HCSHR 4:18 —I Wish, Stephen Henry Gill, editor.

HCSHR 4:18 —I Wish, Stephen Henry Gill, editor. Kansai, Japan: Hailstone Haiku Circle, 2020.  978-4-9911809-0-3. 85 pages. 4”x5 ¾” perfect bound. ￥1,200 + p&p; airmail $17US, incl. p&p. For foreign orders: Hitomi Suzuki indigoapple28@gmail.com

Review by Dave Read

I Wish, edited by Stephen Gill, is the Hailstone Haiku Circle’s anniversary collection. The Circle includes “a diverse group of Japanese poets writing English language haiku” and “a revolving door of welcome expatriates”. Along with poems from each member, the book showcases the group’s rensaku “Roller Coaster” and concludes with an “In Memoriam” section in honour of members who have passed away. One of the stronger member’s anthologies I’ve read, I Wish stands out by including conventional haiku, poems that blur the standard fragment/ phrase form, and a surprising number of four-line haiku.

Like most publications, I Wish includes conventional haiku. Accentuated with a strong break between the phrase and fragment, and with the fragment typically consisting of an adjective and noun, these kinds of poems are what are most widely recognized as haiku in English. Consider the following by Akiko Takazawa:

Cicada chorus —
standing still before
my childhood home

The sharp juxtaposition here between the “Cicada chorus” and the stillness in the last two lines is effective. The contrast creates a sense of trepidation with the narrator standing before her childhood home. The reader is left to ponder the narrator’s past, wondering why she hesitates outside. 

Alongside conventional haiku, this book features many three-line poems that blur the distinction between fragment and phrase. These haiku often pair up what appear to be two phrases, resulting in a longer than typical poem.  One such example is provided by Sean O’Connor:

The eye of a bull
glinting through the universe
the pale light of Jupiter

There are two things to note about this haiku. First, it is nineteen syllables long. Generally, seventeen syllables are regarded as the outer limit for a haiku’s length. However, as O’Connor demonstrates, a haiku can stretch beyond that provided the content and expression merit the additional syllables. Second, the poem’s second line works as a hinge. Lines one and two can effectively be read as a unit while the third line stands alone. Similarly, lines two and three can be read together while the first line remains independent. The hinge technique opens interpretative possibilities, providing a richer haiku.

Finally, I Wish houses a great number of four-line haiku. Four-line haiku are a rarity in most English haiku journals. (Presence has published some by Tito, the writing name by which editor Stephen Henry Gill is known). When well-done, the form can be incredibly effective, and many in this anthology are well-done. Consider the following by Akishige Ida and Keiko Yurugi respectively:

From the green hills
to the golden rice fields…
a band of dragonflies
has floated down

Winter drizzle —
at hospital mealtime
the ticking of spoons
from each bed

Both haiku are well-crafted, benefit from punctuation that provide effective breaks, and could not be written in anything but four lines. Ida’s poem benefits from the four-line form in that the additional line augments the sense of the dragonflies floating down. Yurugi’s haiku maintains a good rhythm and pace, like “the ticking of spoons”, which would have been disrupted had the author tried to squeeze her poem into three lines.

I Wish is an engaging collection of haiku from the Hailstone Haiku Circle. Unique in showcasing conventional haiku, poems that blur the fragment/ phrase dichotomy, and four-line haiku, this book presents refreshing possibilities of what haiku can be. A strong anthology, I recommend I Wish to all readers of haiku.

Dave Read
July, 2021

*****

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