Dear Friends, In New York, where I live, autumn has taken hold. Leaves are whirling in the street. Rainy nights, chill mornings, bright moon in the black sky. The sense of change, of the year turning, has made me wonder what it would be like to look at works of art through a seasonal lens. Can we see works of art as having seasons? Can we become sensitive to those evocations? What is seasonal attention?
There are lots of great resources online! One challenge is to create a list of seasonal words that are right for where you live. There have been some projects like that for Hawaii and California.
Thank you for sharing these with us - they are wonderful to read with my morning tea, watching the leaves in my London garden slowly change (very late this year).
Thank you for a fantastic selection of autumn haiku! I have had some success teaching haiku to creative writing students but can never take my own advice and release myself to have a go: the best ones are so good, I know I can never measure up. But the change of season is a great prompt. I keep meaning to get hold of Natalie Goldberg's book on haiku (do you know it?), as I am Natalie's #1 fan and have spent the last 20 years of my life working with freewriting (my preferred name for her writing practice). It has always intrigued me that she has adopted this concise form while being so keen to allow the extensiveness of freewriting. Then again, I have had some success with 'finding' flash fiction in my 10-minute freewrites (I publish them on Medium) so perhaps there are art forms that are about paring back and cutting out, and you need plenty of material to start with. These are somewhat rambling thoughts, do forgive me! I'm off to see if there are any autumnal surrealist paintings.
Good question, Sal. It was Medium's shortform publications that made me experiment with very short narratives taken from freewriting screeds and I gradually realised that what I was writing was flash fiction. You'd never guess I taught creative writing at a university for 10 years, would you?
Anyway, here on Substack, my primary aim is to get together a group of people who are interested, or can be made to become so, in 20s and 30s surrealism by women because a) I want them to get more recognition and b) I have written a novel about them that I'm publishing next year. Flash fiction about all sorts of other things might dilute The Fur Cup, but maybe I'll launch another Substack one day.
Apologies for my very long reply, it's a (possibly annoying) habit of mine! I'll let you know if I get Natalie's book: haiku is the shortest form of all.
Glad to find your stack! "inspirations and practical exercises for deepening attention and engaging with art." Seasonal considerations are so beautiful to work with, as they quickly move from literal to metaphorical, and unlock so many interesting connections in our little everyday moments! Looking forward to your ways of seeing - I hope you'll also visit me at Moments, where I share photography & stories about moments of connection in nature & everyday life :)
While reading your post,
I feel autumn’s cool leaves, here.
Appreciation!
Reading your reply,
Cool leaves swirl by in a gust—
Soon they will be gone.
I learned recently about seasonal words. This was a great read, thank you also for the link to the seasonal words!
There are lots of great resources online! One challenge is to create a list of seasonal words that are right for where you live. There have been some projects like that for Hawaii and California.
Thank you for sharing these with us - they are wonderful to read with my morning tea, watching the leaves in my London garden slowly change (very late this year).
Thank you for a fantastic selection of autumn haiku! I have had some success teaching haiku to creative writing students but can never take my own advice and release myself to have a go: the best ones are so good, I know I can never measure up. But the change of season is a great prompt. I keep meaning to get hold of Natalie Goldberg's book on haiku (do you know it?), as I am Natalie's #1 fan and have spent the last 20 years of my life working with freewriting (my preferred name for her writing practice). It has always intrigued me that she has adopted this concise form while being so keen to allow the extensiveness of freewriting. Then again, I have had some success with 'finding' flash fiction in my 10-minute freewrites (I publish them on Medium) so perhaps there are art forms that are about paring back and cutting out, and you need plenty of material to start with. These are somewhat rambling thoughts, do forgive me! I'm off to see if there are any autumnal surrealist paintings.
I’m also a fan of Natalie Goldberg but don’t (yet) have her haiku book. Maybe it’s time!
Also, curious why you publish your flash fiction on medium but not here!
Good question, Sal. It was Medium's shortform publications that made me experiment with very short narratives taken from freewriting screeds and I gradually realised that what I was writing was flash fiction. You'd never guess I taught creative writing at a university for 10 years, would you?
Anyway, here on Substack, my primary aim is to get together a group of people who are interested, or can be made to become so, in 20s and 30s surrealism by women because a) I want them to get more recognition and b) I have written a novel about them that I'm publishing next year. Flash fiction about all sorts of other things might dilute The Fur Cup, but maybe I'll launch another Substack one day.
Apologies for my very long reply, it's a (possibly annoying) habit of mine! I'll let you know if I get Natalie's book: haiku is the shortest form of all.
I hear it! I’m always curious how people organize multiple strands of their work.
Glad to find your stack! "inspirations and practical exercises for deepening attention and engaging with art." Seasonal considerations are so beautiful to work with, as they quickly move from literal to metaphorical, and unlock so many interesting connections in our little everyday moments! Looking forward to your ways of seeing - I hope you'll also visit me at Moments, where I share photography & stories about moments of connection in nature & everyday life :)
Thanks, Sydney — I will!