HCSHR 6:02 - Hassane Zemmouri, School Songs

Zemmouri, Hassane.  School Songs: Haiku and Senryu. California, USA; Buttonhook Press, 2023. 44 pages, PDF. https://ojalart.com/wp-content/uploads/Zemmouri.chapbook.file-8.pdf

 Review By Dave Read

School Songs is a free PDF chapbook by Hassane Zemmouri available for download from Buttonhook Press. Divided into five sections, this collection of haiku and senryu explores the wonders of childhood.

Many of the poems, as the title suggests, address school and school-related themes:

cloudy sky — 

the school bus 

flooded with stories (p 16)

Here, Zemmouri ties the implied precipitation of “cloudy sky” with the chatter of children riding the school bus. The noise of a bus filled with students is aptly described as “flooded with stories”.

Similarly, Zemmouri links the ideas of fog and learning in the following poem:

morning fog —

in the small schoolbag 

chalk and a slate (p 17)

The “morning fog” can be seen to represent either a slate still dusted with chalk or the difficulties of working through a new concept in class.

Zemmouri likewise features children in nature in the following two haiku:

thistle —

how can the child

catch the butterfly? (P 22)

 

butterfly hunt... 

the child comes back 

with a wounded knee (p 22)

While the thistle is seen as an impediment to catching a butterfly in the first poem, the child, in the second poem, returns from the “butterfly hunt” with an injury worse than merely a pricked finger. These two haiku, taken together, showcase a shift from innocence to experience.

Finally, School Songs has many haiku that feature the various relationships of children within their families:

first spring wind — 

the dad pushes his child 

on the swing (p 35)

 

war news — 

my two nephews fight over 

the plate of fries (p 38)

In School Songs, Hassane Zemmouri has provided a light-hearted and fun look at various aspects of the lives of children.  I would recommend this free collection to all readers of haiku.

 

*****

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