Alan Pizzarelli (born 1950) is an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

, songwriter, and musician. He was born of an Italian-American family in Newark, New Jersey, and raised in the first ward’s

Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are s ...

. He is a major figure in

English-language haiku A haiku in English is an English-language poem written in the Japanese poetry style known as haiku, which correlates the two languages. The degree to which haiku in English resemble classic Japanese haiku varies, but many of these poems draw on s ...

and

Senryū is a Japanese form of short poetry similar to haiku in construction: three lines with 17 (or , often translated as syllables, but see the article on for distinctions). tend to be about human foibles while haiku tend to be about nature, and a ...

Poetry

Pizzarelli has performed numerous poetry readings and has taught poetry workshops in the US and internationally, including the International School of

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

, Switzerland, The

Nick Virgilio Nicholas Anthony Virgilio (June 28, 1928 – January 3, 1989) was an internationally recognized haiku poet who is credited with helping to popularize the Japanese style of poetry in the United States. Early life Virgilio was born in Camden, New ...

Haiku Association in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

, and The

Newark Museum The Newark Museum of Art (formerly known as the Newark Museum), in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States, is the state's largest museum. It holds major collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, Af ...

. 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."

Works

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) * ''Senryū Magazine'' (River Willow, 2001) * ''The Windswept Corner'' (Bottle Rockets Press, 2005) * ''Frozen Socks'' (House of Haiku, 2015) * ''Mind Zaps'' (House of Haiku, 2019)

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 Heuvel Cor Van den Heuvel (born March 6, 1931) is an American haiku poet, editor and archivist. Biography Van den Heuvel was born in Biddeford, Maine, and grew up in Maine and New Hampshire. He lives on Long Island near his niece and still spends time w ...

(W. W. Norton & Company, 2000) *''Stone Bench in an Empty Park'', edited by

Paul B. Janeczko Paul Bryan Janeczko (July 27, 1945 - February 19, 2019) was an American poet and anthologist. He published 40 books beginning in the 1980s, including poetry compilations, non-fiction guides for young writers, and books for teachers. Early life ...

(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) Pizzarelli was a consultant for

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian a ...

’s '' Book of Haikus'', 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 Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

Poetry in Slo-Mo
by Holly Brubach, New York Times, March 11, 2007. * Tricycle: The Buddhist Review

Electronic media

Pizzarelli has been featured on podcasts, radio, video and film:
Haiku Chronicles
a podcast (co-producer and co-host) *

Chautauqua Institution The Chautauqua Institution ( ) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit education center and summer resort for adults and youth located on in Chautauqua, New York, northwest of Jamestown in the Western Southern Tier of New York State. Established in 1874, the ...

’s Hall of Philosophy, June 26, 2008, FORA.tv video. *The

Jim Roselle James Roselle (April 15, 1926 – March 23, 2016) was an American radio personality. Roselle worked at WJTN in Jamestown, New York from 1953 until his death in 2016. Early life Roselle was born in Jamestown in 1926 and graduated from Jamestown ...

Show,

WJTN WJTN (1240 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station licensed to Jamestown, New York. The station is owned by Media One Radio Group. On December 31, 1924, the station signed on, making the station the oldest in southwestern New York and third-longe ...

News Talk, June 26, 2008. *Pizzarelli's haiku “the shoeshine boy” is featured in the documentary film,

The Source ''The Source'' is an American hip hop and entertainment website, and a magazine that publishes annually or . It is the world's longest-running rap periodical, being founded as a newsletter in 1988 by Jonathan Shecter. David Mays was the ma ...

(1999), about the

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generatio ...

References

External links

Pizzarelli's websiteHaiku Chronicles websiteThe Elegant Skulls website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pizzarelli, Alan 1950 births Living people English-language haiku poets American male poets American writers of Italian descent Poets from New Jersey Writers from Newark, New Jersey