Viral 7.3

Virals is a section in which one person chooses a haiku by another person and comments on that haiku. Then the author of that haiku is invited to select a haiku by someone else and comment on that poem, and so on. For an introduction to this section, see Virals.

                                                         crickets . . .
                                                         then
                                                         thunder

                                                                                             —Larry Wiggin [1]

In February of 1974 I received my copy of Modern Haiku and as I was reading thru it two haiku by Otoko Tomodachi made the proverbial leap off the page:

cold rain
bare bulb shining
on the bathroom bowl

alone
fall grass caught
in the wooden door [2]

The two haiku made a great impression on me and by someone whose name I had not seen before. I sent a letter of appreciation to the writer via Kay T. Mormino who was the editor of Modern Haiku at that time. It was a sad day when she wrote back that Otoko Tomodachi was the pen name of Larry Wiggin and he had died the previous November. I was disappointed that I had not made contact with him about his work and that there would be no more new haiku from him.

Later that year in August I received my copy of The Haiku Anthology edited by Cor van den Heuvel in which there was a selection of haiku by Larry Wiggin. The haiku placed at the beginning of this essay was in the group. It made a strong and lasting impression on me. It displayed a powerful simplicity. It was precise and to the point. It swiftly recreated a delightful moment of time. It conveyed a powerful use of words. There was a penetrating intensity in its three words. A grand explosion in my world of haiku. It has remained one of my favorite haiku. Three words from Larry Wiggin—a gift over the many years.

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Viral 7.1 (Metz ☞ Gordon)

Viral 7.2 (Gordon ☞ Hotham)