Alan Pizzarelli
Encyclopedia
Alan Pizzarelli is an American
poet
, songwriter, and musician. He was born of an Italian-American family in Newark, New Jersey, and raised in the first ward’s Little Italy
.
, Switzerland, The Nick Virgilio
Haiku Association in Camden, New Jersey
, and The Newark Museum
. From 2005 until 2009 he was senryū editor for the online poetry journal, Simply Haiku. He is co-producer and co-host of the podcast, Haiku Chronicles.
Tom Lynch
writes of the following Pizzarelli haiku:
"This last poem is as profound and literal an evocation of sabi
, the incessant rusting of existence wrought by time, as exists in Western haiku."
Pizzarelli was a consultant for Jack Kerouac
’s Book of Haikus
, edited by Regina Weinreich (Penguin Poets, 2003)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
poet
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, songwriter, and musician. He was born of an Italian-American family in Newark, New Jersey, and raised in the first ward’s Little Italy
Seventh Avenue, Newark, New Jersey
Seventh Avenue, formerly known as the First Ward, is a neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey's North Ward. It was famously the heart of the city's large Little Italy....
.
Poetry
Pizzarelli has performed numerous poetry readings and has taught poetry workshops in the US and internationally, including the International School of LausanneLausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
, Switzerland, The Nick Virgilio
Nick Virgilio
Nicholas Anthony Virgilio was an internationally recognized haiku poet who is credited with helping to popularize the Japanese style of poetry in the United States....
Haiku Association in Camden, New Jersey
Camden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
, and The Newark Museum
Newark Museum
The Newark Museum is the largest museum in New Jersey, USA. It holds fine collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the ancient world...
. From 2005 until 2009 he was senryū editor for the online poetry journal, Simply Haiku. He is co-producer and co-host of the podcast, Haiku Chronicles.
Tom Lynch
Thomas Lynch (poet)
Thomas Lynch is an American poet, essayist, and undertaker.-Early life:Lynch was educated by nuns and Christian Brothers at Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Lynch then went to university and mortuary school, from which he graduated in 1973...
writes of the following Pizzarelli haiku:
| twilight |
| staples rust |
| in the telephone pole |
"This last poem is as profound and literal an evocation of sabi
Wabi-sabi
represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete"...
, the incessant rusting of existence wrought by time, as exists in Western haiku."
Books
Pizzarelli is the author of 12 books of haiku and related poems including:- The Flea Circus (Islet Books, 1989)
- City Beat (Islet Books, 1991), first place winner of the 1992 Merit Book Award
- Senryū Magazine (River Willow, 2001)
- The Windswept Corner (Bottle Rockets Press, 2005).
Anthologies
Pizzarelli's poetry has appeared in many anthologies and books including:- The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms (Teachers & Writers Collaborative, New York, 1987)
- The Haiku Handbook, William J. Higginson and Penny Harter (Kodansha, 1989)
- Haiku, edited by Czesław Miłosz (Wydawnictwo, Kraków Poland, 1992)
- Haiku Moment, edited by Bruce Ross (Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1993)
- Haiku World: An International Poetry Almanac, edited by W.J. Higginson (Kodansha International Ltd., 1996)
- Literature of Nature, An International Sourcebook, edited by Patrick D. Murphy (Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1998)
- The Haiku Anthology, 3rd edition, edited by Cor van den HeuvelCor Van Den HeuvelCor van den Heuvel is an American haiku poet, editor, commentator and archivist.-Biography:Van den Heuvel was born in Biddeford, Maine, and grew up in Maine and New Hampshire. He lives in New York City with his wife Leonia Leigh Larrecq....
(W. W. Norton & Company, 2000) - Stone Bench in an Empty Park, edited by Paul B. Janeczko (Orchard Books, 2000)
- The New Pond, edited by Emiko Miyashita (Hokumei-sha, Japan, 2002)
- How to Haiku, edited by Bruce Ross (Tuttle Publishing, 2002)
- Erotic Haiku, edited by Hiroaki Sato (IBC publisher, Japan, 2004)
- Kiss and Part, edited by Gail White (Doggerel Daze, 2005)
- Baseball Haiku, edited by Cor van den Heuvel (W. W. Norton & Company, 2007)
- Haiku on 42nd St.: A Celebration of Urban Poetry and Art (Clerisy Press, 2008)
- Streetlights, edited by Michael McClintock and Denis M. Garrison (Modern English Tanka Press, 2009)
Pizzarelli was a consultant for Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
’s Book of Haikus
Book of Haikus
Book of Haikus is a collection of haiku poetry by Jack Kerouac. It was first published in 2003 and edited by Regina Weinreich. It consists of some 500 poems selected from a corpus of nearly 1,000 haiku jotted down by Kerouac on small notebooks he could carry around.Although most of the poetry in...
, edited by Regina Weinreich (Penguin Poets, 2003)
Periodicals
Pizzarelli's poems and essays have appeared in numerous publications, such as:- Longshot
- Simply Haiku: Essays, Modern Senryu and The Serious Side of Senryu
- The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
- Tricycle: The Buddhist ReviewTricycle: The Buddhist ReviewTricycle: The Buddhist Review is an independent, nonsectarian Buddhist quarterly magazine established in 1991 by Helen Tworkov. Published by The Tricycle Foundation out of New York City, most issues have interviews with Buddhist teachers, articles or essays on Buddhism and contemporary issues, book...
Music
BoneYard, “The Poet Ghoul” is a persona of poet/musician, Alan Pizzarelli. BoneYard, also performs as "BoneYard & the Elegant Skulls"Electronic media
Pizzarelli has been featured on podcasts, radio, television and film most recently:- Haiku Chronicles, a podcast (co-producer and co-host)
- Chautauqua InstitutionChautauqua InstitutionThe Chautauqua Institution is a non-profit adult education center and summer resort located on 750 acres in Chautauqua, New York, 17 miles northwest of Jamestown in the western part of New York State...
’s Hall of Philosophy, June 26, 2008, FORA.tvFORA.tvFORA.tv, Inc. runs a website that gathers a large collection of unmediated video drawn from live events, lectures, and debates at universities, think tanks and conferences....
video. - The Jim Roselle Show, WJTNWJTNWJTN is a radio station licensed to Jamestown, New York. The mostly local news/talk outlet is owned by Media One Group. The station signed on on December 31, 1924, making the station the oldest in southwestern New York and fourth-longest lived in all of Western New York-- behind only WGR, WBEN and...
News Talk, June 26, 2008. - Pizzarelli's haiku “the shoeshine boy” is featured in the documentary film, The SourceThe Source (documentary)The Source is a 1999 documentary about the Beat Generation. It was directed by Chuck Workman, and features appearances by Johnny Depp, Dennis Hopper, and John Turturro....
(1999), about the Beat GenerationBeat generationThe Beat Generation refers to a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired...
.