A NET OF SUNLIGHT
by Kirsty Karkow FootHills Publishing, P.O. Box 68, Kanona, NY 14856, Published, 2002, $6.00
A Net of Sunlight establishes Karkow as a poet with diverse talents: proficient in haiku, tanka and sijo. But it is her haiku which shows us the depth of this poet's understanding of the magic of poetry. Karkow allows the reader to enter into her haiku, following paths both internal and external:
gnarled oak
my journey to the hills
starts in mist
honeymoon
we wade into the current
of a great river
The reader appreciates her abiding connection with nature and is touched by each empathetic insight:
winter doldrums . . .
a beach stone from the hearth
smooth on my cheek
winter stars--
a wild goose tucks its head
under a wing
The poet is able to seize an imminent moment of sunlight and give it back to the reader as transcendent poetry:
anchored
a net of sunlight
in the shallows
moonstruck
the circle of calm
after a seal dives
She takes her time, enjoying the last fruits of the season, allowing the reader, too, to be absorbed in her meditations:
red maple leaves
I sip the last
drops of wine
rising mist--
I paddle into a breeze
fragrant with balsam
Karkow's haiku are rich in texture and depth; she invites the reader to enter her world and, like an old stone wall sunstruck, we are warmly enriched by her words:
sunstruck
an old stone wall
in autumn woods
(Reviewed by Marjorie Buettner)
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Haiku Flowers and Trees
Distributed by Kamogawa Shuppan, Published by Win-kamogawa, Kyoto, Japan, 2005
There should be a name for that phenomenon of memory which combines and associates one event in one's life with sound, scent or scenery and when experiencing that sensory impression stimulates once again a succinct, palpable memory of the event. Proust, I think, would know along with Murasake Sagano what that word would be. Sagano's new collection Haiku Flowers and Trees reminds me how such an ordinary thing as color, or the way a blossom bends out from a tree or flower, can indeed not only stimulate a memory of an event but can, in fact, ultimately become a symbol of that event until they are, in the mind of the poet, one and the same, interchangeable, inextricably linked.
Sunflowers . . .
father hospitalized
bloom of the last bud
This collection has an invaluable introduction by David McMurray who published most of the haiku in Asahi Haikuist Network column. The book is illustrated beautifully by Taiki. Just as the illustrations illuminate the haiku, each haiku illuminates the poet's sensibilities and sensitivities:
White crocus
alone at the park
vis-'a-vis
The flowing passage of time is embedded, too, in her haiku; I believe the poet understands T. S. Eliot's cryptic yet magical statement "The end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time":
Love poem
carved deep in cold stone
red plum buds
Nameless grave
folded with its scent
magnolia
The contrast of color in comparison to life's fleeting moments is elegantly captured:
Breezy day
bluebottles in the
baby's smile
And at times it is the intensity of that color from nature which makes everything else pale in comparison:
Rose of Sharon
surface of the pond
colorless
This is when the eye of the poet sees all and the voice of the poet says just enough, leaving mystery. Sangano's Sagano's haiku exemplify this intimate yet mysterious vision leading the reader down the path of exploration and delight:
Few leaves left
through the persimmon
far town view
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