HCSHR 4:16 —Last Train Home —an anthology of contemporary haiku, tanka, and rengay, edited by Jacqueline Pearce

 

HCSHR 4:16 —Last Train Home —an anthology of contemporary haiku, tanka, and rengay, edited by Jacqueline Pearce. Pondhawk Press, 2021. 978-1-9991808-0-5. 270 pages. 24$ amazon.ca

review by Joanne Morcom

Last Train Home is a comprehensive anthology of haiku, tanka and rengay about trains. It contains almost 600 poems written by 193 authors from over twenty countries. The book opens with an insightful introduction by the editor, followed by six sections that focus on different aspects of trains and train travelling. The section titles are Departures, Passing Landscapes, Counting Cars, Making Connections, Crossing Borders and Journey’s End. In Departures, Annette Makino’s one line haiku seems to move along the page at breathtaking speed.

rice paddies blurring into the past bullet train

Also breathtaking is the contrast of images —the stillness of rice paddies versus the modern, fast moving train. This must be a common sight in Japan, where bullet trains originated, yet no doubt onboard tourists do a double take —if they have time to look!

In Counting Cars, André Surridge’s whimsical tanka about train travelling in Greece reminds us that the best laid plans can suddenly and unexpectedly be derailed. It’s also a light-hearted reminder that the journey matters as much as the destination, even when the destination is a place of great historical significance.

Inter City
from Patras to Olympia
slows to a halt …
sitting on the track
someone’s cow

Jennifer Hambrick’s haiku in Crossing Borders is so deeply moving that it reads more like a story than a tiny, fourteen syllable poem.

yom hashoah
a mournful howl
as the train pulls away

As indicated in the footnote, Yom Hashoah is Holocaust Remembrance Day. The mournful howl is a poignant reminder that during the Second World War trains carried vast numbers of Jewish people and others to concentration camps. We must never pull away completely from the painful past, because in forgetting it we risk repeating it.

In Journey’s End, Marisa Fazio’s haiku lends itself to the anthology title with evocative and unforgettable imagery. The tried-and-true expression poetry in motion certainly applies here.

last train home
how the tracks curve into
a crescent moon

These are only four of the several hundred poems in Last Train Home that contribute to its overwhelming success as an anthology of train related short poetry. Also noteworthy are the stunning black and white photographs appearing on the front and back covers, as well as inside the book. Authored by haiku, tanka and rengay masters, Last Train Home is a treasure chest of poetic gems that both poetry lovers and train aficionados will prize for years to come.

 

Joanne Morcom
June 2021

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