Joan Leach • Joan's Haiku •

Pamela Miller Ness was born on May 5, 1951 in Massachusetts. She first expressed her interest in being a writer at the young age of three. When asked by her father’s doctoral mentor what she wanted to do when she grew up, she replied with what is expressed in the following haiku: three-year old replies, I want to write books as long as . . . . . . as the living room drapes driveway from childhood, 1997 Throughout her childhood she wrote: "pirate adventures, fairy tales modeled after Lang, illustrated creation myths, poetry in rhyming couplets or in the style of e.e.cummings, and occasionally haiku." ridge whisperings-a millennial transition pg. 16 Pamela says that "until the age of 10 [she] lived happily in this world of fiction and make-believe." high on her swing a buccaneer with brown braids searches for treasure driveway from childhood, 1997 Throughout high school and college, Pamela studied poetry and occasionally wrote her own. However, as she continued to write poetry, she realized that she wanted to stick with writing non-fiction, but knew that she wanted to keep trying to pursue her interest in poetry. After attending lectures by Georgia Heard at an English teacher’s conference, she did just that and even began "modeling the process of writing poetry for [her] students" (Haiku Headlines #150 September 2000). Pamela Ness received her B.A with distinction, Art History in June of 1972 from Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. She then moved on to receive her M.A., Fine Arts in November of 1973 from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Finally, she got her Masters of Science Degree in Library Science. She received this degree in May of 1987 from Simmons College G.S.L.I.S. in Boston, Massachusetts. Pamela also became designer and manger of her own needlepoint business from 1974-1986. Needlepoint is one of her favorite hobbies. Pamela Ness currently resides in New York, New York with her husband Paul Ness of 27 years. She teaches at The Dalton School in New York, New York as a Middle School Learning Specialist, sixth grade English teacher and house advisor. She is also currently the first Vice President of the Haiku Society of America, the Newsletter Editor for the Tanka Society of America, and the Chair of the planning committee for 2003 biannual conference for Haiku North America. Besides being a teacher, earning master’s degrees, and being a wife for twenty-seven years, Pamela finds time to write Haiku. She has had her work published in many books and they include: "Chalices", in Eucharistic Vessels of the Middle Ages, p.23-35, American Tanka, frogpond, Haiku Canada Newsletter, Haiku Headlines, Heron Quarterly, Hummingbird, Lilliput Review, Lynx, Modern Haiku, Persimmon, Raw Nervz, Red Moon Anthology 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, Snapshots, South by Southeast, and Tangled Hair. Her own books include: driveway from childhood, pink light, sleeping, Alzheimer’s Waltz, and Like Salt on Sun Spray. I had the great opportunity of getting in contact with Mrs. Ness and she was able to send me copies of her published work. Firsthand, I had the chance to view Mrs. Ness’s work and get personal opinions from her about her haiku. Many of Pamela’s haiku deal with children, her father, family, and some Japanese image haiku. There are also many haiku about the seashore and gardens. Pamela’s haiku represent a lot about her and things that she enjoys doing in life. She uses great words to set up the image in each of her haiku’s. After reading all of her publications and enjoying them all, I believe that she is a calm person. She obviously enjoys her teaching because of the haiku about children. She has a great love for her father. She dedicated a whole haiku publication to him for his seven years of Alzheimer’s. I chose five favorites of her haiku and tanka and analyzed each of them to get a good understanding for what she chooses to write about. I chose five that captured my eye and that I thought would be worth taking a closer look at. What does Pamela’s haiku bring to the reader that can capture the moment of her personal life and helps the reader relate to the author? The first haiku I chose is the following: train toward home chugging childhood memories so safely hidden driveway from childhood, p. 1 Pamela captures the moment of reminiscing about one’s childhood perfectly in this haiku. I think that the haiku shows the author’s personality of what their childhood was like. The word chugging demonstrates that the childhood is one that might have been painful and not talked about too often. I see a person riding a train toward their home that they grew up in. The memories are running through this person’s head while on the train and that are hidden from anyone else. I think this is a great image haiku that sets the reader up to use his/her own imagination with what the author is referring to. The haiku also demonstrates a peaceful time for the author and this is a reoccurring theme that I see in Pamela Ness’s haiku. The calmness and the feeling I get as the reader, lets me feel that we too are on the train towards home thinking back to our childhood. I also think that the word order makes this haiku important. The order helps with the reader’s image or it does in my mind. The haiku does not sound too much like a sentence and more of individual thoughts bringing together one moment. The second haiku that I chose is from Pamela’s pink light, sleeping book and is what I think is a wonderful haiku. dimming the headlights in the midnight meadow: falling stars pink light, sleeping, p. 31 I love the words used in this haiku. I think that the words set up the whole image of the haiku. I see a young couple underneath the moonlight and they dim the headlights of the car to enjoy the sky above. I then see falling stars and the couple holding one another in each other’s arms. I think a reader can relate to this because most people have been able to share such a moment with someone special. I think that because I have been able to talk with the author it has changed the way I see her haiku. I can understand more that this haiku contributes to the calmness that Pamela brings to haiku such as this one. This haiku captures a moment. It is a moment that is occurring at a specific time and place. The author brings in the reader with the words she uses and this helps the reader to bring him or herself into the moment also. The third haiku that I chose as one of my favorites is the following: after all these years ankle deep in the other ocean A New Resonance 2 Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku pg. 134 Mrs. Ness wrote this haiku when she visited the Pacific Ocean for the first time. I think that if the reader did not know this, that it would change the meaning of the haiku. I would see the image as a person getting involved in something outside what they are used to. However, because I know background information it changes the meaning of the haiku entirely. This happens with haiku. I believe that if you know too much information it might be harder to bring yourself as the reader into that moment, but sometimes it could make it easier. In this case, it takes me out of the moment that I first got when I read it because I then found out what the moment was to the author. I still like this haiku though and even if one does not know more information it is a well-written haiku. It is simple, yet can have quite an impact on things related to life. If I did not know the real story behind the haiku, I would relate it to my own life. I believe that after twenty years of living, that I am moving into a different part of my life. I am ready to graduate and start making a life for myself in the working world. The haiku lets us relate to the author’s life, if we know background information, and lets us get to know more about Pamela as a person. My final two favorite tanka by Pamela Ness are in her book entitled Alzheimer’s Waltz. This book is dedicated to her father, Edwin, who has suffered from Alzheimers for seven years now. I like these final two haiku because of the personal level that they bring the reader and the author together on. I can relate to these tanka and so can others because of dealing with a family member, friend, or acquaintance that has dealt with this disease in the past. The first one I enjoy is the following: your breath in this room breaks the hush . . . where you no longer write I come. Alzheimer’s Waltz, p. 14 I see family sitting in the room with Edwin and it is quiet. They do not know what to think. His breathing is heavy and breaks up the "hush" in the room. I see Pamela with a notebook in hand and because her father can no longer write, she does it for him. I see her as the family member who is recording the daily happenings at the nursing home. I think this tanka would be totally different, but now that I am on the personal level with the author, I understand enough to relate with her. I like this tanka for the, again, sense of calmness it brings. The progression throughout the tanka builds up the moment the author is trying to capture. The second tanka I like from this collection is the following: hiding in the nightmare’s bodybag not yet dead. Alzheimer’s Waltz, p. 14 This tanka is sad, yet, I think it gives the reader a feel for what the author is trying to say. A family worries and never wants the thought of death to run across their minds. However, we all know that as a person gets older, especially if they are sick probably will not be around much longer. Pamela captures her feelings in this tanka and relates it to her personal life. I think that these tanka are sad, but maybe are her way of dealing with her father’s sickness. All of the haiku and tanka I have chosen by Pamela Miller Ness answer my question proposed earlier. Her work brings the author into her personal life. This helps the reader to relate to the author in a way that he/she would not be able to if we did not know as much as we do about her. Pamela Ness’s haiku inspire me as a reader because I feel like I can be on the same level as her even though she is much more experienced at writing haiku than I am. I feel like I know her now not only as an author, but also as a person. I enjoyed researching and talking with Pamela Miller Ness. Not only is she a teacher, which inspires me also, but she is a human being that captures moments that her readers can relate to. —Joan Leach