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Lost Heian presents haiku and haiku-like poems by
forty-four members of the Kyoto- and Osaka-based Hailstone
Haiku Circle. It also contains a foreword by Gill, a note
on translation by Miyazaki, an afterword by Robert MacLean,
and a renga composed by several of the poets. The work of
many talented poets, Japanese and Western, is presented
here.
For
those who don’t read Japanese, Lost Heian provides
an interesting view into the Japanese master system. Many
of the poets here have been influenced by Gill and his haiqua
(four-line form) that he has been, as he says, “actively
promoting as a teacher.” Of the form, Gill writes,
“the
four lines of a haiku quatrain allow for slightly more
imagery, a slower delivery of information, more scope
for kireji-like cutting, and bring haiku one step closer
to other forms of poetry.”
One
of Gill’s, writing as Tito:
Weeping
with the long rain
As before, old cherry,
Even now come galaxy
Of pink stars
To
this reader, a poem such as this with its twenty-two syllables,
nostalgic mood, and metaphor for the cherry blossoms is
closer to tanka than to haiku. Compare it with the following,
also by Gill:
A
lorry-load of camels
With disdain peering into
The modern world
How
refreshing this camel ride is after Old Man Cherry! In spite
of Gill’s emphasis on haiqua, there is a wide variety
of form and poetic sensibility here. Two pond haiku:
To
a small pond
borne by the evening breeze . . .
fragrance of acacia
Akito
Mori
from
the old pond
a frog jumps out—
covered with duckweed
Michio
Sano
I
for one will look forward to seeing more work from these
talented poets.
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