HCshohyôran

  Pascal Pozzo di Borgo, Le tulipier me salue . Collection Solstice, Association Francophone de Haïku, 2026. 56 pages. 979-10-93318-27-1. 12 $. association-francophone-de-haiku.com/boutique/ recension par Maxianne Berger Au cours des dernières années, Pascal Pozzo di Borgo, poète français, s’est mérité deux fois une mention honorable à notre Prix Jocelyne-Villeneuve. La collection Solstice de l’Association francophone de haïku est aussi un honneur de concours car deux manuscrits sont choisis par an, comme le dit le nom de la collection, un à chaque solstice. Dans sa préface, Diane Desôteaux nous dit   : «   Or, au-delà de la justesse du propos, on trouve chez Pascal cette finesse d’esprit, ce trait d’humour au détour d’un vers qui nous surprend et nous fait sourire.   » Moi aussi, j’étais séduite par ces mêmes qualités. Ce merveilleux recueil m’ouvre les yeux à chaque page, avec les touches si légères dans chaque poème. fin de l’été / il est grand temps de le dire / ...

The Cat Understands: haiku, senryū, small poems by sekiro (stanford m. forrester; Windsor, CT: nut wagon press, 2026). 5$US 12 pp. Info: bottlerockets_99@yahoo.com ; www.bottlerocketspress.com Review by Maxianne Berger  This wee chapbook is a little gem for cat lovers. Dedicated to the ten cats who presumably have called Sekiro’s home their home, it features twelve poems that perfectly encapsulate what a feline is and does (and doesn’t do.) Here is one example that speaks quite loudly to me:      sitting on      whatever I’m looking for      the orange cat Yes, our cat, too, is orange, and yes, he was sprawled over the mouse on my husband’s desk. Any more examples would be giving away too much. You’ll have to trust me: Sekiro aka Stanford M. Forrester has put together a little delight, and it’s the perfect gift or stocking stuffer for all the ailurophiles we know.  ***

Title: Weather Author: Rob Taylor Publisher: Gaspereau Press Publication Date: 2024 ISBN: 9781554472635  Price $29.95 review by Pearl Pirie Weather  by Rob Taylor (Gaspereau Press, 2024) is barely backlist. I read it when it came out then put it on my best of year list. I’ve since reread it a few times and enjoy on each pass. It seems I favour Rob Taylor books having read, The Other Side of Ourselves (Cormorant Books, 2011) which is lyric poetry. I missed The News (Gaspereau, 2016) but caught Strangers (Biblioasis, 2021) which has a few haiku such as this,  p. 50 late summer walk slanting my father's Issa to catch streetlight   Weather by Rob Taylor (Gaspereau Press, 2024) doubles down on haiku and haiku-adjacent poems. it was a finalist for the 2025 Raymond Souster Award , Longlisted for the 2025 Fred Cogswell Award , was a Miramichi Reader Best Book of 2024 and a Tyee Summer Reads Pick for 2024  It was in my top list of books for 2024 so I gelt...

A Wild Blue Sky by Ben Gaa Octopus Hearts Press, 2025 ISBN: 979-8-218-79833-8  $12US review by Sandra Stephenson This seventh full collection by Ben Gaa, of the podcast series,  Haiku Talk , is printed large. It is a small book that feels intimate like a Bible. Between its size, poems, and the sundog on the cover, A Wild Blue Sky is full of delight, and full of subtle echoes easy to miss on first reading:      snow on snow      chilli reheats There’s a freshness in “budding limbs/ of pollywogs” or      moonrise      the white tops      of toadstools and an understated, innocent incredulity in      as if it never happened           and yet                this old wedding ring There’s a slow unfolding through “bottleneck blues”, gradual and gradated like the hike up the hill, revealing “first one ...