Book review: Basho Haiku Challenge Chapbook, edited by Don Wentworth

The Basho Haiku Challenge was created by Don Wentworth, editor of Lilliput Review and the Modest Proposal Chapbook series, and the first annual contest ran from September 2008 to October 2008.  Mr. Wentworth chose some of the best poems from the competition to include in a contest anthology, including the winning poem by Roberta Beary:

on the church steps

a mourning dove

with mother's eyes

Beary is a well-known and well-respected haiku poet, and her collection The Unworn Necklace won first prize in the 2006 Snapshot Press Haiku Collection Competition.  The book was also a finalist for the 2008 William Carlos Williams Award.

In addition to Beary's winning poem, the Basho Haiku Challenge Chapbook contains 23 poems from 19 poets (three of Beary's other poems were also chosen for inclusion) as well as a translation of Matsuo Basho's famous "summer grasses" haiku.  Almost 200 poems were entered in the contest, and if the ones printed in the chapbook are any indication, it was a stiff competition.

Haiku fans will recognize many of the poets whose work was included, such as Richard Krawiec, Joshua Gage, Jim Kacian, and Ed Markowski.  This poem by Heidi George captures a serene moment of urban nature:

city park--

humans, pigeons

resting

Invoking Basho's spirit, Guy Simser contributes this haiku:

on the steep rock face

just one short, gaunt pine

                bowing

Patrick Sweeney (who has three poems in this book) writes about hidden motives:

dandelion sphere

I can see

right through you

The chapbook contains poems representing various forms and styles of haiku.  Most of the poems are three lines, but there are several one-line haiku, and even one with a title (which is rare to find).  There is also a humorous haiku by Miriam Chaikin, as well as this broken four-line poem by Craig Santos Perez:

dragonflies mating again-

st the finger-

print blushed wind-

ow

Mr. Wentworth has said he plans to make the Basho Haiku Challenge an annual contest.  The next contest has not been announced yet, but once it is the details and submission guidelines should be available on his blog, Issa's Untidy Hut.

The Basho Haiku Challenge Chapbook is 13 pages, printed on white paper with a yellow cardstock cover.  It is available for $3.00 (including shipping) from Modest Proposal Chapbooks, and it is #20 in the Modest Proposal series.  Like the other chapbooks in the series (and Lilliput Review) it's small enough to tuck in your pocket and take with you anywhere.

(Originally published on Helium.com, May 2009)