Book of the Week: Past Time, Baseball Haiku

For the old timers still stuck at home because of COVID 19, our Book of the Week is Past Time, Baseball Haiku, edited by Jim Kacian. No baseball this year? Enjoy this anthology of haiku home runs from the past while you take the sun alone on the patio.
The first baseball haiku were written by Shiki, as he watched the Japanese version of American baseball. Then, for awhile, we had American haiku poets imitating Japanese baseball haiku. Truly, a vital cultural exchange, though unfortunately this haiku practice seems to be fading.

the last kid picked
running his fastest
to right field
—Mike Dillon

 

 

calm evening
the baseball play-by-play
across the water
—Jim Kacian

 

 

bottom of the ninth
in the dugout
a row of bent heads
—Arizona Zipper

 

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