Books Received
Pagini de Haibun / Haibun Pages
By Ion Codrescu
Editura Eikon
Bucharest, Romania
2024, paperback, 270 pages
ISBN: 978-606-49-1223-7
59 leu + VAT/shipping
Available from the publisher or from the author
A collection of 25 haibun written by the author over the past several decades, presented in Romanian and English, with black-and-white reproductions of his art throughout. “These pages of haibun are charming in their diversity: in America, Japan, Romania, in Venice, memorable events take place, carefully preserved by the poet and given to us, such as the preparation of a tea from aromatic herbs, the arduous climb to a Buddhist temple, the meeting with the pious old woman in the mountains … But the book is also seductive through its unity, ensured by the poet’s intense experience that goes beyond appearances and reveals essences. His eye decodes, very personally, the sky and the clouds, the waters, the trees, the flowers, the scents of the forest and the gardens, the flight of the birds and the geese, the books, the paintings, the concerts. Poet, painter and music lover, Ion Codrescu praises, symphonically, the beauties of the world.”—Gabriela Cretia
One Thread: Zoka in Contemporary Haiku
Edited by Janice Doppler
Published independently
2024, paperback, 251 pages
ISBN: 979-7-983-3571035-0
$24.95 USD
Ordering information
In her introduction to this book, Janice Doppler quotes Basho (as translated by Steven D. Carter): “The waka of Saigyo, the renga of Sogi, the paintings of Sesshu, the tea of Rikyu—there is one thread that runs through them all. For it is the essence of art to follow the Way of creation, taking the four seasons as a companion … follow the creative.” The “creative,” she adds, is a translation of the Japanese word zoka, the dynamic spirit that transforms the natural world and the inner workings of the cosmos. (“Following zoka allows us to connect with a world pulsating with rigour and vigour just a breath away— the huge throbbing web of life,” Kala Ramesh writes in her foreword.) Twenty-six poets from around the world share their perceptions of zoka and how it connects to poetry, with each offering an essay and a dozen haiku. As Gregory Longnecker shows in his essay, zoka also can contribute to the writing of haibun.
By Dōgen’s Stream: The Zen Poetry of Sean O’Connor
By Sean O’Connor
Alba Publishing
Uxbridge, United Kingdom
2024, paperback, 106 pages
ISBN: 978-1-912773-58-9
€16 + delivery
Ordering information
A selection of 47 stand-alone haiku and tanka, along with 19 haibun that include many from his most recent award-winning books, A Patch of Earth, The God Of Bones, and Fragmentation. “O’Connor’s Zen poetry reveals itself enigmatically in the loving attention given to the most common objects, in the ironies and paradoxes of the human condition, in the rituals and observances of everyday life.”—from the foreword by Thomas Festa.
Crossing Bridges: A Haibun Anthology
Edited by Shelley Baker-Gard and Shasta Hatter
Published by the Portland Haiku Group
Portland, Oregon
2024, paperback, 100 pages
ISBN: 978-1-304-88207-3
$15 USD
Available through Lulu
A collection of 71 haiku and 9 artworks from the Portland Haiku Group’s present and past members: ALXSw, Ellen Ankenbrock, Steve Bahr, Shelley Baker-Gard, Chandra Bales, Johnny Baranski, John Budan, Terry Ann Carter, Maggie Chula, Lisa Gerlits, Shasta Hatter, Jone Rush MacCulloch, Cathy Merritt, James Rodriguez, David H. Rosen, Ce Rosenow, Diana Saltoon, Jacob D. Salzer, Marilyn Stablein, John Stevenson, and Carolyn Winkler. “The haibun in this anthology can be considered individual journeys taken in moments of time … The haibun and the artwork have been arranged in an order that subtly links one to the other like crossing bridges from one page to the next.”—from the introduction by Shelley Baker-Gard.