Something Unerasable

Something Unerasable by John Stevenson. Privately published, 1995, 52 pages, paperback, 4 by 3¾ inches. $4.00 postpaid from the author at P.O. Box 122, Nassau, New York 12123. In the space of each haiku, no matter how we may revise it, always there exists something unerasable. And in what we cross out, something remains that is nonetheless true and unavoidable. And always the unerasable informs and remains in what we choose to keep. John Stevenson relies on this belief, understands it, trusts it, confronts it, and delivers a delicate yet bracing, and always resonant assemblage of poems in his very first haiku book. These poems are more about people than nature, but still they engage. Here we find moments of depth and delight, senryu of finger-pointing fun, and poems of passionate subtlety. Three choice and representative samples:

I open

the door for her

she opens it wider

night train

two men at a barrel fire

flash by

under the

blackest doodle

something unerasable