Agent Freeman Ng: Uncovered

Posted by on 02.01.12 in 2011, Agents: Uncovered, Events, Haiku | 0 comments

Agent Freeman Ng: Uncovered

When I was planning my first really-truly Guerilla Haiku event in San Francisco, I did a lot of poking around on the internets, and through that, found Freeman, the dearest man in the universe, writer, AND Mastermind of Haiku Diem.  He blogs a new haiku every single day and has since July 9th, 2010…!  Needless to say, I was (and am) very impressed, and invited him to the San Francisco event which he graced with his creative presence.  Featured is my favorite image of his work, but there are so many more!

Here’s what Freeman has to say about his haiku plans past, present and future:

Q) What is your favorite haiku?  (Either self-created or created by others)…

A) I’m very fond of this one that I wrote on Day 12 of Haiku Diem:

I saw the wren’s flight
from grass to tree top, but not
where its shadow went

This was the first haiku I ever wrote that had a really strong haiku-like feel to it. (Natural, elliptical, layered.) This was the day I thought to myself, “Yes, I can do this!”

Q) Why do YOU love haiku so much?
A) Because it made Haiku Diem possible! I was searching for a way to regularly serve a readership with my writing, and haiku turned out to be the perfect answer. It’s a very friendly poetic form, so it wouldn’t scare any potential readers away like poetry often (and unfortunately) can, but also has the potential to contain great depths within those few syllables, so I’ll never come to the end of it.
Q: What is one thing you have never attempted, that you have always wanted to try
A: Renga, a type of Japanese collaborative poetry that actually gave rise to the haiku. In renga, two or more poets take turns adding three and two line stanzas to a long poem until they reach a predetermined length. Over time, that first three line stanza separated itself from the renga form to become its own genre: haiku. But I’d love to go back to those roots some day and try the collaborative version.
Q: What was a favorite moment from your Guerilla Haiku Adventure?
A: Running unexpectedly into a haiku left by another team, which allowed me to imagine the surprise and delight of passersby who would be encountering our haiku all the rest of that day.
Q: Is there something exciting happening in your life right now that all assembled Haiku Agents should know about?
A: I recently launched another regular feed of my writing, only this time, it’s not poetical but political. www.Politipedia.us is a weekly feed of (hopefully) humorous and/or insightful political definitions. The one quality it shares with the daily haiku is concision. I’m trying to make each week’s post as short and sweet as possible.