Braided Rug

First published in Woodnotes #25, Summer 1995, page 43.

Braided Rug by sally l. nichols and Carol Purington. Winfred Press, 1995,60 pages, paperback, 5½ by 8½ inches. $8.00 postpaid from either author respectively at 2 Bardwells Ferry Road, Shelburne, Massachusetts 01340 [address no longer correct] or 152 Wilson Hill Road, Colrain, Massachusetts 01340. This is truly an omnibus of haiku and related poetry, offering numerous individual haiku and tanka, sequences, linked verse, tan-renga, and haibun. This book is brimming with poems, and is a fine record of the haiku friendship between Sally and Carol. Braided Rug is unique in sharing the work of two poets in a combined poetic dance. A sample “title” poem from each poet, in turn:

in the braided rug

shades of auburn-gold—

her sister’s hair

Braided rug—bare feet

recognizing the strong touch

of the maker’s hands