HCSHR 1:6 A Peep Within: haiku by Bill Cooper

Bill Cooper, a peep within, haiku. Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2018. 978-1-947271-25-8. 104 pages, soft cover, 4.25" x 6.5", 15$US. redmoonpress.com

a peep within, Bill Cooper’s latest haiku collection, is an effective demonstration of the author’s ability to examine topics, often, from more than one perspective. Cooper weaves his way through interconnected observations and themes in a rich and layered manner. In particular, he examines the innocence of childhood against the changes that experience brings, and the beauty of nature against the impact of humanity upon the environment.

Throughout the book, Cooper’s haiku show a fondness for very young children. The poems explore the innocence of toddlers and the questions that rise from that innocence.

preschool
she asks if God
likes to fingerpaint

The concept of God is abstract for children. To make Him concrete and real, they will ascribe Him qualities they understand and values they expect He would share. It is natural, therefore, that the small girl of the haiku would wonder if “God likes to fingerpaint” as she presumably does.

Likewise, the following poem shows a toddler seeking to understand something adults would take for granted.

age three
asking directions
to shortstop

Here, Cooper’s sympathy for the plight of small children is on full display. It takes compassion and insight to recognize the seemingly small things children still need time to learn.

While Cooper explores the innocence of little children, he expands the theme to consider the impact experience can have on the very young.  Consider:

bowl of cod
a kitten stiff-arms
a kitten

While this haiku is a cute and humorous look at kittens, it implicitly examines many ideas that are initially foreign to toddlers. Competition, property, violence, and even greed all appear in this poem. Every child will face the conflict between being taught to share against a truth that the greater world does so very little of it. One kitten stiff-arming another is an early example of this reality.

A darker example of a loss of innocence plays out in the following haiku:

shielding his eyes
from a war monument
the Amish boy

War and death are emotionally difficult ideas to understand. The thought that people kill other people is disturbing but, even worse in a child’s view, is the discovery that he will not live forever. Sometimes, children are not ready for that knowledge when it arrives. Like the Amish boy of Cooper’s poem, they may try to shield their eyes from war and death. However, such knowledge can never be completely brushed away. A certain innocence is lost forever with the awareness of death.

Throughout a peep within, Cooper also presents many haiku that examine nature.  With a sharp eye, Cooper juxtaposes images that highlight beauty in the natural world.

sunrise beach
a patch of deep pink
on the blue heron

Here, Cooper draws a clear and colourful comparison between the sunrise and a heron. That “patch of deep pink” on the heron’s blue parallels the sun’s bright colours against the sky. 7 It is a simple poem, but one whose beauty flows out of that simplicity.

Likewise, Cooper creates a strong image in the following haiku about a turtle:

scent of cedar
a yellow-bellied slider
from sun to shade

The “scent of cedar” indicates proximity to a wooded area. As such, it helps create a dual interpretation of the turtle’s movement. The poem can be read as the slider moving “from sun to shade” under the trees, or as a simple retreat into its shell.

Despite the beauty he finds in nature, Cooper recognizes that the natural world is changing. This change is a direct result of the interference of humanity.

            duckling wake ripples a green strand of plastic

Plastic has become a major problem in our oceans and waters. Thousands of birds, fish and other sea creatures die each year as a result of swallowing plastic or getting entangled within it. In that light, Cooper’s word choice in this one-line haiku is astute. The pun on “wake” — as either the ripple that follows a swimming duckling or as an alternative to “funeral” — imbues the poem with a deep and haunting double meaning.

With the problem of plastics in water in mind, the irony in the following haiku is rich.

a sip of water
from the plastic bottle
climate talk

Cooper here displays a profound and damning criticism. That folks can talk about the climate while drinking water from plastic bottles highlights an utter lack of self-awareness of the impact of their own behaviours.

a peep within is a very strong collection of haiku. Throughout the book, Bill Cooper demonstrates a great deal of thought and depth in his haiku, and how he uses them to explore topics from a variety of perspectives. Cooper has created a very good book, one that is highly recommended.

Review by Dave Read
davereadpoetry.blogspot.ca