England

  • Kent, Brendon

    Brendon Kent

    (1 February 1958 - 24 February 2024)


    Brendon KentBrendon Kent was a British haiku and haiga poet born on 1 February 1958, in Southampton, England.

    He has worked at a variety of jobs, including the production of wind turbines. He was a member of the British Haiku Society and the World Haiku Association and served as Assistant Editor of the Facebook page My Haiku Pond.

    Kent's work focused on haiku poetry, and he published several collections during his lifetime. In 2014 he independently published Illustrated haiku: - green leaves (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform). His book Moon on Water was published by Alba Publishing, UK in June 2018. After his death, a posthumous collection titled Navigating Moons was released, which contains his final published and unpublished haiku, senryu, and other poems. It is described as "poems of a cancer journey," following his battle with cancer towards the end of his life.

    Throughout his career, Kent was active in the haiku community and gained recognition for his contributions to the art form. He was widely anthologised and has won several awards in international competitions, notably the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Contest, International Section (Best International Haiku (2015), Sakura Award (2017, 2019), and Honourable Mention (2018, 2019); the Golden Haiku Contest in Washington, D.C. (Honourable Mentions in 2018, 2019, 2020, and twice in 2021). Kent was also listed in The European Top 100 haiku authors in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2019.

    Brendon Kent passed away on 24 February 2024 in Southampton. He requested that proceeds from his posthumous book Navigating Moons be donated to the UK charity Macmillan Cancer Support. This gesture truly reflects his generous character and his commitment to supporting others even after his passing.

    Awards and Other Honours:

    • Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Contest, International Section (Best International Haiku (2015), Sakura Award (2017, 2019), and Honourable Mention (2018, 2019);
    • Golden Triangle Haiku Award, Washington DC (Honourable Mentions in 2018, 2019, 2020, and twice in 2021);
    • Kent was also listed in The European Top 100 haiku authors in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2019;
    • The 12th Polish International Haiku Competition (PIHC) in 2022 - First Prize.

    Books Published:

    • Illustrated haiku: - green leaves (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014);
    • moon on water, Alba Publishing, 2018;
    • Navigating Moons, Poems of a cancer journey, e-book 2024.

    Work Anthologised:

    • Edge: The BHS Members’ Anthology (2015);
    • Yanty’s Butterfly: Haiku Nook: An Anthology, ed. Jacob D. Salzer (Lulu.com, 2016);
    • Beginning: The BHS Members’ Anthology (2016);
    • Ekphrasis: The BHS Members’ Anthology (2017);
    • A Hole in the Light (Red Moon Press, 2018);
    • Wild: The BHS Members’ Anthology (2018);
    • World Haiku Anthology, Ban'ya Natsuishi: No. 14 (2018); No.15 (2019); No. 16 (2020); No. 17 (2021); No. 19 (2023);
    • Wind Flowers (Red Moon Press, 2019);
    • where silence becomes song, ed. David Bingham and Iliyana Stoyanova (International Haiku Conference Anthology, St Albans, 2019);
    • All the Way Home: Aging in Haiku (ed. Robert Epstein, Middle Island Press, 2019);
    • Root: The BHS Members’ Anthology (2019);
    • City: The BHS Members’ Haiku Anthology (2020);
    • Love: The BHS Members’ Tanka Anthology (2020);
    • Half A Rainbow: Haiku Nook: An Anthology, ed. Jacob D. Salzer (Lulu Press 2020);
    • Temple: The British Haiku Society Members’ Anthology (2021);
    • Desert Rain: Haiku Nook: An Anthology: Volume I (Haiku & Senryu), Volume II (Tanka) & Volume III (Haibun), ed. Jacob D. Salzer (Lulu.com 2022);
    • Water: The BHS Members’ Anthology (2022);
    • Change: The BHS Members’ Anthology (2023);
    • Shining Wind/Сияен вятър, ed. A A Marcoff, David Bingham, Iliyana Stoyanova and Vladislav Hristov (The British Haiku Society, 2024).

    Selected haiku:

    toy soldiers—
    the grandkids playing
    refugees

       (Mainichi, Jan. 11, 2016)

    *

    the magician’s final trick     appears
    when he dis……

        (Yanty’s Butterfly, 2016)

    *

    into itself
    the painting becomes
    the artist

       (Ekphrasis: The BHS Members’ Anthology (2017)

    *

    the wind where the empty swing swung

       (moon on water, 2018)

    *

    a harshness
    in the river’s voice…
    shifting wind

       (Wild: The BHS Members’ Anthology (2018)

    *

    after the bells the bells the bells sound like

       (where silence becomes song, ed. David Bingham and Iliyana Stoyanova (International Haiku Conference Anthology, St Albans, 2019)

    *

    twisted vine…
    I ask myself the same
    old questions

       (Root: The BHS Members’ Anthology (2019)

    *

    street café every sip a siren

       (City: The BHS Members’ Haiku Anthology (2020)

    *

    two pebbles
    and the river’s song
    this willow
    dancing the same way
    you always did

                   (for Martha Magenta)

       (Love: The BHS Members’ Tanka Anthology (2020)

    *

    shinrin yoku
    everywhere
    the sound of me

       (Temple: The BHS Members’ Anthology (2021)

    *

    slow sunset—
    talking to my mother
    as if she were here

       (Change: The BHS Members’ Anthology (2023)

    *

    afterwards
    nothing else matters
    white poppy

       (Blithe Spirit 34.2)

    *

    every moon out of my hands stardust I return to

    всяка луна извън контрол звезден прах, към който се завръщам

       (Shining Wind/Сияен вятър, ed. A A Marcoff, David Bingham, Iliyana Stoyanova and Vladislav Hristov (The British Haiku Society, 2024); Navigating Moons, 2024)

    *

    lightning strike —
    my doctor tells me
    weeks not months

    navigating moons
    stretching
    yesterday
    a little
    longer

       (Navigating Moons, 2024)

    Sources:

    https://haikupedia.org/article-haikupedia/brendon-kent/
    https://thehaikufoundation.org/poet-details/?IDclient=1754
    https://thehaikufoundation.org/revirals-441/
    https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20151228/p2g/00m/0fe/050000c
    https://haikupedia.org/article-haikupedia/european-top-100-most-creative-haiku-authors/#htoc-european-top-100-haiku-authors-in-2023
    https://haikucommentary.wordpress.com/2024/05/16/brendon-kents-navigating-moons/
    https://haikueurotop.blogspot.com/2015/

  • Slater, Brendan

    Brendan SlaterBrendan Slater

    (10 November 1971 15 September 2022)


    Brendan Slater was born in Stoke on Trent, England on November 10, 1971. He spent most of his life there save for a brief time in the Netherlands. He was a software developer, a brilliant poet and most importantly a father to his son Jonah, whom he affectionately called Joe.

    Brendan was an accomplished publisher, editor and poet and was responsible for several books and the beloved E-zine Moongarlic. His publication credits are extensive.

    He began experimenting with Japanese short form poetry in 2009 and the rest is history. He took to it and found in it a new passion. His aesthetic was minimalist and he excelled at it.

    Brendan spent much time workshopping on Jane Reichhold’s AHA poetry forum and when it folded upon Jane’s passing in 2016, he followed the AHA crowd to what is now Inkstone Poetry Forum.

    By this time, Brendan was writing tanka as he felt it gave him more artistic freedom and allowed him to color outside the lines as he loved to do. His work was raw and audacious. He wrote honestly and bravely from his own life experiences, holding nothing back.

    This is the last tanka he posted on Inkstone a week before his death:

    everybody knows
    of the darkest violations
    I’ll never confess—
    something of the night
    will always be inside me

    In true Brendan form, it is indeed raw and telling. He lived a rich if dangerous life and was unafraid to share it with the world. “You know I just want to be provocative, stace” he would say to me. And he was.

    He was most prolific early on while writing haiku, and he published and edited several books.

    His credits include:

    • Four Virtual Haiku Poets, eds. Brendan Slater and Alan Summers; Haiku by Scott Terrill, Brendan Slater, Colin Stewart Jones and Michael Goglia; Introduction by Alan Summers, (Yet To Be Named Free Press, 2012);
    • In Bed With Kerouac, Brendan Slater, Introduction by Michael McClintock, (Yet To Be Named Free Press, 2012);
    • Rum, Sodomy and the Wash, Brendan Slater, (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012);
    • Yellow Light: Haiku, by Jack Galmitz, with forward by Brendan Slater, (Yet To Be Named Free Press, 2013);
    • 2.2.: Anthology of short verse, Brendan Slater & Alan Summers, (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013);
    • Dream Language {For 3 Voices}, Hannah Mahoney, Brendan Slater, and Jack Galmitz, (Yet To Be Named Free Press, 2013).

    His work was often selected for publication in print periodicals including Acorn 25 (Fall 2010) and Atlas Poetica 17 (Spring 2014).

    Online, his work appeared in the following journals:

    A Hundred Gourds, Notes from the Gean, Bones, Electronic Poetry Network,his own E-zine Moongarlic, Per Diem, The Heron’s Nest, Tinywords, Contemporary Haibun Online, Daily Haiga, The Living Haiku Anthology and others.

    He was also listed on Krzysztof Kokot’s “The European Top 100 Most Creative Haiku Authors” for 2010 and 2011.

     Brendan and I followed each other from AHA to Inkstone and realized we were kindred spirits through poetry. We began to converse almost daily about poetry and our lives. He was overjoyed about his burgeoning relationship with his son, Joe. He shared with me all their visits, their coffees with vanilla slices and whatever else was going on.

    We would send our tanka back and forth across the pond, each of us eager for the other’s input, open and willing to learn together.

    We both struggled with our mental health and found great support by sharing our experiences. We propped each other up.

    In late 2021 Brendan became interested in my free verse and wanted to try it for himself. He was of course, wonderful at it. He was incredibly inquisitive and absorbed knowledge like a sponge. “Why did you choose that word there, stace”, “How did you decide you wanted the enjambment on that line”, “What were you thinking when you wrote this particular strophe”. His curiosity was boundless.

    Through the rest of 2021 and into 2022 Brendan, or B, as I called him, would send me free verse regularly and ask for my input. I did the same with him. In March of 2022, B wrote a piece called “The Touch”. He forwarded it to me and neither of us made any changes to it. It was perfect.

    It was the last thing published in his life. It appeared in Pages Literary Journal on September 8, 2022 approximately a week before his passing. I hope he knew about it.

    The Touch
    by Brendan Slater

    My understated swagger
    and sincere half-truths, the subtext
    you almost but never read;
    until it’s too late, to forget
    what you swear to remember,
    and I’ll be long-gone-here-forever.

    Although we never met in person, B was my friend and a friend to all his peers on Inkstone and throughout the poetry world. We will never forget his unflinching penchant for writing the truth and sharing his experiences with us all.

    There is a huge hole in the world without his voice and I for one, still see his light shining brightly and use it to guide me along my way every day.

    We’ll take it from here, B -- rest easy, my friend. You are missed.

        Stacey Dye


    Some selected memorable work:

    we share
    bitter coffee
    first light

    (Acorn 25 Fall 2010)

    *

    dawn . . .
    the secrets
    behind my door

    (Daily Haiga, January 2, 2011)

    *

    night sky . . .
    everything
    I have lost

    (Daily Haiga, October 11, 2011)

    *

    grasping
    at prayer
    moonrise

    (Four Virtual Haiku Poets, 2012)

    *

    no moon
    i explore
    my inner space

    (Notes from the Gean 2.3)

    *         

    rusty gate
    the beaten track
    of its swing

    (The Heron’s Nest 12.2)

    *

    pewter sky
    the litany
    of the ocean

    no moon
    i explore
    my inner space

    (In Bed With Kerouac, 2012)

    *

    I wake 100 yards from where I last remember

    (Rum, Sodomy & the Wash, 2012)

    *

    made up
    prefabricated gray—
    is this the last
    image my child
    has of me?

    (Atlas Poetica, 17 Spring 2014)

    *

    a spatter
    of raindrops on the window
    abnormal cells

    (In Bed With Kerouac, 2012; THF Per Diem selection, Loaded, 2018)

    *

    we are all as old as each other……..stardust

    (posted on Inkstone on July 11, 2022; provided by Jenny Angyal, Global Moderator at Inkstone Poetry Forum)

    Some of Brendan’s books are available to read here: 

    ***

    With gratitude to Stacey Dye who produced this tribute and for all the contributions and kind messages from Brendan’s friends and fellow poets Jenny Angyal, Marion Clarke, Alan Summers, and Rebecca Drouilhet.

  • Slater, Brendan

    Brendan Slater