Carlos Colón (23 April 1953 – 30 October 2016) was an American poet. He primarily wrote

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

concrete poem Concrete poetry is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has now developed a distinct mea ...

s. During his lifetime, he published over 12

chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...

s and over 1,400 poems published in a variety of journals including ''Modern Haiku'' and ''Frogpond''. He later was nicknamed Haiku Elvis due to the

Elvis Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

costume he would wear to do public readings of his poetry.

Biography

Colón was born in

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

and lived there for most of his life. He earned his bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University Shreveport and a master's degree in

library science Library science (often termed library studies, bibliothecography, and library economy) is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and ...

from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

. He worked as a reference librarian at the Shreveport Memorial Library until his retirement. He passed away from a heart attack at age 63.

Haiku

The following is a famous haiku of his: He has written poetry books with

Alexis Rotella Alexis K. Rotella (born January 16, 1947, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania) is an American poet and artist. She has written poems in several of the traditional styles of Japanese poetry, including haiku, senryū, renga, and haibun. Biography Alexis ...

. He has written several "visual haiku", sometimes known as "eye-ku". He was a consultant about visual haiku for the book ''Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years''. His chapbook ''Mountain Climbing'' was dedicated to

Marlene Mountain Marlene Mountain (née Morelock; December 11, 1939 – March 15, 2018), also known as Marlene Morelock Wills, was an American poet, artist, and activist. She wrote many English-language haiku and concrete poems. She was the 2014-2015 honorary c ...

, among other authors.

Honors and awards

In Shreveport, a mural called "Let the Good Times Roll" features one of his haiku. Shreveport also had an art project called "Highway Haiku" between 2002 and 2006, where Colón contributed two poems that were featured on

billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

s in the city. His work has been nominated for a

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

. He is a founding member of the Northwest Louisiana Haiku Society. His work has been featured in Tazuo Yamaguchi's ''Haiku: The Art of the Short Poem'' film. * Shreveport Regional Arts Council Literature Fellowship, 2002 * Caddo Parish Poet Laureate, 2014

Bibliography

Poetry

* ''The Worst of Almira Gulch'', self-published, 1984 * ''Blue Jay on a Bowling Pin'', self-published, 1991 * ''Jiminy limericks: A collection of animal poems for children'', self-published, 1991 *
Mountain Climbing
', self-published, 1993 * ''Clocking Out'', self-published, 1996 * ''Nothing Inside'', with

, proof press, 1996 * ''Sassy'', with Alexis Rotella, 1998 * ''Circling Bats'', with Raffael de Gruttola, 2001 * ''Wall Street Park'', with Raffael de Gruttola, 2007 * ''Autumn Leaves'', with Raffael de Gruttola, 2010 * ''The Inside Scoop: New and Selected Poems'', Naissance, 2010 * ''Haiku Elvis'', Laughing Cactus Press, 2013

References

External links

Remembering Carlos Colón the Haiku Elvis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colón, Carlos English-language haiku poets 1953 births 2016 deaths American male poets Librarians from Louisiana Writers from Shreveport, Louisiana