The Haiku Anthology

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Caveat: I didn't finish this anthology. However, despite my unstated personal standard of only reviewing books that I've finished, I've decided to make an exception for Van Den Heuvel's haiku collection.

Many of the western haiku in this collection are written more in keeping with the spirit of the Japanese poetry that inspired them than in the form taught traditionally in the West. In my previous reading of the art form, I learned that the Japanese haiku are written using seventeen word sounds which Western poets have adapted as syllables; however, this isn't strictly true. So there is more flexibility in composing haiku than most of us have been taught as schoolchildren. In addition, Japanese haiku are written as a single line, which can aid in painting an image (and perfect for Twitter, as I've found). The key ingredients: an allusion to the seasons and a contrast or comparison between two images, one often based in Nature, the other on humanity.

Knowing this, I found the haiku in Van Den Heuvel's work often beautiful and haunting -- and an ideal collection to dip into for the briefest meditation during busy days.