Book of the Week – Where Waves Were by Robert Mainone

A biography about Robert can be found on his Poet Profile in the Haiku Registry. Robert was born on February 11, 1929 in Michigan. He became a naturalist at an early age and developed an interest in the life styles of Native Americans.

His haiku have appeared on T-shirts, gift cards, and address labels “penny poems”, etched on cobalt drinking cups, on large color photographs, and on city buses. His haiku have also been presented in multimedia performances, set to music for a choral recital, and given as readings for artist workshops, and memorial services. Other chapbooks by Robert in the digital library include An American Naturalist’s Haiku, Parnassus Flowers and This Boundless Mist.

Beyond the dark pines
somewhere from another world …
a cuckoo calling

By the woods it came
and along the old dirt road …
the autumn wind

Falling one by one
the golden days of summer
from our maple tree

In the tacking gulls
and these scudding clouds
I saw the face of the wind

You can read the entire book in the THF Digital Library and please share your favorite poem from the book with us.

Do you have a chapbook published in 2018 or earlier that 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 Dan Campbell and are used with permission.