Deborah Kolodji at the Garden

happiness
is a bouquet
I cannot pick
just admire this bed
of fragrant pinks



In early August I attended the Haiku North America Conference, which takes place every two years and which this year was held at the National Library in Ottawa. It brought together nearly 100 haiku poets from around the world for five activity-packed days. It was a great opportunity to meet poets who I have known only through their work.

One such poet is Deborah P. Kolodji, who gave a fascinating presentation on sci-fi haiku, something I had never heard of before, but which has quite an interesting history. Deborah is President of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, editor of Tiny Stars, a sci-fi poetry magazine, and is also one of the organizers of the Southern California Haiku Study Group located in Pasadena.

When Deborah mentioned that she would be visiting Montreal after the conference, I invited her to join me in the garden and she enthusiastically agreed. She called me when she got to Montreal and we arranged to meet on the platform at Pie IX Metro. Unfortunately, things didn't work out the way we planned. When I got to Pie IX, Deborah was nowhere in sight. I waited for awhile, but train after train went past and still no Deborah.

so many things
could have conspired
to keep her from coming--
loneliness
is never planned (AL)

At the same time, Deborah was searching in the garden for me and penned this haiku:

summer roses
I ask the bronze lion
where you are (DK)

I finally decided to leave the metro and head for the garden. I hoped I might run into her on the way but no such luck. I passed the Peace Garden, with the beautiful bed of pinks, which you can see in the photo above. Then I wandered around the exhibition garden, hoping to catch a glimpse of Deborah's long brown hair and smiling face.

not even a moon
tonight
in the garden
you too
remain out of sight (AL)

In the meantime, Deborah was in another part of the garden.

lost in a garden
where the signs are in French
a butterfly follows me
across the zigzag
bridge (DK)


As I was writing this tanka,

under a gray
somber sky
I waited for you
but all that came
were a few drops of rain

Deborah was writing this haiku inspired by the Olympic Stadium:

stadium quiet
across the street
I listen for dragonflies

After about 45 minutes in the garden with no sight of Deborah, I was ready to give up and go home. But on my way to the front gates, I suddenly heard my name and there was Deborah rushing toward me. All's well that ends well, and the good thing is we both had plenty of time on our own to write some poems.

dusk falling
in a moon garden
I find my way
illuminated
by flowers (AL)

almost dusk
the garden fragrant
with possibility (DK)

We walked to the Chinese garden and sat in the gazebo near the Bridge of Dreams. I took the following photo of Deborah with her camera and she took one of me.







We had a wonderful, relaxing chat as darkness fell. Deborah told me about her own haiku group, which meets in the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena. Perhaps one day I'll make it to California and be able to visit their group.



we bask
in lantern glow
summer evening (DK)

As it was now getting quite late, we left the garden and caught the metro back to my place for home made pizza. After all that walking around the garden looking for each other, we found we had worked up quite an appetite.

Deborah has a blog of her own called "Poetry Scrapbook and Random Musings"
(dkolodji.livejournal.com). Her website is http://www.kolodji.com/.