| Oregon Haiku & Tanka Society |
| B o o k R e v i e w |
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| an'ya, Crosswinds Reviewed by John Francis Haines from the NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW ON-LINE This is a very pleasantly presented collection of haiku by five poets from the former Yugoslavia. The haiku are printed in bold in what I presume is Serbo-Croat; the translations, in ordinary print are in English, German, and French. Each poet is given their own independently-titled section to showcase his or her work. From THE YOUNG GERFALCON'S TALONS, by An'ya Petrovic I enjoyed the cosmic sweep of: moonset... a sudden vastness between stars and also the equally cosmic: starlit lake... a stray bobber afloat in the galaxy One of her poems also provides the collection's titles in all languages: crosswinds � just the black centre left on a straw poppy Zoran Doderovic provides in his section, THE LIGHTEN WAY, a link back to traditional Japanese haiku: The shallows � Pond grass connected to the moon Sometimes the translations have a strange effect. This one, from Dejan Bogojevic's section, HOOTING OF AN OWL, reads very oddly in English: midnight � a drunkard an a stably dog in the street Perhaps it's a little clearer in French?: minuit � dans la rue un ivrogne at un chien sans maitre Altogether it's an excellent collection, providing a good introduction to a group of poets you might not otherwise encounter. |