NATURAL CONSEQUENCES

by John S. O'Connor

High/Coo Chapbook Award 2024

ISBN 978-1-929820-33-7 • perfectbound
July 2024, 60 pages (4" X 5.75") • $15.00 US

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This book is dedicated to:

For Eleni, Alison, and Ted . . . naturally.

               ~ John S. O’Connor

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About the Author

John S. O’Connor has been a school teacher for the past 37 years and currently teaches at New Trier High School, a public school outside of Chicago. He also taught at Penn State and Northwestern. He has an AB and an MAT from The University of Chicago and a PhD in English from University of Illinois Chicago.

O’Connor has written two previous books on the teaching of writing, Wordplaygrounds and This Time It’s Personal; a chapbook of poems called Rooting; and the forthcoming full-length collection, Streets and San. His poems, stories, and essays have received Pushcart nominations, and two memoir essays received Notable recognition from Best American Essays.

He has been writing haiku for the past 25 years or so. Individual haiku have won awards (Penumbra, Mainichi, Golden Triangle etc.) and appeared in the Red Moon Anthology several times. O’Connor has written two previous collections of haiku, both with Deep North Press: Room Full of Chairs and Things Being What They Are. The latter title was a finalist for the Touchstone Distinguished Book Award.

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flooded field
the milky way
of tadpoles

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carousel pony
straining against
the spinning world

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relaxed fit jeans
unable to fasten
the changing room door

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Introduction

These haiku were written during some difficult times. My mother and my brother died in the same year. And, as a family, we’ve had a number of other health challenges. As I turn 60, it occurs to me that I’ve definitely spent a lot more time in hospitals this past decade than the first five decades of my life. This is, I suppose, natural.

That’s why I chose the title Natural Consequences. I’ve learned that illness and death are part of life, part of its very nature. Yet, I have also learned that such crises and calamities can offer a deeper appreciation of life — the possibility of connection to other lives, unexpected reserves of strength and compassion, and even the saving power of memory and humor in the face of sadness.

Haiku have come to mean more to me than ever before. The focus on living in the moment is a healing practice: taking stock of all that we’ve lost and all that we’ve been given.

As a haiku poet, I care most about lived experiences. All of the haiku I write grow out of actual, present- tense moments I have personally experienced — even though sometimes the present moment recalls or intersects with a particular memory. For this reason, I don’t think I create haiku, I find them in my daily life, if I’m open to the possibility of discovery of the world around me, including the rarest insights of all for me: self-discovery. In every sense, haiku help me find myself in the world.

~ John S. O’Connor

Acknowledgments

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the editors of the following journals and publications in which these poems appeared: Acorn, Chicago Botanic Garden Contest, Frogpond, Golden Triangle Contest 2020 & 2023, The Heron’s Nest, Modern Haiku, Shamrock, and Trash Panda.

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wildfires
once again we hide
all pills and steak knives

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round midnight . . .
Miles
before I sleep

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