Musical Chairs:
A Haiku Journey Through Childhood

Musical Chairs: A Haiku Journey Through Childhood by Alexis Rotella. Jade Mountain Press, 1994,72 pages, paperback, 6 by 9 inches. $11.00 postpaid from the author at P.O. Box 2399, Saratoga, California 95070 [address no longer correct]. With her latest book, Alexis Rotella offers “a haiku journey through childhood,” poems of joy and sadness, alienation and belonging. The book’s 184 poems usually appear four to six per page in ten chapters, with a concluding haibun. As Picasso’s words advise readers on the first page, “It takes a very long time to become young.” Here are two poems that stand out from the many:

Before the ether

flash

of a nurse’s cross.

Musical chairs

again the same girl

left standing.