Paul Terence Conneally (born 1959 in
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
, United Kingdom) is a
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 ...
, artist and musician based in
Loughborough
Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second large ...
, UK.
Poetry and art
In the field of poetry Conneally is best known for his
haiku
is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or s ...
and haiku-related forms including
haibun
is a prosimetric literary form originating in Japan, combining prose and haiku. The range of ''haibun'' is broad and frequently includes autobiography, diary, essay, prose poem, short story and travel journal.
History
The term "''haibun''" was ...
and
renga
''Renga'' (, ''linked verse'') is a genre of Japanese collaborative poetry in which alternating stanzas, or ''ku (''句), of 5-7-5 and 7-7 mora (sound units, not to be confused with syllables) per line are linked in succession by multiple poets. ...
/
renku
, or , is a Japanese form of popular collaborative linked verse poetry. It is a development of the older Japanese poetic tradition of ''ushin'' renga, or orthodox collaborative linked verse. At renku gatherings participating poets take turns provi ...
. His definition of haibun is quoted among others on the ''Contemporary Haibun Online'' website. He ran the Haikumania Project, (hosted on the website of The Center for Digital Discourse and Culture at Virginia Tech) where some of his work and others is showcased.
Known for collaborative works based on Japanese
renga
''Renga'' (, ''linked verse'') is a genre of Japanese collaborative poetry in which alternating stanzas, or ''ku (''句), of 5-7-5 and 7-7 mora (sound units, not to be confused with syllables) per line are linked in succession by multiple poets. ...
, he has been published and translated. Conneally's projects include
hypertext works resulting out of actions initiated by Conneally and others via the internet and in the real world. Conneally's work in bringing linked haikai based works to the internet is mentioned in ''Currents in Electronic Literacy'' Fall 2001.
Conneally leads live
renga
''Renga'' (, ''linked verse'') is a genre of Japanese collaborative poetry in which alternating stanzas, or ''ku (''句), of 5-7-5 and 7-7 mora (sound units, not to be confused with syllables) per line are linked in succession by multiple poets. ...
sessions across the UK and has explored the form and process alongside other UK artist poets including Alec Finlay, Gavin Wade, Gerry Loose and Anne-Marie Culhane.
In 2002, Conneally was the director of the first Global Haiku Tournament
[Haiku Society of America Newsletter XVII 3–4, 2002]
/ref> which was organised by the World Haiku Club. The Japan Times sponsored and presented awards to winners
Conneally is associated with the modern Situationist
The Situationist International (SI) was an Proletarian internationalism, international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and Political philosophy, political theorists. It was prominent in Eu ...
movement through psychogeography, social intervention and literary detournement, both alone and in collaboration with others.
This often involves making art in people's local environment, such as encouraging the creation of haiku or renga whilst walking, a modern take on the ginko or 'haiku walk' common in Japan or making poems in and about parts of the local cityscape, and adding them to the environment. Along with Finlay and Culhane, Conneally experiments with renga to produce psychogeographic maps that incorporate haiku
is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or s ...
and other poetic texts.
Conneally has been described by the Embassy of Japan in the UK as an "experienced expert" in the field of haiku[JAPAN March 2004 p.4]
– monthly newsletter of Embassy of Japan in the UK and led haiku workshops for teachers on behalf of the embassy and Japan 21.
Conneally has worked extensively with schools and community groups all over the UK, encouraging them to make poetry through interacting with their local and wider environment. The poems he has encouraged pupils to create have been critically acclaimed. A teacher's resource film for English called ''Digital Haiku'' documents and presents work undertaken by Conneally with young people in rural Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...
. The Poetry Society
The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry". The society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society ...
has listed a number of workshops / intervention pieces by Conneally as 'poetry landmarks'
Conneally has worked with a number of UK museums to encourage the use of poetry including haiku, tanka
is a genre of classical Japanese poetry and one of the major genres of Japanese literature.
Etymology
Originally, in the time of the '' Man'yōshū'' (latter half of the eighth century AD), the term ''tanka'' was used to distinguish "short p ...
and other forms to encourage new interactions and interpretations of museum exhibits. His spell as haiku poet in residence in the 'Parade of Life' ukiyo-e
Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk t ...
(Japanese woodblock prints) exhibition at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is a large museum and art gallery in Bristol, England. The museum is situated in Clifton, about from the city centre. As part of Bristol Culture it is run by the Bristol City Council with no entrance fee. It holds ...
as part of the Japan 21 celebrations part-funded by the Japanese Government led to the publication of ''Parade of Life: Poems inspired by Japanese Prints'' featuring Japanese woodblock prints alongside haiku written by children and visitors to the museum in workshop with Conneally and co-edited by former British Haiku Society Secretary and haiku poet Alan Summers. The book had launches in Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, UK and Akita
is a Japanese name and may refer to:
Places
* 8182 Akita, a main-belt asteroid
* Akita Castle, a Nara period fortified settlement in Akita, Japan
* Akita Domain, also known as Kubota Domain, feudal domain in Edo period Japan
* Akita, Kumamoto ...
, Japan.
His work with school children to produce museum label
A museum label, also referred to as a caption or tombstone, is a label describing an object exhibited in a museum or one introducing a room or area. s for artefacts on the SS Great Britain
SS ''Great Britain'' is a museum ship and former passenger steamship that was advanced for her time. She was the largest passenger ship in the world from 1845 to 1854. She was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–1859), for the Great We ...
in the form of tanka, mesostic
A mesostic is a poem or other text arranged so that a vertical phrase intersects lines of horizontal text. It is similar to an acrostic, but with the vertical phrase intersecting somewhere in the midst of the line, as opposed to the beginning o ...
poems and riddles is featured on the Teachers' TV channel being used in a classroom by a teacher as an example of model practice in interpreting artefacts.
Increasingly his work sees him working in more diverse artistic forms alongside other artists to make collaborative and solo works in the visual and performance fields as well as texts. In his ongoing piece ''Walk to Work'' Conneally transposes the 'walks to work' of individual workers to other places to form the basis of psychogeographic explorations. Walk to Work includes the INVIGILATOR series which has been performed in The New Forest (UK), Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...
(UK), Tokyo (Japan), Nuneaton (UK) and Digbeth (UK)
Involuntary Painting is a Facebook page that he co created on April 1, 2013 with the artist Millree Hughes (who invented the term) where members can share photographs of events in the world such as splashed paint on walls, partly erased graffiti, mold, damaged street markings, rust, adhesive residue, snail tracks etc etc that came together in a way that remind the viewer of a modern Painting. The posts on the page are Involuntary Paintings.
He has been associated with UK arts organisation, Charnwood Arts, which is a registered charity based in the East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...
. 2009 saw the publication of 'The Sound of Water' coming out of an almost year-long psychogeographic haiku exploration of Thurmaston
Thurmaston is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, located within the Borough of Charnwood. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 9,668.
It is situated four miles north of the city centre of Leicester and lies just o ...
with the people of Thurmaston themselves resulting in both a book and haiku 'fragments' cut into metal sculptures, wall hangings and benches made by sculptor Richard Thornton throughout a new housing development 'Watermead' built in Thurmaston 2009.
Paul Conneally has edited columns in various poetry journals, including ''World Haiku Review'' and ''Simply Haiku''.
Publications
*''Parade of Life: Poems inspired by Japanese Prints'', selected by Conneally and Alan Summers. Poetry Can,
*''100 Verses for 3 Estates'', a renga word-map of King's Norton, by Conneally, Alec Finlay and others. Published by Strategic Questions, Commissioned by Birmingham City Council
Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom ...
.
*
The Sound of Water : A Haiku Poetry Project
', Published by Charnwood Arts Feb 2009,
*''Digital Haiku'' Teacher resource and video published by Rural Media
Music
Conneally was a member of UK post-punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
DIY band Dum Dum Dum (1978 – 1981?). The band have gained recent notoriety with tracks from their UK DIY post-punk EP rereleased as part of the US Hyped-to-Death record label's Messthetics series including on the widely acclaimed ''Best of Messthetics'' album. He also wrote and sang with Iguana Brothers and Bastinado Step. Both bands toured widely and made several national TV appearances. In 2003 Conneally co-wrote the song "The Rainfall" for house music
House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...
act 7HQ, which was a top twenty dance chart track.Up Front Club Top 40 July 3rd 2004
/ref> in the UK journal Music Week
''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future.
History
Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...
.
Conneally currently performs as Little Onion and in 2018 released new albums and singles both as a solo artist and with the bands Bred Pudding and Anglo Japanese outfit Giant Glove.
References
External links
In calling Forth and Strengthening the Imagination in Boyhood and Early Youth
Out of INVIGILATOR : DERBY
Therapeutic Gardening – Conneally talks with Richard Clare as part of 'Circle of Fire' Renga Ramble / Abundance
Charnwood Arts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conneally, Paul
1959 births
Living people
Alumni of Oxford Brookes University
Artists from Sheffield
English-language haiku poets
Psychogeographers