Haiku: One-Breath Poetry

Elizabeth St. Jacques is the author of Echoes All Strung Out and
Survivors: The Great Depression, 1929-1939.

Unfamiliar with the work of Naomi Wakan as a haiku poet (her
qualifications do not appear anywhere in this book), I was particularly
interested to see how well she could explain this brief form, which has
been frequently trivialized by Westerners. As it turns out, Wakan is a
first-class teacher. This slim volume covers a lot of territory
extremely well. The author has a talent for sharing the essential
ingredients and qualities of haiku without overwhelming the reader.

The book is divided into four distinct parts. “Introducing Haiku,”
“Japanese Haiku,” “Haiku in English,” and “The History of
Haiku” deal with such matters as “becoming the haiku,” season
words, haiku that tell stories, brief biographies of master Japanese
haikuists, haiku diaries and sketches, and women and haiku. Wakan uses
plenty of quotations from past and present haiku poets (including
children), and provides some pleasing examples of their work. Best of
all, writing exercises are fun, workable, and clearly presented.

With the help of Wakan’s own superb artwork, this book will surely
encourage readers not only to write haiku but to understand and
appreciate it as well. Highly recommended.