Book-of-the-Week

Book of the Week: Trawlers

savage_trawlers

Sam Savage, before his acclaim as a novelist, tried his hand at numerous tasks, including letterpress printer and haiku poet. He set this first volume, from Hardscrabble Press in 1999, himself.

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.




Winter idleness-
with each gust
the moored boats creak


Oysters rattling onto the deck
the scrape of boots
the cold



All the boats out
the pilings are white with droppings
in the heat


On the glaring sea
shrimp boats in the haze
the heat



One whole day
sound of the boat engine
sound of the waves


Pulling a crab pot
hand over hand
the swirling water



Returning trawler-
in a net by the wheelhouse
onions, potatoes


Again no money-
a crescent moon
through the needles of the pine



One sky...
horizon to horizon
ten thousand waves


Even at sea
yellow butterflies
of autumn



At the end of the day
a cool breeze
between two buildings


Becoming dusk...
into the moored darkness
water splashing from a bilge



Monotonous recorded voice
on the weather band-
the sound of the wind


The vast ocean-
the nearest things
are stars

This Post Has 2 Comments

  2. Dear Tom, Thank you for selecting Trawlers by Sam Savage. Good to reread his haiku today. Comparing my copy to THF digital version, the first thing I noticed was how well the print copy translated to the online version. The texture of the endpapers is so lovely.

    Thanks to all, these posts must take some time. Ellen

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