HCSHR 3:4 — wind flowers: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku

HCSHR 3:4 — wind flowers: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2019. ed, Jim Kacian et al.  Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2020. 978-I-947271I-49-4.  190 pages, soft cover 5”x7”, $17 US. redmoonpress.com

Reviewed by Dave Read

wind flowers: The Red Moon Anthology of English Language Haiku 2019, is the latest in the annual Red Moon series.  Every year, the anthology’s goal is to gather “the finest haiku and related forms published around the world into a single book.”  Examining a variety of journals and other sources through an editorial staff of eleven, wind flowers has done a reasonably good job of achieving its goal.  This review will examine some of the themes that run throughout the book along with highlighting the haiku-related forms the anthology missed.
 

Through the course of the anthology, certain patterns and themes emerged even though the poems were selected from a variety of independent sources.  For instance, a great deal of humour is featured in wind flowers:

first acorn . . .
we both hit
the roof
                        Kate Alsbury

accepting the ring
with a definite yes
pawn shop clerk
                        Dan Burt

all about the universe
the child’s
one-page report
                        Pat Davis

Humour, likewise, is on display in some of the book’s haibun.  Pris Campbell’s “A Talk with God” explores the idea of nightly prayers from the perspective of a kindergarten-aged narrator.  The little girl speaks of Harry, her classmate, who had “flipped me over and made my pigtail come loose”.  Despite pleas from her mother, she refuses to grant forgiveness.  With an honesty and an insistence for truth typical of young children, Campbell’s narrator concludes “‘No, Mother. God has to know!’”

Darker concepts are also present in wind flowers.  There are a surprising number of haiku and haibun about the death of children:

too early
for cherry blossoms
this tiny white coffin
                          Maxianne Berger

one daffodil
leans against another—
she would have been one by now
                          Steve Dolphy

Both haiku use flowers in describing their respective children’s deaths.  The cherry blossoms of Maxianne Berger’s poem highlight the fact that the child of “this tiny white coffin” was not alive long enough to bloom.   The daffodils of Steve Dolphy’s haiku refer to the baby girl’s parents.  The image in the phrase “one daffodil / leans against another” provides a poignant metaphor of support in the face of unspeakable grief.  Similarly, two haibun deal with this same theme.  “All the Children”, by Steve Andrews, gives a retrospective look at some children he grew up with that have since passed away.  Their deaths are implicitly tied to the “sprayer filled with 2-4-D” his father used on their farm.  Bryan Rickert’s “Lifelines” deals with giving birth to a baby that will not be long for the world.  Here, a full awareness of the brevity of this child’s life is made explicit.  The narrator knows that “The one time she grasps your hand will be a lifetime of hand holding”.  He also knows how fleeting these moments will be:

wet snow
our useless attempt
to hang on

Likewise, common threads run through the collection’s essays.  Masaya Saito and Sandra Simpson provide biographical accounts of Tomita Moppo and Basho, respectively.  Both writers augment their narratives with selected poems written by their subjects.  While Saito is introducing a lesser known poet, Simpson’s goal is to “give a feel for the times in which Basho lived, to humanize him for those of us who see him only on a pedestal.”

The essays by Charles Trumbull and Michael Dylan Welch both reflect on aspects of historical Japanese haiku and its relationship to that which is being written in contemporary English.  Trumbull’s focus is on the theme of begging.  He discusses the many ways in which begging appeared in the works of poets from Basho to Issa against the way that theme appears currently in English.  In a similar vein, Welch looks back at Shiki, and, through a series of questions, wonders whether his manifesto is currently being followed.  Unlike Trumbull, Welch provides no answers.  Instead he poses his questions as a means of investigating the extent to which we follow Shiki’s tenants, or are guilty of acting like the proletarian writers Shiki criticized in his era. 

While wind flowers does a reasonably good job of collecting and showcasing the best of conventional English language haiku, it fell short of representing all of the best of the form.  This year’s anthology includes a few gendai or experimental haiku, such as:

snail shells we leave behind language
                                                                       Elmedin Kadric

w a r g r a v e s n o n e b r e a k r a n k
                                                                       Leroy Gorman

However, the anthology is generally light on the form. Indeed, there are no poems from any of is/let, Bones, or weird laburnum.  This shortfall results in an anthology that has missed out on some of the most unique and original haiku being written. Similarly, it was surprising to see only haibun in the linked forms.  Again, this was a missed opportunity. Although it is likely other linked forms were considered but simply excluded through the editorial voting process, including some of the many good haiku sequences, rengay, or renku would have enriched the anthology.  The parallel haiku is also notably absent.  While it is a new form, it should find its way into future editions.

Overall, despite these shortcomings, wind flowers is a success.  It is recommended for anyone who is interested in reading many of the best haiku and related forms that were published in 2019.  

                                                                                               Dave Read
                                                                                               April 2020

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