Symbiotic poetry : multigenre/multimedia in action
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references.

In the three page introduction, “Coming to Terms,” the authors address the familiar problem of how to define English-language poetry inspired by a whole range of traditional Japanese forms such as haiku, tanka, and renga. Issues including differences in sound between the English and Japanese languages; the fact that today’s poetry is informed by experiences far removed from the simple, rural life of the early haijin; and the use of experimental poetic techniques suggest that it was inevitable that such Western poetry would evolve into something very different from its traditional Eastern counterpart. Bearing this in mind, the Reichholds present the case for adopting the term “symbiotic poetry” to categorize this type of work which has been inspired by different cultures and poetry forms — in other words, of mixed literary parentage. Both writers have sifted through their creative output of “borrowed work. This rich and unusual collection is the result.