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The HSA web site features short profiles of members.
Nicholas M. Sola
Meet HSA Member - Nicholas M. Sola
Meet Nicholas M. Sola
May 2015 profile by
Carlos Colón, South Region
Photograph by Janice Jacobi
Nicholas M. Sola lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. He has been writing haiku on an almost daily basis since 2009, the same year he discovered the New Orleans Haiku Society. His work has appeared in several publications, including cattails, Modern Haiku, and Presence. Nicholas is also a regular attendee and presenter at haiku conferences in the South region. His favorite color is purple.
CC: When were you first introduced to haiku?
NS: In the fourth grade. I wrote my first haiku when my class was being taught about poetry.
The day we stood still,
Mt. St. Helens blew its top.
Maybe it was sad.This was part of a haiga, as we had to draw a picture to go along with the poem, although I doubt the teacher knew what haiga was.
CC: When did you start trying to get published in haiku magazines?
NS: 2011, and pretty quickly, I had two acceptance letters, followed by several rejection letters. My first verse to be published in a haiku journal was in Modern Haiku 42.3, and I doubt I will ever live it down.
four haiku poets
walk into a bar—
autumn windCC: How long have you been a member of the Haiku Society of America?
NS: I have been a member since 2011.
CC: I attended your presentation entitled “Haiku and Video Games” at an HSA meeting in December 2013. For those who were not able to attend, can you give a brief overview?
NS: I presented on both the use of haiku in video games and how video games can influence haiku. For now, the vast majority of haiku in video games are terrible, and could more accurately be categorized as zappai. One notable exception can be found in Haiku Journey, a game in which the haiku, a few of which were written by you, were selected by Michael Dylan Welch.
CC: How did you start writing haiku inspired by video games?
NS: I was playing the game Bientôt l’été after an experience on a beach trying to write a haiku in which the only point of reference I had for the beach was not any beach I had been on myself, but the simulated beach from the game. One can easily go on a ginko while playing a video game. I do think that certain types of games, such as art games like Bientôt l’été, may be more conducive for a ginko. That said, I would love for other haiku writers who play video and computer games to write haiku based on their experience in games that they like to play.
CC: Can you please share a haiku inspired by a video game?
NS: The following verse was inspired by Bientôt l’été, and published in last year’s HSA member’s anthology, Take-Out Window.
nearly summer—
the mirror
shows a womanCC: What have you been up to recently?
NS: I have been writing one-line haiku, which I had not written before this year. I am currently a mentor as part of the HSA’s mentoring program. I have also been editing a haiku collection for my friend and fellow New Orleans Haiku Society member, Juliet Seer Pazera.
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