HCSHR 6:07 - Jonathan Derksen, Aruhi: The Haiku of Karasu

Derksen, Jonathan. Aruhi:  The Haiku of Karasu. Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada: Art of Adventure Publications, 2022. 978-0-9952215-2-9. 221 pages, hardcover 5’x7’, $25 CAN/US.

Review by Dave Read

Aruhi: The Haiku of Karasu by Jonathan Derksen is, by haiku standards, a long book of 221 pages.  With multiple poems on each page, Derksen has provided an extensive record of his haiku written between 2010-2022.  Opening with an autobiographical introduction about his childhood in Japan, followed by “The Haiku Form” detailing his thoughts on genre, Derksen provides insightful context for the haiku that follow.  A traditionalist, Derksen goes against the grain of conventional English language haiku by writing his poems, primarily, in lines of 5-7-5.  While a handful of these poems demonstrate the shortcomings inherent in counting syllables, the bulk of Derksen’s haiku are rhythmic and refreshing; successfully highlighting the effectiveness strict form can provide in the hands of a capable poet.

Karasu begins with an 11-page introduction that serves as a memoir of the poet’s childhood in Japan.  While interesting and compelling in its own right, this introduction sets the tone for Derksen’s haiku in two ways: first, many of his poems are reflections upon his time in country as a “third culture kid”; and second, it provides insight into Derksen’s view of Japan.  Indeed, he states that “my romantic notion of Japan has always been tied to a more traditional repast” (p. xxi). This view informs his approach to and what he values in haiku.  Furthermore, Derksen, in his notes on form, states “the haiku in this book generally adhere to the parameters laid out by the poet Masaoka Shiki” (p. xxiii) and that good haiku offers “layered meaning through hidden suggestion, subtlety, all expressed in simple language” (p xxiv).  As we shall see, this philosophy is embedded in the poems throughout this book.

Nature is a recurrent theme for Derksen.  Consider the book’s first haiku:

 

The forest breathes deep,

with all the world aflutter,

and exhales a moth. (P 2)

Here, the poet’s idea that haiku offers meaning through “hidden suggestion” is abundantly clear.  The personification of the forest breathing creates the sense that it is a larger, unified being, at one with all its components parts, even the moth it exhaled.

More commonly though, Derksen’s nature poems contain a human element, often demonstrated through a first person narrator (who he describes in the introduction as his haiku alter-ego, Karasu). The interaction of people and nature is a subject of many of his haiku:

The hollow tapping

of a red-crowned woodpecker

steals my attention. (P 156)

The relationship of humans with nature is often documented with humour:

 

My patience is tried 

by the antics of monkeys

dancing on the roof. (P 121) 

In a similar fashion, humans sometimes impose themselves on the natural world:

 

Knee deep in water,

my feet must look very strange

to the shy brook trout. (P 126)

Several poems throughout Karasu are best classified as senryu. Derksen enjoys pointing out our all-too-human foibles:

 

With the first warm day,

complaints turn from winter’s cold

to one mosquito. (P 61)

 

This strong elixir

helps to soothe an old man’s cold,

but not his foul mood. (P 81)

Derksen is also something of a philosopher.  Many of his haiku speculate on metaphysical subjects:

 

Nothing is something,

so my head, my heart, my hands

are filled with substance. (P 98)

 

The mystery only

deepens the longer I gaze

at the starlit skies. (P 102)

While the bulk of the haiku of Karasu are successful, a handful would have been better without their strict adherence to the 5-7-5 form.  The following poem …

 

The butterfly soars—

no matter how high it flies

doesn’t become sky. (P 203)

… would have improved had the third line began with the word “it”.  As it is, the lack of an article is disruptive. A sixth syllable on line three would have improved the overall flow of the poem.

Similarly, a few of the haiku would have worked better had they been cut down.  Derksen’s haiku …

 

New snow falls on old:

yesterday’s blemishes are

now hidden from view. (P 165)

… would have been stronger, in my opinion, had he written it as a current, conventional English language haiku:

 

new snow—

yesterday’s blemishes

hidden

Overall, however, Derksen’s adherence to the traditional haiku form is successful and well executed throughout the book.  I enjoyed his poetry, and would recommend it to all readers of haiku. 

Note:  All proceeds from this book go to the Senda Verde Wildlife Refuge in Bolivia.  sendaverde.org

*****

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