Book of the Week: 2007 Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku

Our Book of the Week is Dust of Summers, The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku, 2007, edited by Jim Kacian and the Red Moon editorial staff. Apart from the usual selection of some of the year’s best haiku, the Red Moon anthologies include representative selections of haibun, plus several of the year’s best articles on haiku subjects. Who would knowingly miss Jim Kacian’s illuminating history of Camembert as analogy for the effect of the international success of haiku on its quality? For concentrated excellence of writing in several haiku related genres, year after year, the Red Moon anthologies are hard to equal.

Warmth

I miss them, my daughters when they were young. Reading The Hobbit in wintertime, snuggled in close, bodies and fire keeping us warm, rewarded with their pleas . . . just one more page. I’ve nearly forgotten my reluctance to pick up the book in the first place.

I don’t remember being read to, but when I was sick, my mother sang lullabies while tucking me deep under the covers, only my nose and ears sticking out. I remember the melodies, but not the words.

old friends —
I place more wood
on the campfire

–Ray Rasmussen  –  Canada

You can read the entire book in the THF Digital Library.

Do you have a chapbook published 2010 or earlier you would like featured as a Book of the Week? Contact us for details.

Haiku featured in the Book of the Week Archive are selected by THF Digital Librarian Garry Eaton, and are used with permission