Book signing programme by two pioneers contributing to haiku poets of ‘Late ~ Blooming Cherries’, a haiku poetry book, was conducted at Books and Coffee, Singjamei Thokchom Leikai, Imphal on Sunday.
The programme was hosted and organised by the owner of Books and Coffee, Singjamei Thokchom Leikai, Beeshantam Yumnam.
The ‘haiku’ is a Japanese poetic form that consists of three lines, with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third.
Haikus written by Subir Ningthouja and Milan Rajkumar are published in India’s first anthology of haikus ‘Late ~ Blooming Cherries’.
The haiku poetry book is published by HarperCollins India, which is one of the “Big Five” publishers; Late ~ Blooming Cherries is edited by Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih and Rimi Nath.
The event started with a poetry session of 30 minutes, during which Linthoi Ningthoujam observed that both poets, Milan Rajkumar and Subir Ningthouja, can be considered as pioneers of haiku writing in Manipur.
Subir Ningthouja is a physician by profession. His haiku have appeared in journals such as The Heron’s Nest, ESUJ-Haiku, The Mainichi, The Asahi Shimbun, Serow, Presence, Wales Haiku Journal, Haiku Dialogue, World Haiku Review, haikuKATHA, Failed Haiku, Cold Moon Journal, Contemporary Haibun Online, Drifting Sands Haibun, Bloo Outlier, Time Haiku, MahMight Haiku Journal and Haikuniverse.
Milan Rajkumar teaches economics at a secondary school. His haiku have appeared in journals such as Modern Haiku, Seabeck Haiku Anthology, The Cicadas Cry, Under The Bashō, Cattails, Prune Juice, The Heron’s Nest, Contemporary Haibun Online, Wales Haiku Journal, Presence, Frameless Sky, Creatrix, Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, Asahi Haikuist Network, The Mainichi, Cold Moon Journal, The Mumba Journal, The Quills, Akitsu Quarterly, Frogpond, Ribbons, tsuri-dōrō, Chrysanthemum, Earth Rise, Kyoto Haiku Project, Stardust Haiku, Brass Bell, Bamboo Hut, White Enso, Otoroshi, Poetry Pea, Failed Haiku and Haiku Foundation.
The collection arrives in the aftermath of the long isolation of the pandemic, documenting experiences so nostalgic that one is reminded of what it feels like to be human.
From young love to the despair of loneliness, from a child’s bed to a grandmother’s lap, this anthology has a bit of everything from both new and accomplished haiku artists. Late Blooming Cherries is meant to be savoured as slowly as the late-bloomer cherries of Shillong, which is where its name comes from.
