The Haiku Anthology: Haiku and Senryu in English

An excellent anthology of American haiku, but I can't help feel, especially in reading the multiple introductions, that it's looking at a fad that's come and gone. I'd urge anyone who, like me, was intrigued by some of these poems, to take down names and plug them into Amazon and see what you can find. So far I've only found stuff by Nick Virgilio and Gary Hotham, but both were more than worth the effort.

This is the book that first got me interested in haiku. It's wonderful wonderful. It's an anthology of contemporary English-language haiku with a willingness to have a broad definition of what constitutes haiku. It has lots of good stuff in it, so I hate to quote so few -- go out and read the whole book. Probably my favorite haiku in the book is this first one by Bob Boldman. It combines such an odd mixture of feelings in a very stark image. The last one by John Wills is great for its syntax and its movement. Marlene Mountain also does a great job of capturing the heat, the sights, and the sounds of a single moment in an incredibly concise statement.

JANUARY FIRST
the fingers of the prostitute cold
-- Bob Boldman

summer night clothes show more whirling in a dryer
-- Marlene Mountain

dusk from rock to rock a waterthrush
-- John Wills show less

Beware. These are like a box of really good chocolates. If you eat too many at a time, you lose the specialness of any particular one.

Excellent anthology; nice to pick up and browse through. Does not follow the "rules", so interesting just for that aspect.

Not at all sure how to rate this one—a usual conundrum with anthologies.

Reviewed in Blithe Spirit 9/3 Sep 1999