Travis S. Frosig (born Travis Shelton, March 28, 1898, Bloomfield, Iowa; died in the 1980s, probably in Denmark; haigō Ga-Go), American haiku poet.
Born in Iowa in 1898, Travis S. Frosig graduated from Pomona College in Claremont, California, in 1920 and married Koster Marius Frosig (originally Frøsig), a civil engineer and native of Denmark, in New York City in 1927. The family apparently lived in both Long Beach, California, and Denmark, or else alternated between the two locations. Two sons were born in Long Beach in 1928 and 1929 and a third in Denmark in 1931; all three, as well as Koster Frosig, died in Denmark.
Travis S. Frosig, who whose work appeared in print over the haigō Ga-Go (possibly an anglicization of the Japanese 雅号, gagō, which means “pen name” or “alias”) published a few dozen haiku and senryu from 1964 to 1980, namely: 22 in American Haiku, 1964–1968; 10 in Haiku West, 1968–1974; and one in Modern Haiku in 1980. Her haikai hewed closely to the 5–7–5–syllable format as was standard for English-language haiku in the 1960s and 1970s. Often her verses contained a twist that saved them from being pure description. Some samples, all but the fourth signed “Ga-Go”:
The old bluejay scolds the young cat, then flies away to private follies. | American Haiku 2:2 (1964) |
The dinner gong sounds. Down from the mulberry tree drop the missing boys. | American Haiku 4:1 (1966) |
Over the ridge the road wanders from farm to farm in slow easy curves. | Haiku West 2:1 (July 1968) |
Lapland Camera shy, the silversmith veils his face with a cloud of smoke | Modern Haiku 11:1 (Winter–Spring 1980) (signed “Travis Frosig”) |
AUTHOR: Charles Trumbull