Book of the Week: Borrowed Water

Our Book of the Week is Borrowed Water, an anthology of English haiku in the 5-7-5 style written by members of The Los Altos Writers’ Roundtable. The Los Altos group, founded in 1956 by Helen Chenoweth, was the first of its kind in America. Borrowed Water, published in 1966, also has the distinction of being the first of its kind. From the stylistic point of view, Borrowed Water is important as an illustration of English language haiku’s starting place, and how it has evolved in the 50 plus years since this publication.

My love said good bye
only this last spring, but—
what color were his eyes?
-Aarons

Apple-worm, we see
even your dark, private world
has its center star.
-Shieman

The season of rain.
From eaves onto lemon leaves,
the staccato drip.
-Moraw

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