Frogpond 34.3 • Autumn 2011 (pdf) - Haiku Society of America

acknowledgments and introduction, and Ron C. Moss, a haiga
contributor, provided the front cover art. For the sake of fulldisclosure,
three of my haiku were accepted for inclusion.
Epstein quotes vincent tripi to the effect that: “We all pass
never having spoken enough about death or about poetry.” 4
This anthology is an excellent contribution to a beginning
conversation on death awareness in English haiku writing.
The following poems are some of my favorites:
thinking about death Old age—
I reach for a cigarette he begins to notice
to calm down every cremation tower
Michael Ketchek John Brandi
seated between us so awkward
the imaginary that stage between
middle passenger birth & death
John Stevenson Art Stein
Ten times ten thousand preparing for
terrible things in this world my death
and still I don’t want to leave it I sort the bills
Sylvia Forges-Ryan Carmi Soifer
all the poems when my whole note
I’ve written and the universe are ready
melting snow there will be a tap
Carlos Colón on my shoulder—and my songs
shall fly beyond me
Kay Anderson
my shadow ephemeral too
Karma Tenzing Wangchuk
I have only three quibbles. First of all, the title of books and
some journals are put in capital letters. This occurs in the text,
notes and suggested readings. As a matter of personal taste,
I just wish it wasn’t done that way. Second, I wish there had
been a list of the deceased contributors. I believe that would
have created an added sense of poignancy to their poems and
the book. Third, there’s a small number of included haiku
that seem to have been initially written about something else
other than death.
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