Media coverage and appearance:　Contemprary Tanka Poet Mariko Kitakubo.

Contemprary Tanka Poet Mariko Kitakubo. Media coverage.

Heliosparrow Poetry Journal posted Tan-Ku created by Ms. Kathabela Wilson and me

Dear Mr. Richard Gilbert, Thank you so much for publishing our Tan-Ku tribute to Deborah P Kolodj by Kathabela and me in your online Journal, Heliosparrow.

The time I used to make Tan-Ku while communicating with Debbie every day via messenger feels far away, and my sadness has never subsided. The years (almost 17 years) I spent with her are the treasures of my life.

Melody

creaking
of the bridge,
stream sounds ...
miss you so
in the reflections (M)

a flute plays
in the same garde
your voice (K)

Mariko Kitakubo, Kathabela Wilson (Tan-Ku)

Sunday, September 22, 2024

Colorado Boulevard Aug. 2024 published the last Tan-Ku created with Ms. Kolodji

Poets Salon
Positive Energy

Hosted by Kathabela Wilson

Fireworks

longing
is always lonely sky...
under
the jacaranda
fireworks finale

Mariko

far away and yet...
the meteor shower
lights up the sky

-Deborah

(2024:31)

Tanabata

palm leaf sounds...
turquoise manicure
in midsummer
resting on the shore
bringing us closer

-Mariko

your thumb as you hang
the tanzaku
our matching wishes

-Deborah

(2024.714)

Mariko and Debbie

Mariko Kitakubo is a tanka poet in Tokyo, Japan.

Deborah P Kolodji wrote haiku in Temple Oty, CA.

Kathabela Wilson welcomes a short poem sent to : editorial@coloradoblvd.net

These are the last two new works written together by dear friends Marike Kitakubo and Deborah P Kolodji They created this form called Tan-Ku la combination of Tanka by Mariko and Haiku by Debbie) Distance is a a collection of their work together in 2023 by Shabda Press. Deborah's newest book, Vital Signs, Haiku glimpses of moments in her cancer journey was published in 2024 by Cuttlefish Books In Vital Signs, Deborah sees the condor come back from extinction as a metaphor for the cancer patient fighting for one's own survival.

Deborah P Kolodji passed away in her sleep on July 21, 20:24 after a long struggle with cancer. Her positive energy, beautiful writing and leadership in eur poetry world continues to inspire us all

Kathabela

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Under the Basho posted 5 pcs. of Tan-Ku

Five works were posted in Under the Basho, including one piece by Tan-Ku as a preface.
Thank you very much to everyone at Under the Basho.

Fireworks – a Tan-Ku

Details
Written by: Mariko Kitakubo and Deborah P Kolodji
Published: 09 August 2024

longing
is always lonely sky...
under
the jacaranda
fireworks finale (M)

far away and yet…
the meteor shower
lights up the sky (D)

Mariko Kitakubo
Deborah P Kolodji

(2024.7.1)

Mariko writes:
This is the one of our last Tan-Ku set published in Colorado Boulevard.net.
I subconsciously wrote something that predicted her death, and she responded kindly to it.
I will continue to live with her spirit, supported by our eternal bond.

Golden Poppies – a Tan-Ku

Details
Written by: Mariko Kitakubo and Deborah P Kolodji
Published: 09 August 2024

abandoned
at the end
of the world
you are forgotten
sunshine seeds (M)

lashes flutter
as I dream
golden poppies (D)

quiet
colors of dawn
on the packet
the disabled artist
opens my eyes (M)

morning light
I reach for a pair
of gardening gloves (D)

my rebirth
in the early summer
breeze…
Invisible tiny lives
in a soft lump of soil (M)

planted
in the rich earth
I long for your blooms (D)

Mariko Kitakubo
Deborah P Kolodji

Cape May – a Tan-Ku

Details
Written by: Mariko Kitakubo and Deborah P Kolodji
Published: 09 August 2024

without talk
just smiles for each other
two beach chairs
at sunset
we need nothing (M)

lull tide
two gulls skim
the horizon (D)

under
the cloud-shaped
angel,
standing on the dune
I believe in miracles (M)

the music of the sea
calms my weary spirit
footprints in the sand (D)

what
am I searching for...
following
the tracks
seabirds leave (M)

land’s end
our eyes on the lighthouse
against the clouds (D)

Mariko Kitakubo
Deborah P Kolodji

Prehistory – a Tan-Ku

Details
Written by: Mariko Kitakubo and Deborah P Kolodji
Published: 09 August 2024

what did he
stammer
that night
super blue moon
over the Balkans (M)

summer evening
the clarity
of my hearing aid (D)

sometimes
better not to know
everything...
the lilies of the field
the birds of the air (M)

butterflies flitter
flower to flower
dreams (D)

the lost
continent,
Greater Adria
transparent wings
of giant dragonflies (M)

plucking petals
from a daisy
my own evolution (D)

Mariko Kitakubo
Deborah P Kolodji

Passengers – a Tan-Ku

Details
Written by: Mariko Kitakubo and Deborah P Kolodji
Published: 09 August 2024

changing
trains to return
home ...
long railway
through grasslands (M)

midnight silence
the sound of a far off
air whistle (D)

I can't remember
the name of the bridge...
still playing
hide and seek
with mom's ghost (M)

bare hills
my mother’s stories
about the troop train (D)

the door
opens and closes
so many faces...
departure bell
for my life ,again (M)

Cabernet Sauvignon
I sit in the dining car
alone (D)

Mariko Kitakubo
Deborah P Kolodji

Friday, August 9, 2024

Colorado Boulevard posted the final Tan-Ku by Ms. Deborah P Kolodji and me

On July 24 (U.S. time), Colorado Boulevard, an online poetry magazine, published the final two pieces of Tan-Ku by Ms. Deborah P Kolodji and me.
My deepest gratitude to Mr. Wafic Khalil and Ms. Kathabela Wilson, who decided to post it in their journal three days after Ms. Kolodji passed away. Thank you very much.

Fireworks

longing
is always lonely sky…
under
the jacaranda
fireworks finale (M)

far away and yet…
the meteor shower
lights up the sky (D)

Tanabata

palm leaf sounds…
turquoise manicure
in midsummer
resting on the shore
bringing us closer (M)

your thumb as you hang
the tanzaku
our matching wishes (D)

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Three Tan-Ku sets are posted in Shot Glass Journal

I am grateful that Shot Glass Journal, an online poetry magazine, has published three new Tan-Ku works that Deborah and I co-wove.

* Click the images below to view the pages in Shot Glass Journal.

The Wait

by Mariko Kitakubo and Deborah P Kolodji

high tide
makes me
defenseless. . .
ancient blue of
the Pacific Ocean (M)

your ship shrinking
into the horizon
I wait ashore (D)

February

by Deborah P Kolodji and Mariko Kitakubo

morning sunshine
the snow where
you are (D)

invisible now
but I'm sure
Sakura's
flowering power
will surround us (M)

Sundial

by Mariko Kitakubo and Deborah P Kolodji

this sunset
is only for today
step by step
I'll be able to
start a new life (M)

ocean swallowing
the remaining light
moonrise? (D)

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Blithe Spirit published a book review about DISTANCE

I express my gratitude to Mr. A A Marcoff for his wonderful review of DISTANCE in Vol. 33 No. 4 of Blithe Spirit, the poetry magazine of the British Haiku Society.

In his review, Mr. Marcoff compared the book to the works of great musicians like Bach, Matisse, and Cézanne.

I would also like to thank the editors of Blithe Spirit for providing valuable space for the review.

Distance by Mariko Kitakubo, Deborah P Kolodji, Shabda Press, 2023, paperback, 94 pages,

Mariko (Japan) writes tanka. Deborah (California) writes haiku. After the pandemic brought them together on the internet, these two great voices are now become as sisters in poetry, linked across the ocean, and in their book of tanka and haiku in combinations (Tan-Ku), they have composed a magical, sublime duet, improvisations in realities and dreams.

Constructed with echo, counterpoint and reprise, this book seems like a Bach concerto for two interweaving violins. The two poets are dream- travellers, and at times touch the cosmos in a 'Music of the Galaxy'. But in this haiku, we are brought from the stars right down to earth:

expanse
of the universe
a boy and his dog

In mirrors of the soul, Distance offers us a little kaleidoscope of everything, in 'emanations' (Matisse) and 'realisations' (Cezanne), that takes us from Samarkand and the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania (with its cradle or creation of the species), to Asakusa and the Senso-ji Temple in Tokyo. Sometimes we are led through a Torii (Shinto gateway) that marks a transition from the mundane to the sacred. These haiku and tanka were created in the spontaneity of the moment out of an emotion heightened by the pandemic. Several times I heard reverberations of the Zen koan, 'show me your face before you were born'.

Both poets are seasoned practitioners, and both are well-travelled. Mariko in particular, by all accounts a deeply impressive performer of her tanka, has taken her art all over the globe, and has made tanka truly international, touching so many hearts and minds:

through
the antique glass
dawn
comes into the world

spring snow
or petals of sakura
falling falling
like ashes in Ukraine

Deborah, Moderator of the Southern California Haiku Study Group, has travelled to Tokyo to do a haiku presentation:

the sea pounding
even in my dreams
dolphins

bees in soft petals
I open my arms
to the sun

Together they have given us the light of the stars, and the raw beauty and authenticity of things. They write with real flair, with the flow of things (they quote Heraclitus and his concept of 'Panta Rhei' ('Everything flows')), in spontaneous observations and essentials. We are left with the human condition, the way of life itself, couched in small poems that express the inexpressible with wonder. This is a book to love - absolutely. Absolutely in a relative world.

A A Marcoff