Mary Jo Balistreri

Mary Jo Balistreri

Country of Residence: USA

Website: http://maryjobalistreripoet.com/

Current Occupation: Writer & Poet  

Past Occupations: Classical concert pianist and harpsichordist

“For sixteen years I taught private piano for college-bound music students and then, in 1976, began performing almost exclusively on the harpsichord until moving to Wisconsin in 1989.”

Source: http://maryjobalistreripoet.com/listpage.jsp?page=bio

Haiku-Related Volunteer Positions/Affiliations:  

• Drifting Sands, guest editor, issue 12, 2021
• Founder of Grace River Poetry, an outreach for churches, women’s shelters and schools
• Featured author at readings and special events around the country including the Writers at the Beach Conference in Delaware, Genesee Depot’s Cornerstone, Ten Chimneys (where she was a docent for eleven years), and at fundraisers benefitting the Waukesha Food Pantry and the Waukesha Women’s Center.

Interests/Hobbies: haiku, classical piano, harpsichord, classical music, reading, long walks, gardening

Book Publications:

• A New Resonance 12, (Red Moon Press, 2021)
• Still (FutureCycle Press, 2018)
• Best Brothers (Tiger’s Eye Press, 2014)
• Gathering the Harvest (Bellowing Ark Press, 2012)
• Joy in the Morning (Bellowing Ark Press, 2008) (second printing, 2020)

When & how were you introduced to haiku & Japanese-related poetry?

Each time I answer this question, I learn something new about how I began. While going through old materials for this interview, I discovered I previously gave answers that I thought were my introduction to haiku. Now I see there was a much earlier source.

I came to haiku because I saw something about a workshop for haibun by Ray Rasmussen on the Internet. It interested me because I thought, with writing essays, I could write something shorter.

But Jeffrey Woodward said you must be able to write good haiku in order to write haibun and the haiku had to stand alone. I understood nothing about haiku or haibun, but I sent in what I thought was a haibun, and Ray, very graciously, allowed me to register. The course was fabulous with many good writers in attendance, though I was in way over my head. I withdrew from the class, but it was a wonderful introduction to Japanese poetry forms.

What do you enjoy the most about haiku?

There’s so much I enjoy about haiku—the way in which three short lines can paint an entire picture through the juxtaposition of images, the way it connects me to nature’s cyclical spiral, how it helps make me aware of my place in this world. Haiku shows me the small and overlooked, and my world is made larger because of that. It also puts me more in touch with my emotions by slowing the pace. It has become a spiritual path and following it each day has brought not only more awareness, but also more compassion, and I hope, more humanity. I find it fascinating that this tiny form in its simplicity is endlessly expansive. Lastly, I can find in haiku the music of words.

What do you enjoy the most about tanka?

I don’t write much tanka or waka. They are a pleasure to read though as I continue to learn more about it.

What do you enjoy the most about haibun?

The hybrid form of prose and haiku has interested me from the beginning of my haiku journey. The challenge of layering appeals to me—telling a story, adding one haiku or more that might give a different slant to the prose or add something not said in the prose, and then the title that ideally brings another thread into play. It’s like a chord, three separate notes, each with its individual sound, but played together, it creates harmony.

You are the founder of Grace River Poetry, an outreach for churches, women’s shelters, and schools. What are the main activities you’re involved in with Grace River Poetry? What inspired you to start this outreach program?

I and two other women poets in the Wisconsin Poets’ Association became friends and were instrumental in creating events in Waukesha, WI for the local food pantry. We had all been through serious life situations and yet here we were, going forward, writing and publishing.

We talked about finding a way to give back to the community through poetry, something offered completely free, whether it was in schools, churches, or women’s shelters. Our thought was to read our poems and give witness to the way mystery and wonder had worked spiritually in our lives. We decided to call ourselves Grace River Poets.

We formed our programs differently according to the group we were with. Sometimes only one of us would give a program if the others were busy, but most often, it was the three of us. For example, we read our poems to incoming ESL students at Whitewater University in Whitewater, WI, and gave programs for church groups and local community gatherings. Sometimes our poems would be the sermon at church. It has been an inspiring endeavor for all of us.

You are a musician and were a music teacher for many years with a focus on classical piano, harpsichord, and classical music. How does music influence your poetry and vice versa? Do you sometimes write poetry while listening to music? Or does listening to music inspire you to write poetry?

As much as I want to listen to music while writing, it does not inspire me to write. I can never hear it as background music. In the earlier years, I would start with favorites such as Mendelssohn’s Concerto in e minor, or The Concerto, as we called Beethoven’s only violin concerto. Listening to the music always overrode the writing. I tried Beethoven piano sonatas only to start analyzing the chord structure. With Bach, I liked untangling the polyphony. It was always music or writing. Even Christmas carols or light jazz—for me, music demands its own space and time.

Who are some of your favorite classical musicians?

Some of my favorite classical musicians are violinists Hilary Hahn, Itzhak Perlman, the late Sarah Chang, Joshua Bell and the late Yehudi Menuhin. Pianists include Martha Agerich, Lang Lang, and Vikingur Olafsson for his personal interpretation of Bach. Jazz pianists Keith Jarret and Norah Jones also interest me. Favorite cellists are Yo-Yo Ma and the late Mstislav Rostropovich, Jacqueline du Pre, and Pablo Casals.

I realize the names I am listing here are all musicians from before I lost my hearing (a catastrophic loss for me in the aftermath of radiation for throat cancer). These favorite musicians are a part of memory and so I can still hear their work in my mind. While hearing aids allow me to listen to newer musicians—what I hear is incomplete somehow, and my mind can’t fill in the gaps as it does with the musicians whose work was a part of my life before the hearing loss.

On your website, you write about the passing of your two grandsons and being diagnosed with a medical condition, but then state poetry saved your life. Out of the creative arts, why is poetry the most powerful form of creative self-expression for you? What is it about poetry that keeps you writing?

After losing my hearing, everything musical was distorted. Music as I had known it was not available to me. It could not help me recover.

After the death of my seven-year-old grandson, Sam, playing the music I loved did not help—for the first time ever—transcend grief. I played a lot of Chopin then, Couperin on the harpsichord—it was the kind of music I needed to help me grieve, but it became a spiral of grief. When my daughter suggested poetry, I balked at the idea. The only poetry class I had ever taken was a requirement in college, (I realize now that I didn’t like it because I didn’t understand it) yet I had to have a creative outlet, so I began the study of poetry, reading it and writing it. And I found after a while that I liked it. It was the very container I needed to heal.

Outside of poetry, do you enjoy other forms of writing as well?

I have written essays and find that kind of writing necessary from time to time. It gives me more room to wrestle with ideas, allows digressions, an overlapping of subject matter. In the essay below, for example, it’s a contemplation of many things, age and loss, beauty…

It was essential to look at my subject from different perspectives to know what I needed to say.

At the Window—theme of Home, Minerva Rising, #13, 2020: https://minervarising.com/issue-13-home/

Trigger Warning: Poetry Saved My Life anthology edited by Zachary Kluckman, “Why Poetry Matters” essay on page 94: http://maryjobalistreripoet.com/Why_Poetry_Matters.pdf

What are some haiku/poetry books you’ve been reading recently?

What weathers, what returns, an anthology of the Broadmoor Haiku Collective, The Collected Haiku of Yosa Buson translated by W.S. Merwin & Takako Lento, Where Rain Would Stay, The Haiku Poetry of Peggy Willis Lyles edited by John Barlow and Ferris Gilli, The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon, and Traces of Dreams by Haruo Shirane.

What haiku/writing projects are you currently working on?

I’ve been working on and revising both published and new haiku/haibun for a future book.

What haiku/writing projects do you have in mind for the future?

A volume of selected poems from previously published free verse poems in addition to new poems that will constitute the first part of a book—I’m also considering adding haiku and haibun.

Features & Other Interviews:

http://maryjobalistreripoet.com/listpage.jsp?page=features

https://www.whiptailjournal.com/contributor-interviews/category/jo-balistreri#/

New to Haiku: Advice for Beginners — Jo Balistreri (Haiku Foundation, June 2023)

YouTube: Drifting Sands Haibun: Ripples in the Sand with Jo Balistreri (6/26/23)

The blue key haiku feature: Headhunting Jo Balistreri (Pan Haiku Review issue 1, Spring 2023)

Special Guest Poet Profile Feature: Mary Jo Balistreri (pages 128—137) Blo͞o Outlier Journal issue 3, the natural history haiku edition (Summer 2022), ed. Alan Summers

re:Virals features:

the open lids of grand pianos sailing a sun-struck wall

Jo Balistreri

First Publication: NOON, Issue 16 (2020) ed. Philip Rowland

Essays:

Articulation of the Single Line Haiku by Alan Summers, Blithe Spirit vol.33 no.1 February 2023 ed. Iliyana Stoyanova (British Haiku Society)

Articulation of the Single Line Haiku (Expanded edition: A style-agnostic approach) by Alan Summers

Pan Haiku Review, ed. Alan Summers (Spring 2023)

Feature: re:Virals 272 (December 4, 2020, The Haiku Foundation)

re:Virals 272

re:Virals, The Haiku Foundation’s weekly poem commentary feature on some of the finest haiku ever written in English.

sanderlings…
a boy’s wind-up robot
chases the surf

Jo Balistreri

First publication: bottle rockets #44 (2021) ed. Stanford M. Forrester

Additional Features:

re:Virals 291 (April 2021 The Haiku Foundation), https://thehaikufoundation.org/revirals-291/, Schrödinger’s MA and the segue axis by Alan Summers (Haiku North America conference presentation, October 2021)

The Mary Jo Balistreri Feature (Blo͞o Outlier Journal issue #3, New Year 2022, ed. Alan Summers)

Haiku and Ceramics Project: Sunday, 2022. The director also posted all of the pieces in a slide show on the center’s website, along with a video tour: https://www.meetinghouseclay.com/gallery-shows/

World Haiku Series 2020 (45)

World Haiku Series 2019 (76)

Jo Balistreri at Living Senryu Anthology

The Area 17 Profile Poet Series: Mary Jo Balistreri

Interview with WUWM 89.7

Awards & Honorable Mentions:

http://maryjobalistreripoet.com/listpage.jsp?page=awards

Drifting Sands—A Journal of Haibun and Tanka Prose

Issue 20 March 2023 ed. Richard Grahn

Breath

Breath

Other haibun in CHO:

https://contemporaryhaibunonline.com/?s=Balistreri

YouTube : Drifting Sands Haibun: Ripples in the Sand with Jo Balistreri (6/26/23)

Anthologies:

• Bird Whistle: A contemporary Anthology of Bird Haiku, Senryu, & Short Poems, 2023, ed. Stanford M. Forrester/sekiro & Johnette Downing
• Poems to Lift You Up and Make You Smile: 100 poems from (Your Daily Poem) YDP, compiled by Jayne Jaudon Ferrer (Parson’s Porch Books, 2021)  
• Leaves of Peace, edited by Jan Chronister, June 2020  
• Nick Virgilio Writers House Anthology, Vol 2: Haiku in Action, 2020  
• Distilled Lives volume, 3, 4, 5, 6, Illinois State Poetry Society, various editors, 2016-20
• Poetry East, fall, 2020
• 100 poems, 40th anniversary of the journal and its 100th issues, with editor Richard Jones  
• Creative Wisconsin Anthology, 2019 Jade Ring winners, Wisconsin Writers Association, published by Publishers Graphics  
• A Migration Anthology: From Everywhere a Little, edited by Dawn Hogue and Lisa Vihos (Water’s Edge Press, 2019)  
• A Poetry Anthology in Celebration of Walt Whitman: Bicentennial Poets to Come, edited by James Wagner (Local Gems Press, 2019)  
• Love Affairs at the Villa Nelle: Villanelle Poetic Form, edited by Marilyn Taylor & James Roberts (Kelsay Books, 2018)  
• Van Gogh Dreams Anthology, compiled by Lisa Vihos (Henschel Haus Publishing, 2018)  
• Coffee, Tea & Other Beverages, Highland Park Poetry Publication, edited by Jennifer Dotson, 2018  
• The Poetry Writer’s Guide to the Galaxy: Journal of Modern Poetry 20, edited by CJ Laity (Chicago Poetry Press, Chicago Il, 2017)  
• Creative Wisconsin Literary Journal, Wisconsin Writers Association Press, 2016
  
• The Official Poets Guide to Peace, edited by CJ Laity (Chicago Poetry Press, Chicago Il, 2015)  
• The White Space, Selected poems, edited by Gail Comorat and Ethan Joella
  (JoCor Press, 2015)  
• An Ariel Anthology, transformational poetry and art (Ariel Woods Books, 2015)
• Flying South, Winston-Salem Writer’s Center, 2014, third place, poetry  
• Prey Tell: An Anthology of Poems About Birds of Prey, Published by Owl Moon Raptor Center, edited by Julie A. Dickson 2014  
• Anthology on the Hungry and the Homeless: Empty Shoes, selected and edited by Patrick T. Randolph 2009  
• Weatherings (Future Cycle Press, 2015), Co-edited by David Chorlton and Robert S. King  
• Good Works Review (Future Cycle Press, 2018), edited by Robert K. King  
• Bards Against Hunger, 5th Anniversary Edition: An Anthology of national and International Poets, Editor: James P. Wagner, 2019  
• Bards Against Hunger, An Anthology of Wisconsin Poets, Editor: James P. Wagner, 2020    

Haiku, Haibun Anthologies:

• The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku: A Hole in the Light, edited by Jim Kacian & Red Moon Editorial Staff, 2018  
• The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku: in string theory (2022 for poems published in 2021):

poinsettias inside the barbed-wire refugees

Jo Balistreri

and in skipping stones (2023 for poems published in 2022):

trying to excavate the owl from my father’s well of forgetfulness

Jo Balistreri  

• red river: book of haibun, Vol. 1, edited by Steve Hodge and Presh Tiwari  
• Contemporary Haibun Volume 16, Rich Youmans, editor in chief (Red Moon Press, 2021)  
• Blossom Moon, Waukesha Haiku Group (Modern Haiku Press), edited by Lee Gurga & Kelly Sauvage Angel 2020  
• Burnt Diary: Memoir in Haibun and Tanka Prose, edited by Lori A Minor (moth orchid press, 2022)      

Robert Epstein Anthologies: (Edited by Robert Epstein)

• They Gave us Life: Celebrating Mothers, Fathers, and Others in Haiku (Middle Island Press, 2017)
• All the Way Home: Aging in Haiku (Middle Island Press, 2019)
• The Helping Hand Haiku Anthology (Middle Island Press, 2020)
• Haiku Society of America-HSA, 2014-2023—different editors    

Contests:

Third Prize, Martin Lucas Haiku Award, 2022  

First Place, “Short Poetry Challenge” a national contest sponsored by the Winnetka-Northfield (IL) Public Library District (2022) judged by Charlotte Digregorio.  

Journal Publications:

Mary Jo’s poems have appeared in the following print and online publications:

• Acorn
• Akitso
• Avocet
• Bear Creek Review
• Bellowing Ark
• blithe spirit
• Blo͞o Outlier Journal
• Blue Heron
• bones
• bottle rockets
• Bramble–Literary Journal of Wisconsin Poets Association
• brass bell
• The Centrifugal Eye
• Cho Online–Haibun
• Chuffed Buff Books
• Communion
• Contemporary Haibun online
• Controlled Burn
• Crab Creek Review – The Poetry Issue
• Cradle Songs: An Anthology of Poems on Motherhood
• Current – a journal of experimental poetry published by the Bellowing Ark Society
• Earth’s Daughters
• Echoes
• Echoes Anthology
• Ekprhastic Review
• Empty Shoes: Poems on the Hungry and the Homeless
• Failed Haiku
• Five Willows Literary Review
• Florida State Poets’ Anthology
• Flutter
• Free Lunch
• Free Verse
• Frogpond
• Goose River Anthology
• Grand Piano Passion
• Grist
• Hedgerow
• HighCoupe
• Hummingbird
• Hurricane Press
• Illinois Poetry Anthology
• Journal of Modern Poetry (an anthology) published by Chicago Poetry.com Press
• Kentucky Review
• Kontinuum
• The Mobius Anniversary Issue
• Milwaukee Art Museum         
• Minerva Rising
• Modern Haiku
• Mom Egg Review
• noon
• One Hundred Gourds
• Pan Haiku Review
• Passager – The Poetry Issue
• Peninsula Pulse
• The Poetry Box
• Poetry Pacific
• Poppy Road Review
• Presence
• Prune Juice
• Quartet
• Quilt and Parchment
• The Raptor Anthology
• Re-Cycle Press
• Re/verse
• Ruminate
• San Pedro River Review
• Siftings
• Snapdragon
• speed jump
• Spindrift
• Tall Grass Writers Guild
• The Examined Life
• The Healing Muse
• The Herons Nest
• The Homestead Review
• The Muse – Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets
• Thomas Merton Epiphany Book
• Tiny Words
• Tiger’s Eye Journal
• Toward the Light
• tsuri-doro
• Verse Wisconsin
• VerseWrights
• whiptail
• Whistling Skin Anthology – Why Poetry Matters
• Whispers
• Windhover
• Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar
• White Pelican Review
• Windy Hill Review
• Yale Journal of Humanities, Medicine
• Your Daily Poem

Please share 3 of your recent haiku and/or tanka (with publication credits if they are in a book, journal or anthology):

under a straw bale
in the haymow…
kitten I never had 

Gene Murtha contest, honorable mention, 2023
judged by Mike Rehling

***

yellow ribbons of pollen on the beach Gretel’s last pebbles

Kingfisher Journal issue 5, (2022) ed. Tanya McDonald
anthology 23, ed. Lee Gurga and Scott Metz) (Modern Haiku Press, 2023)
https://www.modernhaiku.org/mhbooks/Haiku2023.html

***

a blackbird helix
echoes of plainsong
in church ruins

Frogpond 46.2 spring/summer 2023
Jacob D. Salzer, managing editor
Nicholas Klacsanzky, haiku & senryu editor


Poems © copyright 2023 by Mary Jo Balistreri