| Oregon Haiku & Tanka Society |
| B o o k R e v i e w |
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| an'ya, Haiku for a Moonless Night, Vol. I Ernest J. Berry and an'ya, Haiku Wine Reviewed by Charles Trumbull of Modern Haiku Haiku for a Moonless Night, Volume I, by An�ya. Haiga by Kuniharu Shimizu; calligraphy by Eri Takase. 6.5 x 8.5, paperback stringbound, 138 pages, without folios. ISBN 0-9727130-0-X. Haiku Wine, by Ernest J Berry and An�ya. ISBN 0-9727130-1-8. 6.5 x 8.5, paperback, stringbound, 142 pages, without folios. Both �2003, and available for $18.95 each postpaid (or $33.95 for the two) from the publisher, the Natal-Light Press, PO Box 1168, Crooked River Ranch, OR 97760. . . . . In general, the contents of Moonless Light, An�ya�s collection, is of high quality, and it is nice to have a collection of her work, much of which has shown well in international haiku contests. An�ya�s verse is distinguished by her use of fresh images, many derived from her interesting life (she is, for example, a falconer) and rural Oregon residence. In a blurb on the back cover, Michael McClintock likens An�ya to Christina Rossetti in terms of �artistic philosophy, passion, energy, and joyful image-making.� These two haiku seem representative of the collection (the second won first place in the 2000 Hackett Contest): blood moon cuckoo�s voice in the back of his throat after its first flight the young gerfalcon�s talons tighter on my glove The idea of a book compiled jointly by two geographically distant, internationally known, prize-winning poets such as Ernest J. Berry and An�ya is very fetching, but this volume, Haiku Wine, doesn�t quite achieve what it might have. The main problem is that Berry�s verse (in baby-blue ink) is always presented first, followed on the facing page, in pink ink, by An�ya�s, such that it looks like (it may not actually have happened this way, of course) Ernie always had the first word and An�ya was always in the position of having to think up a worthy response. This approach also emphasizes the difference in quality between the two poets� haiku. Two pairs, with Berry on the left, may illustrate the problem: |
| In No Other Business Here, their 1999 book that features a similar poetical conversation, John Brandi and Steve Sanfield do not indicate who wrote which poem, which helps level and unify the whole collection. Nonetheless, there is much poetry of interest in both Haiku Wine and Moonless Night. They�re worth a look. |
| night fishing knee-deep in the pleiades cold snap the panhandler closes his hand |
| breast-high in a private pond white lilies cold snap the dandelion leaves flatten out |