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). In Brussels Sprout IX:1 (January 1992), Francine Porad called the book Timely and poignant.” 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