Book-of-the-Week

Book of the Week: County Seat

hoyt_countyseatcover

Clement Hoyt’s mordant humor, centered on the mores of a small town and mediated through the central character of the scarecrow, is on display in this, the first book of senryu written in English (American Haiku Press, 1966).

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

Do you have a chapbook published 2009 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 Jim Kacian, following a concept first explored by Tom Clausen, and are used with permission.




   Lawyer
Farmers lose their corn;—
   finally the crows are shot;
      only scarecrows win.


   Banker
Even the dead pay,—
   with the shirts off of their backs!—
      the scarecrow’s wages.


   Candidate
The crows took too much!
   There must be a change! New clothes,—
      now—for the scarecrow.


   Town Cynic
Leaned on a wall,
   it is called, not scarecrow,—
      but philosopher.



   Village Halfwit
That Big Wit, scarecrow,
   who fashioned your fool’s face,
      made you His image.


   Undertaker
Scarecrows are so sure.
   All the empty shapes of men,
      at last, will be theirs.

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