Haiku Masters Forgotten Postcards

September 1, 2017 6:51 PM

Found in a NYC junkshop, these postcards were sent to Cor Van de Huevel, a noted haiku poet, by another noted haiku poet named Arizona Zipper. Well, I couldn't resist the lure of those names, could I? Cor was well-known for his readings in the beat clubs of the 1960s. But Arizona Zipper! Now, he's also known for his haiku, especially in the looser form he and Cor used, not so strict as the 5-7-5 format. The first thing I found about A.Z. was Renku Jazz-ku an article about a collaboration between Bob Richardson, jazz drummer, and A.Z. trying to meld haiku and jazz; they both loved Ella Fitzgerald's scat.

Then I found this memorial to: Elizabeth Searle Lamb, a belove haiku poet. About halfway down the memories is a seven-poet poetic round started with a haiku from Lamb to Zipper and answered by Zipper and six others.

I also found a terse comment by someone trying to translate an A.Z. poem that he was last seen riding an ostrich in the White Mtns (June 2008) I found no corroboration of this.

And just for fun, I've included this Dec. 2016 newspaper report: where Mr. Arizona Zipper ran a guy over. It seems that Arizona Zipper is now 75 and lives in Fryeburg, Maine. [The hot dogs assault news item in the sidebar turns out to have nothing to do with tube meat. Alas]

posted by MovableBookLady (5 comments total)

what a wonderful story
posted by growabrain at 8:23 PM on September 1, 2017

Fascinating! What an incredible find. van den Heuvel is one of haiku's heavy hitters, if you will. Certainly, he's one of the masters whose haiku and insight into the form helped shape my own haiku. Arizona Zipper is new to me, but I'll be looking up more of his work. I think many of us can relate to his "hound" haiku in the first article.
posted by bryon at 2:50 AM on September 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Those were some good poems. Thanks for this!
posted by xammerboy at 5:07 AM on September 2, 2017

Thank you.
posted by nthdegx at 5:51 AM on September 2, 2017

And just in case anyone finds out more about Mr. Zipper riding an ostrich, here's a report by a first-time ostrich rider: Yeehaw!
posted by MovableBookLady at 8:30 AM on September 2, 2017