Book reviews: On Love and Barley, Haiku of Basho, translated by Lucien Stryk

Matsuo Basho is widely considered one of the great masters of haiku (along with Buson, Issa, and Shiki).  Basho lived in 17th century Japan, and was born Matsuo Kinsaku.  He took the name "Basho" from a banana tree given to him as a gift by one of his disciples.  His poems are heavily influenced by Zen Buddhism, and he spent years traveling Japan as a pauper and a monk.

Basho's haiku and haibun have been translated into numerous languages by numerous translators.  On Love and Barley is a rather slim collection -- 253 haiku on 93 pages -- translated by Lucien Stryk.  The book provides a good representation of the range of Basho's poems.

Stryk is an accomplished translator, and his translations embody the Japanese minimalist spirit of the haiku themselves.  He does not waste words, nor does he insert extra ones solely to meet a syllable count.

   Cherry blossoms --

   lights

   of years past.

Every translator is different, and no two will translate the same haiku the same way.  The more translations an English-speaking haiku enthusiast reads, the better sense he will have of the original Japanese poem.

   Poor boy -- leaves

   moon-viewing

   for rice-grinding.

Stryk writes the introduction for this book as well, discussing Basho's life and the environment he lived in.  He also describes the influence Zen had on the master poet, as well as the influence Basho's poems and legacy had on his successors.

What makes On Love and Barley unique from many other haiku collections are the pages of notes provided after the poems -- each haiku is numbered, and many have their own endnotes.  These notes are very helpful to Western readers (especially those new to haiku) for clearing up any obscurity over Basho's ancient Japanese allusions.  Situated at the end of the book, they don't break up the pace of the poems at all, yet are still easy to reference.

On Love and Barley is a Penguin Classics paperback, available from most major booksellers (including Barnes & Noble and Amazon [commissions earned]).  Its listed retail price is $9.95 -- higher than it should be, like many books of poetry -- but used copies can often be found on eBay [commissions earned].  (Collectors might prefer the hardcover edition, published by the University of Hawaii Press, which currently sells for $27.00.)

For those just starting out on the haiku path, On Love and Barley is a good jumping off point, but this collection would be a good addition to any haiku fan's library.

   Girl cat, so

   thin on love

   and barley.

(Originally posted on Helium.com, 2009)

(Disclaimer: I earn a commission on Amazon sales made from links in this post.)

(Disclaimer: I earn a commission on eBay sales made from links in this post.)

Call for submissions - anti-war haiku and tanka about the war in Ukraine

Haiku poet and editor Dimitar Anakiev is seeking submissions for an anthology of anti-war haiku and tanka about the ongoing war in Ukraine.

From Dimitar's Facebook post:

I invite poets who wrote anti-war haiku (or tanka) on the topic of the war in Ukraine - including related forms (rensaku, haibun, tanka prose) by September 30, 2024 at the latest, to send their works to

bg.gendai@gmail.com (subject: Ukraine)

.

lonely,

Russian tank calmly burns

in Ukraine.

       Dimitar Anakiev

According to Dimitar, this anthology is being created to help the Ukrainian people, rather than for commercial purposes. There are no payments to contributors, and no submission fees. Any money raised will go to "the people of Ukraine."

There are very few restrictions on submissions. Submit as many poems as you want; they can be published or unpublished. Poems should be sent to bg.gendai@gmail.com by 9/30/24.

Book review: Seasons from the Second Floor, by Nathan Graziano

Seasons From The Second Floor is Nathan Graziano's third collection of poetry.  It contains 19 poems, most of which are shorter than a page and a half.  These are working class, blue collar poems -- not the academic poems found in many literary journals.  The poems are divided into four different sections by season -- "Night Walking In The Fall," "Winter Potatoes," "The Ants Prepare For Spring," and "Summer Specials."

The poems in this book are all narrative first-person poems, recounting various aspects of Graziano's life.  They span a broad range, from the mildly humorous (such as "Exercise") to the bluntly satirical (like "Living On Grove St.").  The poems are mainly written in short lines, for the most part with no wasted detail or drawn-out phrases.  Graziano writes well with shorter lines, such as these lines from "Potatoes Until Friday":

Thursday night. We stared

at a plate of homefries

and prayed

to a bottle of ketchup

upside-down

on the kitchen table

for one small squirt.

"My Sister On Her 23rd Birthday" and "Spring Cleaning In The Kitchen" are two of the longer poems in the book, at five and four pages, respectively.  The first poem ran slightly longer than it needed to -- the same things could have been said with less lines.  The second poem was enjoyable, and was split up nicely into contrasting sections.

Graziano's poems focus on life from a lower-class perspective -- wondering what he'd put on his dining room table if he actually had one ("The Landlord Calls"), trying to make a telemarketer understand that he has no money ("Life Insurance"), or stealing cheese and crackers from a poetry reading ("The Reading").  They are at times gritty and always accessible, exposing the world that some people will never see, even though it's right out there in front of them.

The poems are as a whole pretty good, but there are a few lines throughout the book that stand out above the rest, such as these lines from "Tonight I'm James Dean":

I want to feel like James Dean

and drip Hollywood

on the kitchen floor.

Seasons From The Second Floor is a 51-page chapbook published in 2001 by Green Bean Press.  The Green Bean Press website is no longer with us, but you can order the book from Amazon, AbeBooks, or eBay.  For more information about the poet, check out his website.

(Originally posted on Helium.com, 2009)

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Book review: Strangewood Tales, edited by Jack Fisher

Strangewood Tales is a bizarre horror/dark fiction anthology put together by Jack Fisher, editor of Flesh & Blood Magazine. The book contains a collection of twenty short stories, from just plain weird to weirdly terrifying. It is a nicely-printed book, and it retails for $10.95.

The book boasts a strong stable of writers, many of whom have published their own collections of short stories, or in other cases, their own novels. Some of the notables include DF Lewis (1998 winner of the Karl Edward Wagner Award), Jeff VanderMeer (2000 winner of the World Fantasy Award), Monica J. O'Rourke (an associate editor for Space & Time), Shane Ryan Staley (editor of Delirium Magazine), and Mark McLaughlin (editor of The Urbanite). A large chunk of the contributing authors have had stories appear in (or received honorable mentions from) The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror.

Jack Fisher has put together a strong collection of disturbing stories (including one of his own) destined to provoke a response from even the most deranged reader. The book suffers from more than a few typographical errors, but these minor flaws do little to detract from the content of the various stories.

The cover of the book is great. It is a dark drawing of a very evil-looking clown. This clown would make Pennywise (from Stephen King's It) pee himself with fear.

And on to the stories themselves...

In my opinion (which is what this is, after all) the best story of the bunch is "The Green Spider," by Jeffrey Thomas. The story doesn't really fit with the rest of the book; it's not so much bizarre as just plain fantasy. It is a well-written tale about a sleeping heart that yearns to beat again, and though the heart is not human it certainly has a strong will.

"Finders Keepers" is also a great read, and possibly the most entertaining story of the lot. Gene Michael Higney writes of a homeless junkie, one of the dregs of society, suddenly turned from prey into predator.

Jack Fisher's story "In the Belly of a Demon" ranks as one of the best in this anthology. The originality and narrative that make this story good are only slightly undercut by choppy writing. However, in some ways the strange word choices and jagged style draw you (the reader) deeper into the story, since it's told from a paramedic's point of view, not a writer's.

Like most collections, Strangewood Tales contains its share of stories that shouldn't have made the cut -- "Aphids" and "To a Living Earth." "Aphids" was too short, and did not generate any interest on my part, and "To a Living Earth" was just too weird for me to get a grip on. But who knows, you may enjoy them. Different strokes for different folks, right?

Many readers may see "dark fiction" or "horror" and think Stephen King, or maybe Dean Koontz. But by opening Strangewood Tales, you're stepping into a whole new realm beyond mainstream horror... macabre and bizarre only begin to describe it.

If you're a fan of bizarre/offbeat fiction (mainly horror but also strange in a less-terrifying way) check out this anthology. It contains top stories by some of the leading writers out there, as well as some talented up-and-comers. With the eclectic mix that Jack Fisher put together between these pages, you won't be disappointed.

(Originally posted on Helium.com, 2009)

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