Poetry Postcard Quarterly: Haiku 96

First published in Woodnotes #29, Summer 1996, pages 53–54.

Poetry Postcard Quarterly: Haiku 96, edited by Peter Taylor. PPQ, 1996, 58 pages, paperback, 5¾ by 4 inches. £5.99 from Poetry Postcard Quarterly, P.O. Box 1435, London, England W1A 9LB [address no longer correct] (write to inquire how to order from outside England). This is not a book, per se, but a special haiku edition of an unusual, book-like quarterly publication in bound “postcard” format. Have you been in a gift shop and seen postcard books? That’s what this is, professionally and progressively designed in black, white, and shades of teal, with photographs, illustrations, and winning poems from the 1996 “U.K. Haiku Championships,” for which the first prize was a healthy £500.00. This publication has tremendous design qualities, and is worth getting because it is so striking and unusual (and not too expensive either). If you tear out the postcards (printed on heavy card stock), you can mail them to friends, or display them with your haiku books. Some of the poems are a bit wide-ranging for informed haiku, but the energy feels good, and you’ll find some excellent moments amid the naiveté. Here are the first and second place winners, by Martin Lucas (editor of Presence haiku magazine) and then by ai li:

spring dawn—

watchstrap’s

coolness

widowed shutter : wind