From The Gulf Within

In 1991, with Christopher Herold, I edited The Gulf Within (San Francisco: Two Autumns Press) for the Haiku Poets of Northern California. The book records reactions to the Gulf War—the world’s first televised war—by thirty-four members of HPNC, covering the build-up to the war, Desert Storm itself, and then the unresolved aftermath. Below are my four contributions to the book (I also took the cover photo, in Death Valley, California). See a review of this book by Jerry Kilbride and “Gulf War Poetry Reading” by Kimberly Cortner, both from Woodnotes. See also my review of Haiku Iz Rata: War Haiku.

rumours of war—

       the hoot owl

              silent

 

 

after hopscotch—

“hey, let’s go home

and watch the war”

 

 

tired of the war

       I turn to Johnny Carson—

              war jokes

 

 

small-town diner—

       the young widow

              opens her mail