MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYBODY!

my fervent wish

for Christmas and beyond -

lasting world peace

For your holiday gift-giving or for yourself, here are the links to my 3 books.

1) Rustle of bamboo leaves © 2005 (HIGHLY DISCOUNTED from Lulu, copy and paste URL)

http://www.lulu.com/shop/victor-p-gendrano/rustle-of-bamboo-leaves/paperback/product-246155.html

2) Haiku and Tanka Harvest © Dec. 2011

https://www.createspace.com/3737478

3) ABC to Enlightenment © 2012

https://www.createspace.com/3900289

The preceding 2 books are also available from Amazon.

Thank you and Merry Christmas to everybody!

countless candles lit
for countless children -
violence victims

TATLONG WIKA, ISANG KAHULUGAN
(Three tongues, One meaning)
 

KALUNGKUTAN (Tagalog) gabing walang bituin hinihintay kita sinta kahit sa panaginip

SOLEDAD (Español) la noche sin estrellas esperaré por te amor aun en mi sueño

LONELINESS (English) starless night I'll wait for you my love even in my dream

In my book, Haiku and Tanka Harvest

after this holiday
I'll never join again
women shopping

In my book, Haiku and Tanka Harvest

THANKSGIVING PRAYER 

Thank you

my Lord and God

for gift of life and health

remembering our lost loved ones

once more.

Heed not

our weaknesses,

teach us how to forgive

and live in harmony with all

others.

So that

once more this world

of hate will be again

a place of love and peacefulness,

Amen.

Black Friday -
a not so subtle ploy
to empty your purse

parade watching
he fingers his Purple Heart
over his feeble heart

handicapped parking
he pretends to walk
with a limp

from my book,
Rustle of bamboo leaves

their room
fills with silence
this All Souls day
even her unrocking
rocking chair

from my book,
Haiku and Tanka Harvest

after facing
six eliminations
the San Francisco Giants won
the World Series games
against Detroit Lions

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants who just won the baseball's World Series games tonight sweeping the Detroit Lions in four games clinging to never say die, never give up attitude.

from my spam folder -
"my husband
is out of town"

From my 3rd book, ABC to enlightenment © 2012

THE ABC TO ENLIGHTENMENT, 10

    

      by Victor P. Gendrano 

© 23 March 2011

This the tenth in the series of alphabetical guidelines. In my posts, I try to limit myself to just one page so as not to overwhelm you. 

J - JUDGEMENT

Often we tend to judge people according to our own societal standards, for instance, skin color, speech accent, the way one looks, ethnicity, and so on, which are different from the norm we are in and grew up with. Another aspect is pre-judging people’s actions without privy to their personal motivations and carefully-arrived reasons, which, at times, are hard to do.

With regards to physical attributes, for example, it’s worth remembering the common saying, don’t judge a book by its cover, since we have to read what’s inside first to correctly ascertain its worthiness. But, most important of all, God created man in His likeness and loved and continually to love us unconditionally, so we ought to love one another, rather than being unnecessarily judgmental.

in the news -
lack of sleep adds inches
to your waist

she shrieks
at the mirror
and cries she's heavy
I reassure her
she's just healthy

In my book,
Haiku and Tanka Harvest

autumn dusk

grandpa gazes at the bird

flying alone

In my book, 

Haiku and Tanka Harvest © 2012

but first published in

World Haiku Review

Vol. 5, Issue 2, January 2007

hospice visit
for the third time
she asks the name
of her daughter
holding her hand

In my book, 
Haiku and Tanka Harvest © 2011
but first published in
Sketchbook, Vol. 5, No. 2
March/April 2010

the silent sound
of her absence
fills their room
only the echoes
of yesterday remain

Tagalog version

napuno ang kanilang silid
ng tahimik na ugong
nang kanyang pagkawala
gunita ng kahapon
siya lang naiwan

Published in my book,
Haiku and Tanka Harvest
© December 2001

end of summer
our daughter's vacation
gets shorter each year

The Heron's Nest
Vol. XIII, No. 1, March 2011

football fever

she hugs his pillow 

for company

their bed grows colder

each passing game

Ribbons, Vol. 2, No. 2

Summer 2006

Good news. My article, Xenophobia, an excerpt from my 3rd book, ABC to Enlightenment, 

https://www.createspace.com/3900289

was just published in the Romanian magazine, Contemporary Horizons, July/August 2012 issue in both its original English version with Romanian translation. Many thanks to editor Daniel Dragomirescu for always including my works in the magazine.

From the latest issue of World Haiku Review, August 2012, here's my Moving out haiku sequence.

MOVING OUT 
(A haiku sequence)

by Victor P. Gendrano, USA

                    twilight advent 
                eyeing the remnants
                of my past life

                my daughter says 
                it's alright to feel sad
                moving out

                moving in alone 
                in my new retirement house
                chilly Santa Ana wind

                half awake 
                I thought I smell
                her fresh brewed coffee

                unfamiliar room 
                I bumped my head
                on the bedroom's door

                only a cut 
                the paramedic says
                no stitches needed

                from the window 
                a distant shaft
                of the dawn's light 

barbecue scent mingles
with children's laughter
inside their fence
outside, two homeless kids
share a burnt burger

Modern English Tanka
Vol. 3, No. 3, Spring 2009

my neighbor mows

the grassy edges

of my unkempt lawn

in the shade I try to write

this friendship poem

Sketchbook, Vol. 4, No. 4, 

July/August 2009 

widower's garden
her roses bloom
side by side with weeds

World Haiku Review, August 2011
Honorably Mention, Neo-Classical Haiku

I brush mom's gray hair
as she chats with unseen friends
in her hospice home
I wonder if she knows
I'm her least-liked daughter

Notes from the Gean
Vol. 2, Issue , March 2011

sidewalk frenzy

the homeless boys fight

for a tossed quarter

World Haiku Review

 Vol. 8, Issue 1, Jan. 2010

Just a note that there is a brief review of my second book, Haiku and Tanka Harvest, in the latest issue of FROGPOND, The Journal of the Haiku Society of America, Vol. 35, No. 2, 2012. 

rain forecast
even the crickets
refuse to sing

World Haiku Review,

 April 2012

widower"s garden
her roses bloom
side by side with weeds

In my 2nd book, Haiku and Tanka Harvest
but first published in World Haiku Review
August 2011

More good news. An article on XENOPHOBIA in my 3rd book, ABC to Enlightenment, will be translated to Romanian and published in a future issue of Contemporary Literary Horizon.

I am recently honored as an invited poet in the latest issue of HAIGAONLINE with my haiku poems turned into haiga complete with art works and music. Please see this link (copy and paste the URL to your browser or search engine):

http://www.haigaonline.com/

Dear Readers,

I am pleased to tell you that I have just published my 3rd book, ABC to Enlightenment. It's not a book of poems but weekly words of advice sent to my children and grandchildren through the magic of email. I wrote them for consecutive 26 weeks, January to July 2011 starting with letter A for Action, B for Beauty, C for Courage to the last letter Z for Zeal. More information on these sites (Copy and paste the URL to your browser or search engine):

https://www.createspace.com/3900289

http://www.amazon.com/ABC-Enlightenment-Guideposts-lifes-journey/dp/1477607439

summer advent

she watches the hummingbirds

with unopened book

With the warm weather fast approaching, smile, no laugh once in a while!

uncontrolled laughter
grandpa's denture falls
in his bowl of soup 

Just discovered a review of my book, Haiku and Tanka Harvest, in Lynx, a Journal for Linking Poets in its June 2012 issue. Here's the link:

http://www.ahapoetry.com/ahalynx/272bookreviews.html

the flower’s essence

lingers long after

its bloom wilts

remembering the lives

she touched on earth

Modern English Tanka

Vol. 2, No. 1, Autumn 2007

parade watching

from his wheelchair

he fingers 

the Purple Heart

over his feeble heart

eclipse
in haikuland
Hortensia is gone

In memory of Hortensia Anderson of New York, a fellow poet who just passed away, from a silent admirer not only of her poetry but her tenacity to cling to life dealt to her... May you rest in peace!

Search for inner peace

he roams

the rocky hills

in search of inner peace

which his world

cannot give

Sketchbook, Vol. 6, No. 1

January/February 2011

Fleeting life

I know now

why our embrace

was so tight

your last farewell

to fleeting life

Sketchbook, Vol. 6, No. 1

Jan/Feb. 2011

moving in 

alone in my new 

retirement house

the chilly welcome

of Santa Ana wind

rain forecast
even the crickets
refuse to sing

World Haiku Review
April 2012

Spring cleanup

spring cleanup
she rips her dad’s photo
with his new young wife

Sketchbook, Vol. 6, No. 3 
May/June 2011

Moving in day

moving in day
the chilly welcome
of Santa Ana wind

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th
I shoo a black cat
from the driveway

Three eleven

ghosts of three eleven 

beneath sakura blooms

flooded paper cranes

World Haiku Review
April 2012

Lenten Thoughts

© Victor P. Gendrano

Embrace each day with joy
give thanks for gift of life
living in borrowed time
in simple joy, delight.

Beauty is everywhere
if we but dare to look
within ourselves, others
or sound of nature’s brook.

Blooming flowers, bird’s songs
in warmth of sun-filled day,
kind words and warm smile
laughter in children’s play.

We are all sojourners
and life is but fleeting,
long after we are gone
bad or good deeds remain.

For we are truly dust
to dust we shall return,
power, riches, and fame
we leave after sojourn.

So resurrected Lord
in Your divine wisdom,
guide us simple mortals
right path to Your kingdom.


Reprinted from: Heritage magazine,
Vol. XII, No. 1, Spring 1998

First day of spring

her sweet smile
ushers in the
first day of spring

To Candace whose newly bought book I just autographed. Thanks a mil...

Remember Japan

remembering
three eleven
when the world, as one,
mourned and helped
a ravaged nation


In loving remembrance of Japan and its people for last year's natural disaster. May you have continued progress and healing, our prayers are still with you.

Hospice

hospice visit
for the third time
she asks the name
of her daughter
holding her hand

Sketchbook Vol. 5, No. 2
March/April 2010

Stalled traffic

stalled traffic
he picks up his dog
crying

World Haiku Review
December 2011

Your Absence

I chase
the remnants
of my broken dream
chilling the night
of your absence

Ash Wenesday

dust we are
to dust we shall return
Lenten's lesson

MORE READERS' BOOK COMMENTS

Haiku and Tanka Harvest, published last December 23, 2011 is available at Amazon and its publisher's site: https://www.createspace.com/3737478

MORE READERS’ COMMENTS

“I received my copy of Haiku and Tanka Harvest today in the mail. I am enjoying all your work very much. A special thanks for including “For Darrell” in this book. I appreciate very much you including this poem in memory of my wife, Alice. We have both lost our life mates in the normal course of living. Poetry such as yours eases the pain. It reminds us that we will all be together again. On the other side.”

- Darrell Byrd, poet member of the Southern California Haiku Study Group

“Haiku and Tanka Harvest is simply wonderful! It is beautiful, inside and out. The cover is extraordinarily striking. I've been trying to make the first reading last, to savor each poem the first time through, but it's very hard to do that, because as soon as I read one poem I can't wait to get to the next. So, I'll read every one, and absorb and savor them more slowly with subsequent readings. I'm enjoying your prose very much, too. Your work has heart; reading it is such a joy. Susumu's and Marjorie's introductions are marvelous, warm and enlightening. What a significant and satisfying literary gift you have created!"

- Ferris Gilli, Associate Editor, The Heron's Nest

“Victor is probably more of a settler than a traveller. His job as a librarian must have given him intellectual detachment and the power of keen observation. His humility and honesty have opened a shortest route to truths. They also seem to have made him able to accept “the unknowable” and “the undoable” calmly. With this detachment and calmness he enjoys what life can offer him. All this, without being armed with Zen, Oriental mysticism, or cumbersome Western haiku theory and rules.

year end
thinking of what ifs
and what might have beens

Luckily for him, Victor is a natural for haiku. However, that is only half the story. The other half tells us that he makes tremendous efforts to be better, listens attentively, observes like a scientist and opens his heart to what is there for everybody to see.

In answer to my question he says, “Haiku enable me to see the world as it is, warts and all, and embrace any and all happenings both in nature itself and human nature, with me remaining non-judgmental yet involved. It requires discipline yet makes me aware of macro and micro happenings around me.”

And whatever happens around him, Victor’s heart remains with his late wife.

dining alone
the pipe-in music plays
our love song"

- Susumu Takiguchi, Chairman of The World Haiku Club and editor of its World Haiku Review. Excerpts from Susumu’s Introduction to Haiku in the book Haiku and Tanka Harvest.

BACK COVER of Haiku and Tanka Harvest

Haiku and Tanka Havest is available from Amazon and its publisher's site:
https://www.createspace.com/3737478

ABOUT THE AUTHOR, Victor P. Gendrano
Victor is a member of the Haiku Society of America, World Haiku Club, Tanka Society of America and the Anglo-Japanese Tanka Society. This is his second book. His first one, Rustle of bamboo leaves, selected haiku and other poems,was published in 2005. It is highly discounted in the publisher’s site:
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/rustle-of-bamboo-leaves/246155

WHAT THEY SAY:
“Victor is a natural for haiku. But his tanka is something special. Tanka form seems to be a most suitable one for his sensibility, self-expression and sentiment. Tanka would be a better form for most of the haiku poets who have not grasped the essence of haiku like he had. In short, he is good at haiku as well as at tanka.”
- Susumu Takiguchi, Chairman, The World Haiku Club and Editor,
World Haiku Review

“Gendrano is a multitalented poet who is not afraid of expressing himself in various forms; he is not limited to nor defined only as a tanka or haiku poet; this freedom of definition gives his poetry a richness and depth. This collection of haiku and tanka is heartfelt and honest. Victor P. Gendrano’s voice is sincere,rich and authentic. It is a voice that needs to be heard.”
- Marjorie Buettner, poet, book reviewer, and author of
Seeing it now, a haiku and tanka book.

Victor P. Gendrano's second book, Haiku and Tanka Harvest, is a journey into the heart and soul of the poet. His poetic works are honest, sincere and, above all, will leave permanent footprints in the reader's heart. From loneliness, heartache, joy, and happiness, this book weaves a tapestry of his life's winding road. Haiku and Tanka Harvest is a must addition to any poet's library.
- Pamela A. Babusci, Editor of Moonbathing: a journal of women's tanka

COMMENTS ON NEW BOOK

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Victor is a member of the Haiku Society of America, World Haiku Club, Tanka Society of America and the Anglo-Japanese Tanka Society. This is his second book. His first one, Rustle of bamboo leaves, selected haiku and other poems,was published in 2005. It is highly discounted in the publisher’s site {copy and paste URL):
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/rustle-of-bamboo-leaves/246155

WHAT THEY SAY:
“Victor is a natural for haiku. But his tanka is something special. Tanka form seems to be a most suitable one for his sensibility, self-expression and sentiment. Tanka would be a better form for most of the haiku poets who have not grasped the essence of haiku like he had. In short, he is good at haiku as well as at tanka.”
- Susumu Takiguchi, Chairman, The World Haiku Club and Editor, World Haiku Review

“Gendrano is a multitalented poet who is not afraid of expressing himself in various forms; he is not limited to nor defined only as a tanka or haiku poet; this freedom of definition gives his poetry a richness and depth. This collection of haiku and tanka is heartfelt and honest. Victor P. Gendrano’s voice is sincere,rich and authentic. It is a voice that needs to be heard.”
- Marjorie Buettner, poet, book reviewer, and author of Seeing it now, a haiku
and tanka book.


Victor P. Gendrano's second book, Haiku and Tanka Harvest, is a journey into the heart and soul of the poet. His poetic works are honest, sincere and, above all, will leave permanent footprints in the reader's heart. From loneliness, heartache, joy, and happiness, this book weaves a tapestry of his life's winding road. Haiku and Tanka Harvest is a must addition to any poet's library.
- Pamela A. Babusci, Editor of Moonbathing: a journal of women's tanka