Missed Appointment is a short collection of haiku by one of the masters of English-language haiku, Gary Hotham. Published in 2007, the book features 15 of Hotham's poems in a pocket-sized chapbook format.
over the parade---
a window no one
looks out of
In addition to the poems, the book also contains an introduction from the poet -- "The Amazing in Haiku." It is a short, interesting essay about the attitudes of poets, including a quote from former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins about haiku.
The haiku and senryu are printed one to a page, in bold black type that serves to further emphasize the white space surrounding the poems in the minimalist haiku fashion. The book has a cardstock cover featuring the art of Ogato Korin, "Detail of a Japanese Screen."
farewell party---
the sweetness of the cake
hard to swallow
Hotham's haiku are varied in both subject and form, but his distinctly American style shows through in all of them. Although this book only contains a small sampling of his work, it is obvious Hotham is very comfortable writing haiku, and he's not afraid to stretch its boundaries.
the shortcut
the schoolchildren take---
a new layer of leaves matted into the old
Missed Appointment received an Honorable Mention in the Haiku Society of America's 2008 Mildred Kanterman Memorial Merit Book Awards. Hotham is no stranger to this award -- his full-length collection of haiku, Breath Marks: Haiku to Read in the Dark (published by Canon Press) took first place in the competition in 2000.
Many of the poems from Missed Appointment have been previously published in various highly-esteemed haiku journals, some of which include The Heron's Nest, Frogpond, Presence, and Modern Haiku. A few of the poems from this book were also selected for inclusion in The Haiku Anthology, a large paperback collection of poems representing the best in English-language haiku.
Missed Appointment is a 20-page chapbook, published by and available from Modest Proposal Chapbooks. The book, #17 in the Modest Proposal Chapbook series, sells for a mere $3.00 (which includes shipping). Any Hotham fan (or haiku fan in general) will find this book to be a welcome addition to their collection.
In addition to Missed Appointment, Hotham has published a number of chapbooks and mini-chapbooks, including Off and On Rain (from High/Coo, now known as Brooks Books) and Before All the Leaves are Gone and As Far as the Light Goes, both of which were published by Juniper Press.
Modest Proposal Chapbooks is run by Don Wentworth, editor of the small press journal Lilliput Review. Both the chapbook series and the journal often feature haiku, senryu, and tanka. Before Missed Appointment, Modest Proposal also published another collection of Hotham's haiku, titled Footprints and Fingerprints (#4 in the series).
(Originally published on Helium.com, July 2009)
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