Customer Reviews

The Haiku Year

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I received this book as a gift from a friend a couple of years ago which inspired our circle of friends to start our own little haiku challenge. The poetry in this book is a collection of snippets from the lives of ordinary but creative people. It proves that everyone can find a little bit of revelation in their lives, in things as simple as a map or mist rising in the cold. And by sending those little snippets to friends they stayed as much a part of each others lives as if they were right next door. I really recommend dipping into this collection and maybe even starting your own haiku challenge...it isn't meant to be classic haiku, but simply enlightenment in daily life, given with love from one friend to another.

This collection includes some of my favourite poems rendering a very wide range of different situations, observations and feelings. To be precise, "The Haiku Year" is a collection of senryu rather than haiku and only few of the poems have any reference to the season. Instead, most of them focus entirely on different aspects of human life. Many of the poems deal with urban life and a modern life-style. Another thing which makes "The Haiku Year" different from many other collections is its tone. It is less formal and shows less decorum than any collection I have ever seen, which I think is great. But if you object to bad language etc, you may find it too provoking. However, to those who celebrate every aspect of human existence, I heartily recommend it.

One of the hardest things to do - as a writer - is to keep things succinct. It is so amazing that the group of writers who had 'a haiku year' all manage to beautifully express moments of their lives in a few lines.

Though the poems vary in perspective and subject, they convey equally strong emotions. This book is enough to make you want to gather your own circle. And it's small size makes it easy to bring with you wherever you may travel - whenever you are in need of 18 words of affirmation, frustration or love. It's one of the few books I make sure is near my desk at all times.

The Haiku Year was all that I anticipated and much more! The haiku were really inspirational and enlightening...I found myself looking at the things surrounding me in completely different ways from day to day. And for all you R.E.M. fans out there who stumbled across this book for one reason and one reason only...it is much much more than that. (Trust me, I did the same thing.)

When did you last have a very strong feeling of the present moment, and a simultaneous, visceral understanding of how that moment fits into the context of life? Writing or reading Haiku poetry has a way of stimulating that feeling. The form is so condensed that it can feel sharp and sudden, like the sound of a balloon popping. This little book is a wonderful introduction to Haiku and also inspires the reader to experience the powerful effect of creating Haiku; after all, the folks who wrote the Haiku's collected here are ordinary Joe's like you or me who all decided to just start writing one Haiku each day.

The Haiku Year is much more than a delightful collection of interesting poems. It's also a very interesting window into the lives of seven friends. It's a bit like seven personal photo albums all mixed together, which gives it an enticing, voyeuristic feel for the reader. It's also a bit like a puzzle; did the person who wrote the Haiku about the cold pain of an ending relationship also write the one about the exhiliration of new love found?

I highly recommend this book as a gift to yourself. Do you know someone who would be very surprised to receive from you a fresh, red rose? Give them this book instead (or along with).

Not many people would argue that Japanese Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism aren't valid or relevant religions. They may not be much like the "original" forms of Buddhism but they are Buddhism and they have much to say (to say the least.) They are just also "japanese" and "tibetan" and unavoidably have a context.

I am a white American leftist yankee writing haiku, not some Japanese guy from a hundred years ago living on Mount Fuji. The syllable thing is bs anyway, since English syllables do not correspond in length to Japanese syllables.

Haiku Year authors never claimed to be Basho or William Higginson for that matter. If you read the Haiku Year you will see that its main purpose is to show a year of friendship and observation (with all its warts) and hopefully inspire other folks to write as well. Its is not a guide to writing haiku or held up as the pinnacle of haiku writing.

Muddy Waters is so much better than the Rolling Stones, but

"Dead Flowers" , "Monkey Man", and most of the Stones stuff rocks on its own merits. It also just might lead you back to Muddy Waters.

A friend recommended this book, and while I found the book itself fairly interesting by far the best part has been the haiku circle we have created. We do it via email, and try to send a haiku every day to the mailing list. There are about 8 of us who do it regularly, another 4 or so who occasionally participate. It is by no stretch classic haiku, but taking a moment from our day to polish into a limited semi-formal pattern (we try to stick to 5-7-5, but not always, and no other rules - it's haiku if you say it is). We've just completed our first year, and it is very satisfying not only to receive, but also to take that daily meditation to focus on one moment, image, or thought, and try to shine it up to a sharable form.

If you wish to see the best of contemporary English haiku this is not the book for you. However, it does have an appropriate place in the library. First, the haiku provide interesting insights into the lives of the authors. In keeping to the concreteness of the form, one see the authors' experiences more directly. They write more of what happened rather than what they think about the experience in retrospect. Second, the volume provides an example of an interesting approach to a personal journal - an approach than gains values over time rather than becoming the musings of someone you know longer feel you are. So in a strange way, I recommend this book.

sometimes i think of my father as an aging hippie- a rusty van plastered with bumper stickers, a very liberal viewpoint, and long hair.

the haiku year doesn't conform to haiku norms, but it isn't about aging hippies. it's a simple approach to the lives they lead.

i have much respect for my dad, and this book is everything about him and and his friends that i love.

This is one of the most inspiring books I have ever purchased. After reading the forward, my friends and I not only took on a Haiku Challenge, but created an art challenge where 6 of us are creating art work everyday and barraging the US mail and each other with our creations. The haiku in the book bring laughter and tears, warmth and sarcasm and mostly each of the friends closer to each other. We started our challenge last week and already life seems a bit fresher and more exciting! The book is an inexpensive way to believe again that beauty, poetry and art can make anything possible.