Wind over Water: an anthology of haiku and tanka by delegates of the Fourth Haiku Pacific Rim Conference. Edited by Dawn Bruce and Greg Piko. 2009. 63 pp. Available from Beverley George, P. O. Box 37, Pearl Beach, N.S.W. 2256, Australia. For one copy: Within Australia: AUD$10 plus $1.65 post; New Zealand and Japan: AUD$10 plus $4.35 post; USA, UK and Canada: AUD$10 plus $6.30 post. If paying by cheque or money order payment must be in Australian dollars. www.eucalypt.info
Reviewed by Patricia Prime
This 63 page collection of haiku and tanka by the delegates of the Fourth Haiku Pacific Rim Conference is a glossy little masterpiece. The poems are beautifully printed and set out two or three per page. Each poet has his or her own page and the poet’s names are listed in alphabetical order which makes it easier for the reader to select a poet’s work. Biographical notes and publication credits are given at the end of the book.
Human emotion balanced against close observation of nature may characterize the most enduring examples of haiku. In a number of haiku, the poets consistently achieve the interplay between their perceptions of human nature and observations of landscape and nature.
Many of the poets’ names will be well-known to readers of haiku: Janice Bostok, Beverley George, Ron Moss, Martin Lucas, Stuart Quine and Quendryth Young – to name a few. Other writers may be less familiar. However, all the poets are represented by a strong and pleasing choice of work.
so small and so blue
tiny flowers with no name
rise from the cinders
Jerry Ball
night breeze
the closeness
of an unseen flower
Dawn Bruce
no name
for its colour
tea-table rose
Cyril Childs
The haiku range from the competent to the richly evocative, several bordering on the exceptional. Here are four which may give a feel for the volume.
lightning strike
the uncertainty
of everything
Beverley George
the violence of the pheasant shoot echoes over the valley
Martin Lucas
charred cedars
how cold the white
of early snow
Ron Moss
spring dawn
my cup
full of river
Graham Nunn
The approach to the tanka is pleasantly varied. The emotive and associative material brought to a human context give rise to moving suggestions, without recourse to narrative. An awareness of how vulnerable human beings are – how susceptible to mood and emotion, are conveyed with sympathy. The images remain vividly before us.
high-heeled sandals
on their way to church
pass my joggers
the sinner’s morning walk
much more urgent than mine
Helen Davison
icicles hung
from the Eiffel Tower
at dusk
lusting after the heat
of our hotel room
Amelia Fielden
news of my father’s death
my hands
holding the phone
like his
like my son’s
Katherine Samuelowicz
boarding call
arms around your neck
I inhale deeply –
in your childhood room
the old t-shirt I won’t wash
Pam Smith
Overall I enjoyed this generous and wonderful collection very much. Quiet and diligent observation mixed with fully engaged emotions of sympathy, joy, wonder and playfulness.
used car yard
my son loves the red balloons
whose shadows
cross our sandalled feet
like drifting lollipops
Sharon Dean
enthusiasm
bounces through the phone line
it’s your year, she says –
how can she know I’m a cow
and it’s the year of the ox?
Beatrice Yell
coming from the subway,
a grain of sand lodges
in my eye,
the town clock becomes
a Dali painting
Aya Yuhki
