Jim Kacian

The other books of haiku I wanted from my library were checked out, so I read this one instead. I was pleasantly surprised. This is a nice little anthology which attempts to present the history of haiku in English, organized by publication date, beginning with Ezra Pound and moving forward. I found quite a few poets whose work I will be seeking out in their own collections. There are some examples of short poems which are not haiku included to show the interplay between the haiku form and other poetic forms, which I did not really appreciate, but as this is as much a history as an anthology, I thought their inclusion was justified. The most striking poem of the lot? Not a surprise:

Suicide's Note

The calm,
Cool face of the river
Asked me for a kiss

Langston Hughes

However, many of the later examples were also very good. The overview of haiku in English at the end provides a nice prose history of the form. I only skimmed the introduction by Billy Collins, though.… (mais)

There are enough poems in this anthology that I could like many of them and still feel ambivalent about the collection as a whole. I appreciate the historical scope and being able to watch English-language haiku develop, but at the level of liking or loving (or not) individual poems, it was hit or miss. Which is true of many anthologies.

After the poems, there is a historical overview of haiku in English. I thought this was the best reason to read the book—and it wasn't the reason I chose it, so this was a pleasant surprise. I wish it had been placed at the beginning because then I would've had a historical context for the haiku as I read them. Come for the haiku, stay for the excellent explanation.… (mais)

I'm enjoying this anthology of English Haiku, and it is inspiring me to play. I particularly like how Billy Collins expresses the role of artistic constraint in the introduction.

Billy Collins writes, "Many poets, myself included, stick to the basic form of seventeen syllables, typically arranged in three lines in a 5-7-5 order. This light harness is put on like any formal constraint in poetry so the poet can feel the comfort of its embrace while being pushed by those same limits into unexpected discoveries. ...To follow such rules, whether received as is the case with the sonnet or concocted on the spot, is to feel the form pushing against one's self-expressive impulses. For the poet, this palpable resistance can be a vital part of the compositional experience. ...With the form in place, the act of composition becomes a negotiation between one's subjective urges and the rules of order, which in this case could not be simpler or firmer. My hope is that such fixity will keep the pulsations of the ego in check by encouraging a degree of humility in the face of form."… (mais)