Peace, edited by Giselle Maya, Koyama Press, 84750 Saint Martin de Castillon, France. (Limited edition, 2006.) pp 36, illustrated. Small format: US$20 plus US$7.00 airmail postage (or 17 Euro, postage 5.50 Euro). Email: GISELLE.MAYA@wanadoo.fr Reviewed by Patricia Prime
This handmade book designed and published by Giselle Maya is a collection of haiku, tanka and renga on the theme of peace by eleven poets: an’ya, Ion Codrescu, Christopher Herold, Kirsty Karkow, Mari Konno, Elizabeth Searle Lamb, Angela Leuck, Giselle Maya, June Moreau, Pamela Miller Ness and Jane Reichhold. The illustrations are by Yasuo Mizui and Louis Fulconis. The black and white stencil designs are from Japan.
The book opens with a poem by Thich Nhat Hanh:
peace is all around us
it is not a matter of faith
it is a matter of practice
The collection comprises 36 pages of poems on the topic of peace. As it contains haiku, tanka and renga it is difficult to review and no matter what your particular taste in form may be, you will find something to enjoy. Traditional haiku, such as Ion Codrescu’s “night in the mountains / lingering on the path / to watch shooting stars” contrasts with more contemporary haiku such as Christopher Herold’s “downpour / the one sound of so many / surfaces” are represented as well as the lovely tanka sequence “A Brief Visit” by Giselle Maya and Ion Codrescu. Here are two stanzas from the poem, with Maya’s phrase in Times New Roman and Codrescu’s in italics:
comings and goings
the mistral wind brings guests
who look at our art
shakuhachi music
between haiku and silence
gestures of the dance
tiger’s paws never reaching
the gentle deer
outside the sound of sheep
returning to the village
The wider your taste, the more there is to satisfy.
The book is not for rapid reading, each poem needing to be taken by itself and savoured. There’s the attraction of tanka by Mari Konno:
vacant
azure morning sky
everything
the night sky embraced
has moved to the lake
and the more traditional tanka by Elizabeth Searle Lamb:
centred in a breaking wave
there is one point of quiet
deep in the heart
there is a still small voice
that speaks in silence
Elizabeth Searle Lamb also writes in more contemporary minimalist style in her tanka sequence “In Silence”:
the moon
sends ripples of light
into the darkness
of the pond
the shadows
dappled
by drifting clouds
so does faith
send its shaft
of hope
and peace
into consciousness
as I drift
into the darkness
of sleep
In June Moreau’s selection of tanka she takes note of beauty of nature:
specimen
core of a pine cone
song of a bittern
ripples from the river
and a scroll of sky . . .
While Pamela Miller Ness focuses on the fragility of our less than perfect world:
Celestial dragon
caged in porcelain globe
of underglaze blue,
in this far less perfect world
I too grasp fragile stems.
Coming towards the end of the collection is the beautiful peace renga “Light in the Shadows” by Jane Reichhold and Giselle Maya. Here are the last three stanzas, with Giselle Maya’s words in italics:
guests come and gone
their spirits and smiles linger
in the tearoom
to each anew this day
a heart basket of joy
a few handmade gifts
into the flare of oak logs
unresolved feelings
in accepted poverty
a certain richness
by the window
blending into dawn shadows
white cyclamen
with no desires, no sorrows
melting into the river
This is an interesting and stimulating book both to handle and to read.
