EDITOR'S WELCOME
This section of World Haiku Review features poets from around the world. While it is true that the right combinations of components create memorable haiku, the notion of what is "right" may vary from poet to poet, editor to editor.
This editor aims to select provocative haiku with certain traditional qualities, while recognizing the value of less-than-rigid parameters. My goal is to present a universally resonant haiku collection, provide inspiration for haiku writers, and contribute to the development of world-haiku.
Ferris Gilli
Editor, TREETOPS
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EDITOR'S CHOICE
A selection of haiku with commentary
By Ferris Gilli, Editor
Does the reader's interpretation give a poem its resonance, or does the stimulating effect of the work drive the interpretation? Surely it works both ways. Much of the appeal and power of haiku lies in the potential for various interpretations of a single poem. A haiku may satisfy different people in different ways. After being drawn again and again to Patricia Prime's "humidity," I now offer my own perception of her work.
humidity
all night long the sound
of a click beetle
Patricia Prime, NZ
This poem contains important fundamental qualities of its genre. Among others are excellent construction, kigo, concrete imagery, and effective juxtaposition of disparate images. The presence of a click beetle indicates late spring or summer, when the adult insects are active. Although the single word "humidity" might at first seem too sparse, it gathers strength as the rest of the poem is read. This is humidity that oppresses, that intensifies the seasonal warmth. Humidity that precedes and accompanies the rain and hangs on afterward; a dampness that makes hair and clothes limp and gets into one's bones.
The phrase "all night long" creates what the Japanese call sabi, evoking a sense of loneliness; "the sound / of a click beetle," understood here as recurrent, enhances the mood. But a haiku must represent a very brief span, and for me, the instant of this work's conception is quite clear. It is the moment when the author realizes that the restless night is ending, when she accepts that her lot throughout was to toss and turn and wait for the beetle's next click, in the same way one might wait for the next drip of the faucet.
Making every word count, Patricia Prime has combined potent images in a haiku that resonates with atmosphere and sensory appeal. I am grateful to her for sharing it with us.
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HAIKU
TREETOPS, Spring 2007
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first mowing
wild onion scent
wades the icy branch
Elizabeth Howard
Crossville, Tennessee, US
pink dogwood -
giving the tabby church
a new roof
Adelaide B. Shaw
Scarsdale, New York, US
tumbledown homestead
wild turkeys do-si-do
between rail fences
Elizabeth Howard
Crossville, Tennessee, US
cherry blossoms --
swerving to miss
a pothole
Laryalee Fraser
British Columbia, CA
warm afternoon -
with him comes the fragrance
of a cigar
Adelaide B. Shaw
Scarsdale, New York, US
bushfire hazethe little birds have learnt
about smoke
Sue Stanford
Melbourne, AU
harbor sunset –
walking the long way
home
Francis Masat
Key West, Florida, US
close to tears
a stranger at the graveside
close to tears
Emily Romano
Boonton, New Jersey, US
remembered grief
dark clouds part
for a morning moon
Lynne Steel
Hillsboro Beach, Florida, US
landfill –
a buzzard and I
disagree
Francis Masat
Key West, Florida, US
human footfall
a dying bird, an orchid
play dead
Sue Stanford
Melbourne, AU
morning darkness
a crescent moon rises
orange from the sea
Lynne Steel
Hillsboro Beach, Florida, US
a garden hoe
Emily Romano
Boonton, New Jersey, US
remembered grief
dark clouds part
for a morning moon
Lynne Steel
Hillsboro Beach, Florida, US
landfill –
a buzzard and I
disagree
Francis Masat
Key West, Florida, US
human footfall
a dying bird, an orchid
play dead
Sue Stanford
Melbourne, AU
morning darkness
a crescent moon rises
orange from the sea
Lynne Steel
Hillsboro Beach, Florida, US
a garden hoe
leans against the strawman;
fine rain falling...
Emily Romano
Boonton, New Jersey, US
sirens --
the fire ant waves
its tentacles
Nancy Stewart Smith
Athens, Georgia US
urban farm
corrugated iron sheep
outside a craft shop
Patricia Prime
Auckland, NZ
rising blizzard –
the neighborhood watch sign
disappears
Nancy Stewart Smith
Athens, Georgia, US
my birth house--
from its ruins springs up
a cherry tree
Jasminka Nadaskic Diordievic
Smederevo, Serbia
first warm night
a shooting star breaks
our silence
Laryalee Fraser
British Columbia, CA
deep summer night--
from the neighborhood
echoes of a laugh
Jasminka Nadaskic Diordievic
Smederevo, Serbia
humidity
all night long the sound
of a click beetle
Patricia Prime
Auckland, NZ
wild raspberries -
rolls of thunder follow
from bush to bush
Adelaide B. Shaw
Scarsdale, New York US
after the storm
checking the tide pool
for crabs
Patricia Prime
Auckland, NZ
silence --
moonflowers reach
for their mother
Nancy Stewart Smith
Athens, Georgia, US
(end of haiku)
Emily Romano
Boonton, New Jersey, US
sirens --
the fire ant waves
its tentacles
Nancy Stewart Smith
Athens, Georgia US
urban farm
corrugated iron sheep
outside a craft shop
Patricia Prime
Auckland, NZ
rising blizzard –
the neighborhood watch sign
disappears
Nancy Stewart Smith
Athens, Georgia, US
my birth house--
from its ruins springs up
a cherry tree
Jasminka Nadaskic Diordievic
Smederevo, Serbia
first warm night
a shooting star breaks
our silence
Laryalee Fraser
British Columbia, CA
deep summer night--
from the neighborhood
echoes of a laugh
Jasminka Nadaskic Diordievic
Smederevo, Serbia
humidity
all night long the sound
of a click beetle
Patricia Prime
Auckland, NZ
wild raspberries -
rolls of thunder follow
from bush to bush
Adelaide B. Shaw
Scarsdale, New York US
after the storm
checking the tide pool
for crabs
Patricia Prime
Auckland, NZ
silence --
moonflowers reach
for their mother
Nancy Stewart Smith
Athens, Georgia, US
(end of haiku)
