Book of the Week: The Elements

Hans Reddingius has produced a very small output of haiku, so it is appropriate, perhaps, that his only collection come in the Dutch Radijs (Radish) series (2002), handbound books that measure only 2 x 3 inches. However, the calibre of Hans’s work is anything but small—you will find full-blown nature empathy, philosophical musing, a wry humor at the human condition, and much more in this slender volume, in English and Dutch.

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.

rain circles
in the mirroring water—
a water hen

the elements:
clouds, rocks, sand, the sea,
tough, pushing verdure

morning mist
between softly green dykes
the river glistens

a bit of fluff
moves across the tile—
it walks on paws

holiday cottage—
three garden gnomes
grinning in the rain

after the disaster
they run in all directions:
I took away their stone