nothing in the window . . .

After a month of procrastination, I finally ordered and just received my copy of nothing in the window: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku–the 17th volume in editor Jim Kacian’s annual Red Moon Press series honoring the previous calendar year’s work by English-Language haiku poets.  This is the second year that I’ve had work included in this prestigious anthology, and I am more than honored to see my haibun “Prayer for the Dead,” which first appeared in the April 2012 edition of Contemporary Haibun Online, rubbing shoulders with the words of many haiku poets I admire.

In addition to showcasing 142 haiku, and 30 linked poems (haibun, renku, rengay and sequences), the book contains three critical essays that promise to inform anyone with an interest in reading and writing haiku.  Anthologies like this one not only recap some of the work you may or may not have seen in journals throughout the year but also offer insight into what makes this short form so satisfyingly addictive.  Here are a few of my many favorites, beginning with the monoku that inspired the collection’s name:

nothing in the window is everything

                           –Bob Lucky

day moon
the ghost story
of my ovaries

–-Melissa Allen

winding road
for the next eight miles
Coltrane

–Cherie Hunter Day

deeper and deeper into the foxglove dusk

–Lorin Ford

dead of winter
making stock
from the bones

–Jayne Miller

one slip
of the scissors
paper heart

–Roland Packer

folding your laundry
exactly the way
I want you to be

–Claudette Russell

fresh snow
the warmth surrounding
your bones

–Ernest Wit