Let haiku be on the UNESCO list! (48)

 

Let haiku be on the UNESCO list!

 

On March 20, 2016, Ms. Eunice Barbara C. Novio, kindly sent me an e-mail, saying about herself.

 

Firstly, here is her photo.

 

 

 

About the author

Eunice Barbara C. Novio, is from the Philippines and presently residing in Thailand. She teaches English and Psychology at Vongchavalitkul University in Nakhon Ratchasima. She taught at Naresuan University in Phitsanulok for 2 ½ years. She is a graduate of the University of the Philippines Diliman, MA in Women and Development under the Women Leadership Scholarship of Seattle United States.  She has written various researches and scholarly articles about women published in several international journals. In the Philippines, she was active advocate of women and gender issues. In Thailand she is now focusing her advocacy on migrants.  Aside from teaching, she is also a regular contributor of feature stories about the Filipinos in diaspora at the Global Pinoy section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the most popular newspaper in the Philippines. She has also published poems in various anthologies and at the Philippine Graphics one of the oldest magazine in the Philippines. She just recently published a book of poetry entitled: Maps of Dreams and Memories. It is published by Aquirelle and marketed by Lulu.com and Amazon.com. Her first poetry book is currently garnering good sales.

She is married with three kids. She has also four cats and a dog.

 

On March 21, Ms. Eunice Barbara C. Novio, sent the following e-mail to me.

 

Dear Sensei,

Salamat. Arigato.

I’ve been practicing writing haiku since I was a child. But I lost all those. The first form of poetry I learned is haiku because I am fascinated by its seemingly disconnected phrases, but if you think deeply, the phrases are connected. I am experimenting now with Haikus, because I know that Japanese haikus are more focused into nature, but in my experimental haikus, I write about feelings too. Haiku must be learned by many young people because it is Asian and because it makes them think rationally; like answering a puzzle.

Would you please tell me if I the letter of support would be written in another document? I will send more haiku later this morning.

Thank you very much,

Eunice

 

Here is another document for supporting the campaign “Let haiku be on the UNESCO list!”.

 

Dear Hidenori San,

I am supporting Haiku as an oldest form of poetry and it’s Asian origin.  Haiku is all about nature. The phrases seem not connected but if you read it well and compose the images in your mind, there is a connection. This is not understood by most of our Western counterparts. Haiku is an art of words like no other.

I am one of the voices to make Haiku included in UNESCO’s list as a heritage, so it will not be forgotten and considered as a unique art.

Sincerely,

Eunice Barbara C. Novio

Filipino journalist, educator and poet.

 

Lastly, here are haiku by Ms. Eunice Barbara C. Novio.

 

Fireflies without lights
Moonless sky, darkness reigns
Weeping wind, tears drop.

 

Night creeps silently
crescent moon spilled with blood
moths circling the lamp.

 

A sip of nectar
drunkenness in your beauty
the bee flies again

 

The world is asleep
lullabies heard from afar
gunshots in the fields

 

Raging sea engulfed
Nature was mad, slapped us
Buried us in earth

 

rustles of dry leaves

call me back from dreams

awaken and gone.

 

Feet cover in sand
waves of the past sweep me
tide kisses the shore.

 

let the moon shine through
peeking on my window shades
beside shadow runs.

 

let my teardrops flow
glistening as if the rain,
just fall on dry earth.

 

Kissing me goodbye
Rainy day, one night in June
Train passed by.

 

 

Cold breeze greets morning
Golden rays behind the clouds
Silence everywhere

 

Swing moves slowly
withered leaves are blown away
Footprints left behind.

 

By Hidenori Hiruta