Mandalas

Mandalas by Edna Kovacs. Amelia Press, 1993,20 pages, paperback, 5½ by 44 inches. $5.00 postpaid from Amelia, 329 “E” Street, Bakersfield, California 93304 [address no longer correct]. This collection is a companion to Marsh Cassady’s The Music of Tree Limbs. Both books are printed in red and black ink on an off-white cover with green endsheets—and look like Christmas books, although that is not their theme. Edna’s book is a winner of the Cicada Chapbook Award, and offers 26 tasteful haiku at two per page. As with Cassady’s book, the type size could be larger, but at least in this case they are not crowded on the page. Whether her haiku are known widely or not, Edna writes with sensitivity and awareness, and her poems are worth the look this brief collection offers. Two selections:

opening

by moonlight

the peacock’s fan

fragrance of juniper

lingers on your lips

across your fingertips