Getting On

First published in the “Briefly Reviewed” section of Frogpond 40:1, Winter 2017, page 107. Also see my review of Ernest J. Berry’s Haiku, Green Tea & Sushi. + +

Getting On by Ernest J. Berry (2016, Red Moon Press, Winchester, Virginia). 72 pages, 4¼×6½ inches, perfectbound. ISBN 978-1-936848-61-9. $15.00 from Red Moon Press.

This book presents 86 poems at one or two per page that have won or placed in various haiku contests from 1995 to 2005, and the introduction promises a second volume covering prize-winners from 2006 to 2016. The first section, “Getting Up,” has 38 poems, and the second section, “Getting Out” has 48, and each section includes a poem fitting the book’s title: “getting on / i play a couple of holes / on the laptop” and “getting on / off to bed / with frogpond.” A couple of poems seem excessively similar to preexisting poems by other poets, but most poems here are fresh and appealing.