawing) stories capturing her vast imagination and experiences. From writing to learning new things, she is always up for a new, exciting challenge!
This was my first ever attempt at writing haiku and senryu, so the challenge was quite exciting. I particularly enjoyed the theme of positivity that Aurora and Blossoms brought to the table because oftentimes I find inspiration in the opposite.
So, when writing my selected haiku, I found inspiration in the poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth. Nature can be an escape to our hardships, especially when there is nowhere to run. Even something, as simple as looking at the clouds, can embrace us in a comforting consolation. And I found that to be the main source of inspiration for my poems, even those not directly referencing nature.
With that being said, I find myself maturing with the seasons, and then starting all over again. These haiku serve as a reminder, to me, that there will be moments in our life that we feel completely alone and that it won’t get better, but those moments will pass because every sunrise we get offers a chance to change our story.
Julie and Larissa, thank you for sharing what inspired your haiku. We are honored that you sent us your work.
See you soon for the next instalment in our series.
In the meantime, don’t forget to pick up your copies of The Auroras & Blossoms Haiku Anthology: Volumes 1 & 2!
