Today we’re taking a holiday break from news about Coney Island deconstruction and redevelopment to shine the spotlight on a new literary endeavor. Urban Haiku and More by Patricia Carragon, host of the Brooklyn-based Brownstone Poets, was just published by Fierce Grace Press. The poet is a member of Brevitas, a group dedicated to short poems, including haiku, senryu, hay(na)ku and other unrhymed tercet poetry.
The subject matter of Urban Haiku and More encompasses such everyday events as riding the New York City subway, thinking about one’s sex life, laughing and crying about being dateless, and –well we’re not sure this one is an everyday event—searching the Coney Island boardwalk for mermaids. The book is illustrated with Japanese-style watercolors of birds and flowers, but reading Carragon’s poems about Coney Island immediately brought to mind the rainy Mermaid Parade of 2009. Thanks to Barry Yanowitz for permission to use his evocative photos of the parade in this post.
weathermen predict
washout at Coney Island
mermaids drown in the storm
Coney Island Mermaid Parade 2009. Photo © Barry Yanowitz via flickr
Brooklyn mermaids
hiding under umbrellas
rain on their parade
Coney Island Mermaid Parade 2009. Photo © Barry Yanowitz via flickr
Coney Island storm
mermaids do breaststrokes
on boardwalk
Urban Haiku and More is available at BookCourt and upcoming book events:
Sunday, October 17 at 4 p.m. at The Bowery Poetry Club, – 308 Bowery, NYC 10012
Thursday, October 28 at 7 p.m. at Wyld Chyld Tattoo and Café – 1708 Sunrise Highway, Merrick, NY 11566
Tuesday, November 2 at 7 p.m. at the Perch Café – 365 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Urban Haiku and More
by Patricia Carragon
Illustrated by William L. Hays
saddle-stitched chapbook, 52pp, $7
Fierce Grace Press / 1515 Benton Blvd., #1727/ Pooler, GA 31322
Amusing the Zillion 
OMG,
The pictures really tell the stories behind the haiku!
Thx for posting them and the advertising!
Pattie :)
Yes, Barry’s photos are wonderful. As I recall, the rainy parade was one of the best for picture taking too (as long as one’s camera remained dry)!
Wishing you all the best with your new book. It seems like more and more of a challenge to market and sell any kind of printed publication nowadays–whether it’s a printed newspaper or a chapbook!
thx so much Tricia!
Pattie :)
Thanks so much for the comments on my photos. Patricia, the book sounds wonderful. I think that was my favorite Mermaid Parade to shoot so far with all the colorful costumes reflecting off the wet pavement.
thx everyone,
Pattie :)