ADVANCE PRAISE FOR ONE WINDOW’S LIGHT

“A literal and metaphorical groundbreaker, this unique and indispensable collection contains a brilliant array of haiku by five members of the Carolina African American Writers Collective, including founder and guiding spirit Lenard D. Moore, who serves as its editor. In the deft hands of Gideon Young, Sheila Smith McKoy, Crystal Simone Smith, and L. Teresa Church, we find strands of lyrical precision intertwined with earthy and treasured mundanities against a backdrop of emotionally transporting moments. Long before ecocriticism and ecopoetics entered their current vogue state, Moore shattered preconceptions by exploring the connections between Japanese and African American aesthetics. In this volume, we see his extraordinary skill as a revelatory poet in dialogue with four gifted writers who have been nurtured by his example and become literary leaders in their own right. ”
LAURI RAMEY, co-editor of Journal of Foreign Languages and Cultures

“A classical Japanese aesthetic form is recontextualized to serve American poetic needs and purposes. The performances in One Window’s Light instruct and delight readers, compelling them to experience transcultural dimensions.”
JERRY WARD, JR., author of Fractal Song

“This collection is a lighted window into lives of African American haiku poets with powerful connections to earth and family. The poems resonate with past and present horrors and with hope for the future.”
RUTH M. YARROW, author of Lit From Within

“This collection is like a window that presents the light of insights into African American history and culture and offers fresh haiku for the reader to see, hear, touch, smell, and taste for a growth of sensibility, a moment of enlightenment, a rhythm of creative thinking, and an appreciation of African American heritage. The most impressive part of this collection is its focus on environment and current events, offering a clear point of view that haiku is not just about nature; it is also about human nature and society. Such an important haiku collection in American haiku history, One Window’s Light, as Moore states in his introduction, ‘extends the tradition’ of African American haiku already enriched by Lewis Alexander, Richard Wright, Etheridge Knight, James Emanuel, Sonia Sanchez, Kalamu ya Salaam, and many other younger black poets.”
JOHN ZHENG, editor of African American Haiku: Cultural Visions


ABOUT THE AUTHORS

DR. L. TERESA CHURCH has been a member of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective since 1995 and serves as archivist and membership chairperson for the organization. Her writings have appeared in publications such as Simply Haiku, The Heron’s Nest, Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora, Solo Café, Nocturnes: (Re)view of the Literary Arts, African American Review, North Carolina Literary Review, and her chapbooks Hand-Me-Down Calicos and Beyond the Water Dance. She is an independent scholar/archival consultant and sole proprietor of LTC Consulting, in Durham, North Carolina.

LENARD D. MOORE, a native of North Carolina, and U.S. Army Veteran, is the Founder and Executive Director of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective. Moore’s work has appeared in over 400 publications, such as Callaloo, African American Review, Obsidian, Prairie Schooner, North Carolina Literary Review, and North American Review. His work also has appeared in over 100 anthologies, including The Haiku Anthology (Norton, 1999). His poetry has been translated into several languages. His books include The Open Eye (NC Haiku Society Press, 1985), The Open Eye, Limited 30th Anniversary Edition (Mountains & Rivers Press, 2015), among others. Another collection, The Geography of Jazz, is forthcoming. He is recipient of the Haiku Museum of Tokyo Award (1983, 1994 and 2003), 1992 First Prize Winner in Traditional Style Haiku sponsored by Mainichi Daily News (Tokyo, Japan), Sam Ragan Award in the Fine Arts (2006) Raleigh Medal of Arts for Lifetime Achievement (2008), and North Carolina Award for Literature (2014). He is a Cave Canem Fellow (1998-2000). He is former President of the Haiku Society of America and the longtime Executive Chairman of the NC Haiku Society. Mr. Moore, Associate Professor of English, teaches Creative Writing and African American Literature at the University of Mount Olive.

CRYSTAL SIMONE SMITH is the author of two poetry chapbooks, Routes Home (Finishing Line Press, 2013) and Running Music (Longleaf Press, 2014). She is also the author of Wildflowers: Haiku, Senryu, and Haibun (2016). Her work has appeared in numerous journals including Callaloo, Nimrod, Barrow Street, Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora, African American Review, and Mobius: The Journal of Social Change. She is an alumna of the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop and the Yale Summer Writers Conference. She holds an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte and lives in Durham, NC, with her husband and two sons. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Elon University and Greensboro College and the Managing Editor of Backbone Press.

DR. SHEILA SMITH McKOY is professor of English and chair at Kennesaw State University. A Raleigh, NC, native, Smith McKoy is a poet, fiction writer, critic, and documentary filmmaker. Her work has appeared in the Schomburg series African American Women Writers 1910–1940, Black Gold, Callaloo, Contours, Journal of Ethnic American Literature, Mythium, Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora, Research for African Literatures, Valley Voices, and the College Language Association Journal. Smith McKoy’s books include The Elizabeth Keckley Reader (Volume 1, 2016; Volume 2, 2017) and When Whites Riot: Writing Race and Violence in American and South African Cultures (2001).

GIDEON YOUNG is a native of Connecticut. A member of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective, the Haiku Society of America, and the Carrboro Poets Council, his poetry has appeared in Backbone Press, Carve Magazine, Modern Haiku, Obsidian: Literature in the African Diaspora, Spillway, The White Elephant, Wild Plum Haiku, and The Elizabeth Keckley Reader: A Determined Life, Volume 2. Young earned a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education from North Carolina State University and Bachelor’s in Literature from the University of Connecticut. He is a Teaching Fellow for A+ Schools of North Carolina and a Title 1 Elementary Literacy Specialist.