Books
Each recommendation reflects the views of the person who wrote it, not necessarily the views of the NCHS as a whole.
Learning to Read Haiku
- The Essential Haiku, poems selected and translated by Robert Hass (1994). Hopewell: The Ecco Press.
- Haiku Moment, edited by Bruce Ross (1993). Rutland: Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc.
- The Haiku Anthology, third edition, edited by Cor van den Heuvel (1999). New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.
Haiku cut so deftly against the grain of the Western literary tradition that they are often regarded as trivial verse, or at best, poetry that does not translate well from the Japanese. The books below can help cure such notions.
The Essential Haiku, edited by Robert Hass, is a good introduction to three masters of the Japanese haiku tradition: Basho, Buson and Issa. I cannot speak to the accuracy of Hass's translations from the Japanese, but the poems reda well in English, and the critical reviews I've read do not find significant fault with the translations. The serious reader will want to seek out other translations of these poets, but to my mind, no other book better introduces the depth and range of classical haiku as poems in such a short space. The introduction and notes are excellent, as you would expect from Hass, a former Poet Laureate of the United States. One thing I find especially valuable about Hass is that he doesn't overemphasize the foreignness of Japanese haiku. He enables us to see their universality in a way that specialized commentary sometimes does not.
To see how well poets writing in English have met the challenge of the Japanese tradition, read a good anthology of haiku composed in English, such as Haiku Moment, edited by Bruce Ross, and The Haiku Anthology, edited by Cor van den Heuvel. The poems in Haiku Moment are somewhat more even in tone and approach, perhaps because of the selection criteria described in the introduction. Some (like me) admire this quality of Haiku Moment, but others think it results in too much of the same thing. Still others would say that idea of the haiku moment has been overemphasized in the West, but I don't find this book to be an example of that.
You probably won't recognize the poets in these anthologies. Perhaps this is because the idea of literary haiku in English is relatively new (100 years or so in the United States). On the other hand, it is good that these anthologies focus on poets for whom haiku are something more than experiments in an exotic form.
— Dave Russo
Learning to Write Haiku
- Haiku: A Poet's Guide, by Lee Gurga (2003). Lincoln, Modern Haiku Press.
- The Haiku Handbook, by William J. Higginson, with Penny Harter (1985). Tokyo: Kodansha International Ltd.
Haiku: A Poet's Guide, by Lee Gurga, a highly respected poet, editor, translator, and publisher. If you want to know "how a haiku means" (as the poet John Ciardi might have said), buy this book. Haiku, A Poet's Guide is a concise introduction to the art, craft, and aesthetics of haiku in English. The example haiku alone are worth the price of the book. Gurga's illuminating comments on individual poems and about haiku in English are even more valuable. (You can order this book from the Modern Haiku Press web site and elsewhere.)
Haiku poets will also want to own the now-classic The Haiku Handbook, by William J. Higginson, with Penny Harter. This book is especially valuable for its rigorous examination of haiku tradition and innovation. The book includes a thorough and insightful survey of Japanese haiku; a survey of haiku in other languages; a detailed explication of haiku form and content; and a haiku lesson plan for teachers—as well as a bibliography, a glossary, and a season word index.
— Dave Russo
Books by Members
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Beneath the Willow Tree, the latest anthology of haiku by members of the North Carolina Haiku Society. We produced this anthology to commemorate the Haiku North America 2007 conference in Winston-Salem. The book presents previously-unpublished work by Philip Bizzarri, L. Teresa Church, Curtis Dunlap, Richard Kraweic, Kate MacQueen, Lenard D. Moore, Bob Moyer, Dave Russo, Charlie Smith, and Richard Straw. Lenard D. Moore, Executive Chairman of the North Carolina Haiku Society, edited the anthology. Diane Katz of Rosenberry Books created the illustrations.
To buy a copy of Beneath the Willow Tree, see the Book In Hand section of the Rosenberry Books Wesbite.
Standard Edition: 6 x 9 in. handbound softcover greyscale images, archival, $10.95. See Photos of the Standard Edition of Beneath the Willow Tree.
Deluxe Edition: 6 x 9 in. handbound hardcover Thai mulberry flyleaves with bamboo inclusions, additional illustrations, color printing, archival, $16.95. -
Wild Again, Selected Haiku of Nina Wicker (2005). Winchester: Red Moon Press. A collection of haiku by one of North Carolina’s best-known haiku poets. The book contains many of Wicker's best haiku from over 20 years of her work. Each poem captures something brief and essential about country life or family life, with keen observation and intuitive association rather than nostalgia. Edited by Lenard D. Moore, Dave Russo, and Jim Kacian. Available for $12.00 plus handling from Nina Wicker, Dave Russo or Red Moon Press. Contact Dave or Red Moon Press for details about ordering this book.
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Taboo Haiku (2005). Greensboro: Avisson Press. An international anthology of haiku about themes that often go unexplored in mainstream haiku publications. Well-known poet and fiction writer Richard Krawiec is the lead editor. Associate editors are Raffael de Gruttola, Jim Kacian, Lenard D. Moore, and Dave Russo. See the Taboo Haiku Web site for more about this project. Taboo Haiku can be ordered from Avisson Press, 3007 Taliaferro Road, Greensboro, NC 27408. Price is $15 a copy, plus $2 per copy postage and handling.
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Gathering at the Crossroads, a collaborative chapbook of Lenard D. Moore's haiku about the Million Man March and Eugene B. Redmond's photographs. Available from Red Moon Press, PO Box 2461, Winchester, VA 22604, USA. Phone: (540) 722-2156. Email: redmoon@shentel.net.
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Forever Home, a book of free verse by Lenard D. Moore. Available from St. Andrews College Press, 1700 Dogwood Mile, Laurinburg, NC 28352. $9.95.
Haiku Bibliographies on the Web
- A Bibliography of Haiku Poetry, by Kristen Deming, past president, Haiku Society of America.
- Bibliography, by George Marsh, from his Web site: In the moonlight a worm...
- some haiku book reviews, by Tom Brinck, from his Web site: haiku habitat. Tom is the originator of SciFaku (science-fiction haiku).