Triptych by Kala Ramesh, Don Baird, and Hansha Teki, Red Moon Press, 2019
This collaborative book of haiku, by three outstanding contemporary and international voices, has great aspirations: no less than to tell the story of the rise, fall, and recovery of humanity within its 180 pages. Each poet takes up one of these themes: Kala Ramesh paints a picture of the Eden of our origins; Don Baird tells the tale of the Fall; and Hansha Teki suggests possibilities toward our renewal, and that of our planet. The effect is similar to that of the prophets, crying out in the wilderness of men’s folly, with the hope that doing so will inspire a return to the faithful shepherding of our planet and ourselves, wherein a kind of redemption might be possible, and that we might be worthy of it. This is a great deal to ask, of the poets, but also of the reader. They have laid down the challenge. The rest is up to you.
– from the publisher
How to write about the world, current events, interiority, the feeling of what’s now—all sensitively, with freshness and surprise—and through the transformative magic of haiku, also inspire? Triptych is one answer, a novel approach by three authors increasingly in the international spotlight over the last several years. Kala Ramesh hails from India—poet, musician, dancer, educator—the spark which has lit the fuse of contemporary haikai forms in India; Don Baird—poet, martial arts premier grandmaster, musician, photographer, bonsai tender—has created several international haiku websites, such as The Living Haiku Anthology and Under the Bashō journal; Hansha Teki hailing from New Zealand—poet, sacred-world traveler, system admin of the above-mentioned sites and more—has recently been pioneering “Parallels,” an extended-haiku form. These three have been collaboratively forging online, international haiku communities. Triptych is a fruition of their creative minds weaving together significant edges of international concern, touching upon the recent Zeitgeist with rawness and grit. A sympathy of images shared: from Kala’s “In the Beginning", followed by Don’s “Stasis” and concluding with Hansha’s uroboric “The Return.”
A Triptych—commonly, three carved or painted panels, as an altarpiece (among various religions), a writing tablet, etc., that can be folded or hinged open—separate, yet also integrated as a unitary work. A triptych may tell a story; within the three panels of “In the Beginning,” “Stasis,” and “The Return” is implied a future in which there is hope. Or, does each panel represent in itself three realms: a paradise, heaven, a hell? An inner story or metatext within
Triptych suggests that each panel brought by each poet is itself a triptych—in this manner, the book contains realms within realms that deepen its dimension: a sanctuary, promise or dream, a rescue, and a weeping. Triptych is a compassionate, beautiful book.
– Richard Gilbert review in Frogpond 42.3