Book of the Week: Cricket in the House

Gary Schroeder brings to his haiku a plain-spoken quality that delights in the natural world and turns to it for metaphors about the significance of human life. This is a common trope among haikuists, especially those fairly new to the genre, as Schroeder was when he published this, his only haiku collection (Wayland Press, 1999), though he did publish 3 other collections of long poetry.

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

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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.

Calling me to wake Owl on a corner post— Hardly any moon.

Three mule deer Turn to watch the two Coyotes passing.

Morning swim lesson— Children screech, birds Chatter endlessly.

Cricket in the house. How it carries on at dusk— Long night without dreams.

Warm day in winter. Wasp buzzing at the west wall— Busy mind all day.

January snow— Cold blanket over pasture, Crow the blackest thing.