I will be releasing the new single "Mean Old Witch" from my upcoming "Jumpin' Jitters" Halloween album for children on Friday, October 14! Stay tuned...if you dare!!! It will also be available for streaming on all streaming platforms!
#meanoldwitch #jumpinjitters #halloweensongs
I am ecstatic to say that my monthly Family Music Series at the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park in the French Market is returning beginning October 6, 2022 from 11:00-11:45 AM indoors at 916 North Peters St in Dutch Alley! This monthly concert series provides culturally immersive programs for children, school groups, play groups and families about the rich musical heritage of the region from jazz to zydeco with interactive songs like “Who Got the Baby in the King Cake?,” “Today is Monday in Louisiana,” and “Give Me That Zydeco.” This toe-tapping, hip-shaking program is free and takes place the first Thursday of each month at 11:00 AM.
Come join me in a fun fete for families in the French Market!
Peggy Bilbro gave Singing Waters an amazing review in Modern Haiku 53.2, pages 113-115! She writes,
“Johnette Downing’s Singing Waters is a charming collection encompassing all aspects of her creative life as an accomplished musician and writer with a rich production of music, poetry, and children’s books. Her many years of writing haiku has been culled down to one hundred haiku, a selection that reveals her love of New Orleans, the music that defines her life, and her delight in observing the innocence of childhood. These themes all combine with the music of flowing water.
Downing tells us in her introduction that she has always lived near water but that few poems in Singing Waters are about water. However, there are enough water poems to confirm her love of it in all its transformations. She has divided the poems into six sections, each titled with some aspect of water, moving from falling rain to the bayou and ultimately the ocean. more that a few of the haiku are full of images of moving water, sometimes in a quirky nod to modern life, as in the first poem of the book— “dishwater sky/ we walk through / the rinse cycle”— or this delightful six-word poem that combines the movement of the tides with childhood pleasure—”tide pool / children / come and go.”
Music in all its forms is an underlying theme throughout the collection. The chime in a zen garden, church bells, the roar of a crowd all add to the musicality of Downing’s writing. One of only two haibun in the book is dedicated to the ever-present sound of music in the streets of New Orleans, which she connects to the celebration of death in two of the haiku following the haibun. Downing’s writing in poems such as these is so full of life and energy that the reader is pulled into the activity, almost dancing along with the parade:
coffin
in the curves
of the tuba
cemetery workers
digging
the music
Also woven throughout Singing Waters is a view of a child’s world, not through the eyes of the child, but rather as the writer observing the innocent joy of children. She is very adept at showing that innocence, while leading the reader to remember the simple pleasures of childhood, as she does in “buttercups / a child’s / yellow nose,” or evoking the challenges of childhood in “double-dog dare / sourball / candy.” The reader is also allowed to stand back and simply observe the beautiful, dancing freedom of children as in the following poem:
pink tutus
fluttering in the wind
spring butterflies
Downing’s writing is clean and straightforward. She makes artful use of kigo and kireji to link nature and human experience. The simplicity of her writing makes her poems even more effective. In the sequence titled “Mother" the simple acts of closing her mother’s eyes, closing her mouth, and folding her hands opens the reader to the full circle of life, love, and death. This is not a poem of sorrow but of love and acceptance. Even the haibun “Hurricane Katrina,” recounting the horrible toll of that storm, exhibits the shared burden and finally the same acceptance of life we saw in “Mother",” as we see in these two haiku:
tears of a stranger
leave their mark
on me
dry riverbed
she moves on
with her life
Downing moves easily from traditional haiku and senryu to contemporary themes and format firmly anchored in modern English haiku. She plays with form, from concrete poems such as “March winds / his / c o m b o v e r,” with its upswept final line of letters, to the representation of an ever-so-familiar sound of this senryu:
nails_____________________________________
________chalkboard_______________________
________________________________chills____
Johnette Downing’s collection of haiku is an excellent representation of her creative spirit and lifelong themes. Each poem is complete in itself with nothing added or missing. She presents a warm relationship with life, even in its most difficult moments. Her ability to communicate a full story in a few, simple words makes this book a rich and worthy addition to any library.”
—————-
Thank you Peggy Bilbro for this thoughtful review. I deeply appreciate your thoughtfulness. You can learn more about Modern Haiku online at www.modernhaiku.org.
I am beyond grateful to receive this amazing book review of Singing Waters by Tom Sacramona in Frogpond!
“Johnette Downing has been writing haiku for a long time, and she even co-founded the former New Orleans Haiku Society, so we are beyond excited about his selection of poetry, Singing Waters. Many haiku cover the complexities of relationships and delight in music and other rhythms that syncopate our lives. Darrell Bourque, former Louisiana Poet Laureate, rightly has this to say of Singing Waters (from the back cover): “In these poems, Insight is everything.” My favorite poems are the extremely perceptive haiku that emphasize just how aware Downing is of the poetry within her surroundings and just how receptive she is to the haiku moment:
hole in the cloud
my nephew calls
for more money
roofers next door
their shadows
work on my house
There are over 100 poems included in the book, which is edited by Stanford Forrester—a few in sequences, plus two special haibun “New Orleans,” celebrating the tradition of jazz funerals, and “Hurricane Katrina,” recounting the poet’s ordeal and suffering through that natural catastrophe:
flooding neighboring states
hurricane
evacuees
Driven by her musician’s ear, it is Downing’s sense of hearing that we find most often provides her imaginative leap from thought to poetry:
roller coaster
leaving my voice
at the top
so quiet
I hear his apology
coming
‘I have lived my entire life near water, and naturally, as a musician, I hear music in water,” Downing says in the introduction. ‘There is music in haiku as well; therefore, I have divided this book into water chapters to evoke a mood even thought few poems are about water. I hope you enjoy the score.’ The section groupings skillfully add meaning and layers to them. The chapter ‘Bayou’ lovingly contains poems about her family and memories growing up in Louisiana while the chapter ‘Ocean’ records traveling experiences farther from home:
dark bayou
a fish jumps
through the moon
magnolia blossom
I unfold the kimono
instructions
I’ll liken Singing Waters to a great record—I found myself returning to it again for certain haiku in the days after finishing it because I either wanted to experience a pleasant phrasing or recognize one of the poem’s insights over again.”
—Tom Sacramona, Editor, Frogpond, Volume 45:2 Spring/Summer 2022
What a way to make an announcement! Thanks to the Sabine Parish Library for inviting me to perform for summer readers at the historic Sabine Theatre (circa 1920s), and for putting my name up in lights!
It is summer at last and time for Summer Reading Programs at libraries across the nation. Not only are children, teens and adults invited to kick back into summer reading, but they are also invited to enjoy entertaining programs to make each summer exciting and memorable.
This year, Oceans of Possibilities is the national theme, and I will be presenting my Fins and Grins program, featuring songs from my Fins and Grins recording and a reading from a selection of my water-themed books, for children. So swim on over to the library, and dive into fun with me!
Sing along free with Fins and Grins on YouTube to get you into the mood!
Hear me read Why the Oyster Has the Pearl even before I arrive at the library! Listening to the book counts on your Summer Reading Program Reading Log! Whooo hoooo!
Make a splash with me at the following libraries:
Calcasieu Parish Library, June 2 in Sulphur at 10 and Main (Lake Charles) at 2.
Sabine Parish Library, June 3 in Many at 10 and Zwolle at 2.
Iberville Parish Library, June 7 in Plaquemine at 10:30 and Rosedale at 2:30
Iberville Parish Library, June 8 in East Iberville at 10:30 and White Castle at 2:30
East Baton Rouge Parish Library, June 9 in Greenwell Springs at 10 and Eden Park at 2:30
St. James Parish Library, June 10 in Vacherie at 10 and Lutcher at 2:00
Tangipahoa Parish Library, June 14 in Amite at 10:30 and Kentwood at 2:30
Tangipahoa Parish Library, June 15 in Ponchatoula at 10:30 and Loranger at 2:30
Tangipahoa Parish Library, June 16 in Hammond at 10:30 and Independence at 2:30
LaSalle Parish Library, June 17 in Jena at 10 and Olla at 2
East Baton Rouge Parish Library, June 20 in Jones Creek at 10:00 and Fairwood at 2:30
East Baton Rouge Parish Library, June 21 in Carver at 10 and River Center at 2:30
Natchitoches Parish Library, June 22 in Northeast Branch at 2:00
Natchitoches Parish Library, June 23 at Main Branch at 10, 2 and 6
East Baton Rouge Parish Library, June 27 in Central at 10 and Baker at 2:30
East Baton Rouge Parish Library, June 28 in Zachary at 10 and Pride at 2:30
East Baton Rouge Parish Library, June 29 in Delmont at 10 and Scotlandville at 2:30
East Baton Rouge Parish Library, June 30 at Main at 10 and Bluebonnet at 2:30
Catahoula Parish Library, July 6 in Harrisonburg at 10 and Jonesville at 2:00
Nantucket Atheneum, August 5 at 9:45, Nantucket, MA
