A Haiku Garden

First published in Woodnotes #31, Autumn 1997, page 44.

A Haiku Garden: The Four Seasons in Poems and Prints by Stephen Addiss with Fumiko and Akira Yamamoto. Weatherhill, 1996, 112 pages, hardback, 6¾ by 8¼ inches. $16.95 in bookstores. Weatherhill has again published a gorgeous collection of haiku and art prints in a four-colour hardback format. This book, a companion to its 1992 predecessor, A Haiku Menagerie, again features selections of classic haiku paired with Japanese art. It includes illuminating introductions on haiku, woodblock prints, and Japanese gardens, and is highly recommended. Here’s a sample by Shiki, the book’s concluding poem:

Just one

red berry has fallen—

frosty garden