New to Haiku: Advice for Beginners — Dr. Sangita Kalarickal

And we’re back! Thanks to everyone who has reached out while I’ve been recovering from a broken shoulder. I appreciate it. — Julie K.

Today at New to Haiku, let’s welcome Dr. Sangita Kalarickal. Sangita is the associate editor of Drifting Sands Haibun. Her first chapbook, Mamina—a mix of free-verse and haiku—was published in 2023. Thanks for sharing your haiku journey with us, Sangita!

In Advice for Beginners posts, we ask established haiku poets to share a bit about themselves so that you can meet them and learn more about their writing journeys. We, too, wanted to learn what advice they would give to beginning haiku poets. You can read posts from previous Advice for Beginners interviewees here.

Welcome to New to Haiku, Sangita! How did you come to learn about haiku?

I knew about haiku as a syllabic count form for years, but it was only in 2020 that I actually realized what English-language haiku really is! A John Stevenson workshop did it for me. Absolutely mind-blowing realization.

Do you have a haiku mentor? What advice did they give you? Did someone else’s haiku greatly influence your own?

Yes, after a long search (it is tough to get folks’ time!) I was extremely fortunate to get Ferris Gilli as a mentor through The Heron’s Nest (THN) network. Julie Schwerin, my editor at THN, introduced me. Ferris laid the foundation for me, helping me unlearn the fog I was accustomed to. She helped me see the world through the eyes of a haiku poet. Once I figured out to get connected to nature that way, there was no turning back. I am still learning, but sensitivity to nature has helped me not only become a better poet but also a better human.

Later on, the peer support and the community help at Triveni Haikai India (THI) also helped bolster my confidence. I learned how to write a haibun at THI.

You have been writing haiku for three years now. How has your understanding of haiku changed over time?

Several years ago, I thought haiku was an exercise in 5/7/5 syllabic counting. After the past three years, I stood before 4th and 5th graders last year and lectured about what English-language haiku (ELH) is really about. Just counting syllables does not a haiku make! Don’t get me wrong, 5/7/5 is fine, but writing ELH in 5/7/5 is extremely difficult in my mind. I haven’t seen many where I can’t take out extraneous words.

Haiku is not just a poem, it’s almost a philosophy or way of life. Writing haiku has made me more aware of the world around me, as I am sure it will, for anyone. Somehow it has also made my free verse more powerful!

Where do you most often write? Do you have a writing process?

Oh, I write just about anywhere! I hate to admit it, but my phone is a big help. Any time a phrase or scene or detail in nature strikes me, I jot it down in Google Docs or Google Keep. That way I can access it anywhere using any equipment. If I don’t have my phone with me, my trusty pen and wee notebook come to the rescue. I wish I had a writing process. Unfortunately, I am not disciplined enough to have a dedicated time to write. I hear it’s the best way to be productive, but mostly, life gets in the way for me!

For those just starting out, what advice would you give?

I would say read and just jump into it. Granted, one will not write brilliant haiku all the time; in fact, while starting out it might just be a short three-line poem, not a haiku at all. But remember to tell yourself, it’s all OK! You’ll learn. Keep your mind open, eagerness high, and ego short.

Haiku is all about minimalism—-not using fancy words, being clever, or showing off vocabulary. For me, haiku is all about simplicity, observations, and associations.

And most importantly, read. Read, read and then read some more. Reading helps a LOT more than one realizes!

Resources at The Haiku Foundation and the poet community support at Triveni Haikai India are also a huge help, do use these.

During your day job, you focus on engineering and physics. Have you written any science or science-fiction themed haiku? Scifaiku is a favorite of mine!

Oh, of course! I love SFF. While fantasy is my favorite genre in which to write fiction, I love old Asimov-esque science fiction, and I enjoy writing scifaiku. I had the privilege to be the featured poet in [the print version of] Scifaikuest magazine in May 2023.

As co-editor of Drifting Sands Haibun, what do you look for in a haibun submission? What do you find to be key to the form?

I absolutely LOVE the form of haibun and since I discovered the grace of tanka, I love tanka prose as well. In a submission, we look for a well-written narrative. I think that the haiku/senryu is the crowning glory of a haibun, although weak prose can ruin the piece. Of course, haibun prose needs to be poetic. I feel that this can get a bit tricky; generally poets are better at the ku. And the title needs to tie it all together, please.

There are so many fantastic poets, hope folks write in!

You’ve hosted five episodes of Ripples in the Sand, a podcast featuring poetry readings and interviews with poets published in the journal Drifting Sands Haibun. Do you have any plans to continue the series?

Actually, right now we have 14 episodes, a new episode every other month. All the episodes are here. It is an absolute pleasure and wonderful learning experience for me, and I am sure for listeners as well, to hear the poets’ views on the form and to hear the poems being read by the poets themselves. We hope to record as many haibuneers as possible!

Among other things, Sangita Kalarickal is a wordsmith crafting poetry and fiction. Her literary journey started in childhood. She grew up with a love for physics with a healthy dose of creative arts. Her stories, free-verse poetry, and Japanese poetic forms are widely published. Her first chapbook Mamina (Kavya-Adisakrit, 2023), dealing with several aspects of motherhood, has been well-received. She is currently an associate editor of Drifting Sands Haibun Journal and also conducts the podcast Ripples in the Sand. Originally from Bombay, India, Dr. Kalarickal studied in Colorado, USA, and now writes from Minnesota, USA where she lives with family, her little garden, and the fantasy characters she writes about. You can also find her online at https://sangitakalarickal.com/

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