HCSHR 7:1 — Faunistics by R.C. Thomas

 

HCSHR 7:1 — Faunistics by R.C. Thomas (R.C. Thomas Things, Plymouth UK: 2024). 151 pages. 5” x 8”. Perfect softbound. ISBN: 978-1-3999-6873-7. $17 from amazon.ca.

Review by Jerome Berglund

 

 

A Thousand Hills:

the multitudinous moccasins of R.C. Thomas

 

Meanwhile in Texas...

 drought
on the horizon
longhorns licking up dew

There are plenty of grim and gritty collections out there by haiku’s most capable practitioners, but not nearly enough whimsical romps. R. C. Thomas, also publishing longer form poetry under the moniker of Richard, has done yeoman’s work to remedy this imbalance with his latest collection Faunistics, displaying highly praiseworthy quantities of karumi and incorporating a wealth of charming illustrations which hearken constructively to the traditional haiga ink sketching of Buson, but are equally reminiscent of minimalist later period Pablo Picasso.

This volume too reminds how effective and enjoyable a strong overarching theme can be for short form investigations, will be highly pleasing and appreciated by fans of focused case studies conducted by fastidious leitmotif detailers such as Adjei Agyei-Baah, Jianqing Zheng, C.X. Turner and James Welsh. Similarly, this book serves a valuable purpose in presenting a potent dedicated saijiki folio of sorts, comprehensively devoted to the important ‘animals’ category, evincing exceptional reach and breadth—from regionally familiar rippling out to the farthest charted reaches, stretching across the seven continents, even thoughtfully encompassing whole of Oceania.

If you love adventure and exploration, watching wildlife documentaries or the Discovery channel, if the imagist and transcendental poetry, swashbuckling or frontier-oriented fiction and history particularly endear themselves to you, this stellar volume is highly worth adding to your library. It could also prove very useful for enlightening scholars, inspiring practicing poets, and educating those thirsting for knowledge, expanding ecological appreciation and grounding planetary context, which may benefit preservation interested youths and seniors alike. If one is seeking the perfect means for vicarious transporting, are stuck in bed or suffering cabin fever during long stretches of bad weather, this additionally provides extraordinary opportunities for imaginary travel, offers a painterly smorgasbord of creation worth reveling in with utmost enchantment and awe! 

The original, inspired subjects and their inferable or explicit intersecting with civic or interpersonal affairs, specificity of curious and captivating attributes, behaviors of the eclectic, photogenic cast will also for many readers inevitably encourage and spur some edifying trips down the rabbit holes of encyclopedia consultation and image perusing! A consequential collection carefully wrought and deftly executed, which deserves canonizing in the highest haikai echelon.

It should be noted that each verse within larger landmass categories is further broken down, situated concretely with additional layers of precision by nation, province, mountain range, body of water, etc. etc. For a zesty taste, here are two personal favorites, from Spain and Mauritius respectively:

blinking sun...
a wall lizard’s
stop motion

new display—
the shoe box fate
of a dodo’s skin

 

Review by Jerome Berglund
February 2024

*****

R.C. Thomas resides in Plymouth, UK. His poetry collections, The Strangest Thankyou, and Zygote Poems, were published by Cultured Llama under the name Richard Thomas, and his work has appeared internationally. He edited Symmetry Pebbles, was Creative Writing editor for Tribe, co-edited Thief, and was Managing Editor of INK, Plymouth University’s creative writing journal. His haiku ‘silver lining’ was shortlisted for a Touchstone Award for Individual Poems in 2022. R.C. was selected as one of the ‘Top Creative Haiku Authors’ in Europe in 2021 and 2022 consecutively, received joint first place in the Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest 2022, first place in the Third Maya Lyubenova Haiku Contest, and had a ‘Selected Haiku Submission’ in the 13th Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum English Haiku Contest.

Jerome Berglund has published book reviews and essays on poetry and poetics in Fevers of the Mind, Fireflies’ Light, Frogpond, Haiku Canada, Hooghly Review, the Mamba, North of Oxford, Setu, Valley Voices, also frequently exhibits poetry, short stories, plays, and fine art photography in print magazines, online journals, and anthologies.

*****

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