James W. Hackett (I.M.): 4 Haiku

Recently, I've been re-reading the introduction to Cor van den Heuvel's The Haiku Anthology (3rd ed.) and, when it comes to English language haiku poets, it essentially begins with James W. Hackett and Nick Virgilio. Of course, there were others earlier, but these are two major poets at the beginning of what van den Heuvel speculates may someday be called 'the golden age' of English language haiku.  

This sent me back to a collection of his work, The Way of Haiku: an Anthology of Haiku Poems, Japan Publications, 1969. I read it a few years back and, as is customary when I read poetry books, I have a slip of paper inside that serves the dual function of bookmark and place where I note down the page of poems that are, for me, highlights.

The book is over 250 pages long, 3 haiku to a page, and my note sheet has lots and lots of poems marked. Often I will put a special mark - an asterick or check - next to a page for poems that moved we especially. So, I looked at these first and, of all things, 
a particular image/theme appeared and so here are 3 of the especially highlighted poems:

 Photo by Nebojsa Mladjenovic

Now that I have freed

  the butterfly from the web

    I feel uneasy.

The design that spins 
  the spider, allows him no rest
    until its done.




A long line of web
  loose at both ends, riding free
    on the summer breeze

Photo by Chris Sorge

Early on, Hackett received the imprimatur of haiku guru R. H. Blyth, who, in Hackett, saw the very real possibility for haiku in English. You will note that all the haiku are in the strict 5/7/5 form, with beginning caps and punctuation, as was the prevailing approach of the day.

And none seem worse for that. I could talk a bit about what attracted Hackett to this imagery (and me, as reader, to those images/themes in his work), but perhaps it best to leave the air of mystery.

After all, it is life, isn't it?

One other observation is that the poems are all focused exclusively on nature. "Now that I have freed" is a rare instance of the intrusion of the poet (or any other human) in Hackett's work. The last poem below does not have that intrusion, but in it, I feel, you can sense very real human emotion and, so, not surprisingly, for those of you who know we and my own approach, it is one of my favorites:


Left by the tide
   within a shallowing pool:
        a frantic minnow

Photo by Brad Smith

some stay behind
in the green leaves...
low tide crows

Issa
trans. by David G. Lanoue

best,
Don

PS  Click to learn how to contribute to Wednesday Haiku  

Nick Virgilio: A Life in Haiku - Small Press Friday

I came to this volume of work by Nick Virgilio virtually cold; I'd heard of him but had only read a poem or two here and there.

The book overwhelmed me with its beauty, its power, and its sadness.

First and foremost, this is not simply a retrospect of haiku by a master English language practitioner of the art.  There is an insightful introduction and afterward, by Raffael de Gruttola and Kathleen O'Toole respectively, as well as an appended tribute by Michael Doyle, Nick's parish priest. Also, there are three essays by Virgilio and, most wonderfully, the transcript of a radio interview in which the poet comes truly alive on the page.

The cumulative effect of the volume reminded me of books by Makoto Ueda on Basho and Issa: insightful, scholarly, and biographical. We are given a full, three dimensional picture of the artist and, in this case, as in the cases of Basho and Issa, this expands our understanding of the work rather than detracts from it.

There is, above all, a deep sadness that permeates Virgilio's haiku, yet, miraculously, no negativity. His attentiveness to detail displays an over powering love, a love of life, and these two seeming opposites coalesce in a feeling akin to the Eastern concept of sabi. 

Virgilio is an English language haiku poet imbuded in the spirit of the East, the spirit of haiku.

His life, ultimately, was his work, as is true of any great haiku poet. Most well-known is the profound impact of his brother's death in the Vietnam War on his life and poems. The details are hardly necessary to recount. 

The work speaks for itself. The following is just the tip of the iceberg. Without hesitation, I must say: get this book. And, since this is a Small Press Friday, why not get it directly from Turtle Light Books.
 

in the empty church
at nightfall, a lone firefly
deepens the silence

Memorial Day:
staring at the grassy plot
set aside for me

telegram in hand,
the shadow of the marine
darkens our screen door

a skylark's song
and a billowing cloud
fills my emptiness 

among the rows and rows
of white crosses
patches of young grass

my father and I
quarreling face to face
exchanging breath

filling the silence
on the long distance telephone
the things unsaid

my father and I
with no footprints to follow
step into deep snow

New Year's Eve:
pay phone receiver
dangling

Be sure to check out The Nick Virgilio Poetry Project (tip of the hat to friend Joy McCall), hosted by Rutgers University.

 
 -----------------

Photo by Drew Leavy

a battle royal
with radishes...
children

 Issa

 translated by David G. Lanoue 

best,
Don 

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