Frogments from the Frag Pool: Haiku After Basho [Paperback]

Gary Barwin (Author), Derek Beaulieu (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2005

Gary Barwin and derek beaulieu’s seamless collaboration has resulted in frogments from the frag pool: haiku after Basho. This collection of poetry mixes joy with rigour, playfulness with contemplation, and the absurd with pure poetic passion. Barwin and beaulieu have created poetry that is wise, witty, and wry. Filled with translations, responses, remixes, and new takes on Matsuo Basho’s famous frog haiku, frogments from the frag pool exuberantly ripples genre,expectation,and meaning. Prepare to be splashed by this pool!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"....Here b and B take on B, with echoes of bp, in a way that honours Basho....." -- Erin Moure

"Delightful....This book is a grand addition to the reverberation of Basho’s splash." -- Nelson Ball, author of At the Edge of the Frog Pond

About the Author

Gary Barwin is a writer, composer, and performer. He is the author of numerous books and chapbooks of poetry and fiction including the poetry collections frogments from the frag pool: haiku after basho (written with derek beaulieu) and Raising Eyebrows and Outside the Hat (Coach House Books) and the fiction collections Doctor Weep and other strange teeth, Big Red Baby (The Mercury Press), and Cruelty to Fabulous Animals (Moonstone Press). He is the author of The Mud Game, a novel written with Stuart Ross (The Mercury Press). Barwin is also the author of several books for children including Seeing Stars, a young adult novel (Stoddart Kids) nominated for an Arthur Ellis Award and the CLA YA Book of the Year, and Killer Poodle Made Me Island King (Fox Meadow), co-winner of the Muskoka Novel Marathon 2003. Barwin received a PhD in Music Composition and currently teaches music at Hillfield-Strathallan College and creative writing at McMaster University. Barwin lives in Hamilton, where he has cultivated vague but colourful illusions about his writing. Please don’t tell him.

derek beaulieu is the author of three books of poetry, and co-editor of Shift & Switch: New Canadian Poetry (Mercury, 2005). He has been editor with dANDelion, filling Station and endnote magazines. He was publisher of housepress from 1997–2004, and has edited special issues of Whitewall of Sound and Open Letter. He has lectured and discussed poetics across North America and the UK, and currently lives in Calgary. His first book of poetry, with wax, was published by Coach House in 2003.

Product Details

• Paperback: 111 pages
• Publisher: Mercury Press (October 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1551281120
• ISBN-13: 978-1551281124
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 5.8 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,626,311 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Tour de Force Of Visuals & Haiku Based on A Famous Poem, February 22, 2006

By 

Marvin A. Sackner (Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Frogments from the Frag Pool: Haiku After Basho (Paperback)

The authors have twisted Basho's Frog Haiku into an outstanding collection of witty puns, permutations, and visual poems. The poems are a great read of the authors' creative playfulness and the visual poems formed by hand drawn letters have a wry sense of humor. It's not a usual haiku collection but one that engages the reader in visual/verbal contemplation. I highly recommend it.