This great collection consists of 108 haiku poems. There’s a poem for each theme: simplicity, nature, truth, animal wisdom, doing nothing, harmony, chaos, listening, memory, patience, loneliness, sorrow, letting go, kindness, trust and hope, joy and delight, creativity and imagination, roots, forgiveness, greed, gratitude, perspectives, power, true happiness, water as a life source, time, silence, etc.
After each haiku there’s an interpretation of the poem and a short overview of the poet. These interpretations are spiritual reflections rather than literary analysis. The author has tried to represent a balance of poets: traditional and modern, Japanese and non-Japanese, male and female. The book ends with an index of poets and themes.
This poetry collection is meant for any reader, whether interested in haiku or not. I’ve returned to this book a few times. Reading it feels like bathing in the chilly sea water. It’s bracing and inspiring.
Water as a Life Source
ancient pond –
frog jumps in
sound of the water
Basho Matsuo
(p 117)
***
Shambhala, 2010
Check from the e-catalogue ESTER
Kadi Eslon
Department of Literature in Foreign Languages