Carlos Colón (writer)

Carlos Colón (23 April 1953 – 30 October 2016)[1] was an American poet. He primarily wrote English-language haiku and concrete poems. During his lifetime, he published over 12 chapbooks and over 1,400 poems published in a variety of journals including Modern Haiku and Frogpond.[2]

Carlos Colón
color headshot of Colon
Born(1953-04-23)April 23, 1953
Shreveport, Louisiana
DiedOctober 30, 2016(2016-10-30) (aged 63)
Shreveport, Louisiana
OccupationPoet, librarian
Alma materLouisiana State University Shreveport
Louisiana State University

He later was nicknamed Haiku Elvis due to the Elvis costume he would wear to do public readings of his poetry.

Biography

Colón was born in Shreveport, Louisiana 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 from Louisiana State University.[1]

He worked as a reference librarian at the Shreveport Memorial Library until his retirement.[3]

He passed away from a heart attack at age 63.

Haiku

The following is a famous haiku of his:[4]

at the hazardous

waste site

an eight-leaf clover

He has written poetry books with Alexis Rotella.

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.[5]

His chapbook Mountain Climbing was dedicated to Marlene Mountain, among other authors.

Honors and awards

In Shreveport, a mural called "Let the Good Times Roll" features one of his haiku.[2] Shreveport also had an art project called "Highway Haiku" between 2002 and 2006, where Colón contributed two poems that were featured on billboards in the city. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

He is a founding member of the Northwest Louisiana Haiku Society.[6]

His work has been featured in Tazuo Yamaguchi's Haiku: The Art of the Short Poem film.

  • Shreveport Regional Arts Council Literature Fellowship, 2002[7]
  • 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 Alexis Rotella, 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

See also

References
  1. "The Living Haiku Anthology - Colón, Carlos". livinghaikuanthology.com. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  2. "Carlos Colón". www.shreveport-bossier.org. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  3. "Carlos Colon WHA". www.worldhaiku.net. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  4. Colon, Carlos (1993). "Mountain Climbing". Jim Kacian Archival Library. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  5. Jim Kacian; Philip Rowland; Allan Burns (26 August 2013). Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years. W. W. Norton. p. 313. ISBN 978-0-393-24075-7.
  6. "Haiku Society of America - South". www.hsa-haiku.org. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  7. "Poet Profile". The Haiku Foundation. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
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