Arts For All is mentioned in this lovely article on Sydell Rosenberg, whose poetry is the focus of our Haiku Programs. The article is published on Haigaonlne.com and is pasted below.
“Traditional haiga, Sydell Rosenberg (1929-96)
From the beginning, our signature feature has been the Traditional Haiga section. Here we feature multimedia haiga by our resident staff. Mary Rodning paints the image; Hiromi Inoue translates the haiku into Japanese and arranges for calligraphy; Seiso creates a musical setting for bamboo flute, and finally, Jasminka puts on the finishing touches by marrying calligraphy to image.
Our featured poet for this issue is Sydell Gasnick Rosenberg, who published her first haiku in 1967. The following year when the Haiku Society of America was founded, she was a charter member. Living in New York City lent many of her haiku a “city” sensibility. “In the laundermat”, a senryu that may qualify as her signature piece, first appeard in Modern Haiku (1971), It was republished in both editions of Cor van den Heuvel’s Haiku Anthology (1974, 1986) and in William J. Higginson’s Haiku Handbook (1985). More recently it was included in Haiku on 42nd Street (1994), a project in which short poems were showcased on shuttered movie theaters. Among her other writings were longer forms of poetry, puzzles and prose, especially short stories. IIn the 1950s, as Sydell Gasnick (her maiden name), she published a pulp novel, Strange Circle, under the male pseudonym, Gale Sydney.
Sydell’s daughter Amy Losak is active in preserving her poetry through children’s programs and workshops, notably Arts For All and The Children’s Museum of Art. In 2014, two haiku appeared in Tinywords, and Gene Myers interviewed Amy for the Haiku Society of America. Amy has created a website for Sydell, Haiku and Senryu, as well as a presence on Facebook and Twitter. Do take time to learn more about her by clicking on the links, and enjoy the three haiga we’ve put together here for you.”
