Book-of-the-Week

Book of the Week: Tracks on the River

williams_tracks

Paul O. Williams wrote science fiction, critical theory, and some of the best traditional haiku in English. These are from one of his most beloved volumes, from Conflower Press in 1982.

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

All haiku in the Book of the Week Archive are selected by Tom Clausen, and are used with permission.




warmed by the March sun
   the white dog lies down
      on the blue crocus


upstairs sewing
   the graduation dress—
      apple petals fall



from mud
   to sky
      the heron’s feet


through field glasses
   trying to get Jupiter
      to stop trembling



a dead dragonfly
   on a dried weed stem—
      wings extended


doing the puzzle—
   outside, the intricate snow,
      piling, flake by flake

This Post Has 5 Comments

  1. I see the” a dead dragonfly” haiku as things as they are, and also a religious poem subtly done.

  2. Alan, Thank you for the information about another THF page about Paul O. Williams. And Patrick, I also think of more worlds as I read the haiku by Williams that you reprint. I have a “postcard image” in my mind of the autumn leaves outside my mother’s hospital window, and of how her spirit grew stronger, during her last illness. Today I am watching the sun fade a tablecloth from her home a little more.

    Thanks again, Ellen

  3. a dead dragonfly
    on a dried weed stem–
    wings extended

    …opens up a whole new world to me. Such power and magic with so few words….

    -Patrick

  4. Thank you. I can see why this book by Paul O. Williams is so loved. The image of the heron is comforting, perhaps mud on our feet as well; and the dragonfly with “wings extended” is an amazing poem. Gifts are sometimes given at the most unexpected times. Ellen

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