Category archives: Currently reading

70. Mayfly, issue 70, winter issue (Brooks Books, 2021). What an excellent magazine. No slag or baggy poems in here. I heard good things about it and it bears out. I’ll be buying back issues. 71. Wrecking Ball and Other Urban Haiku by Barry George (Accents Publishing, 2010). I nearly bought this book a few […]

64. A Sonic Boom of Stars: 2020 Southern California Haiku Study Group Anthology, edited by Beki Reese & Susan Rogers Southern California (2020) is a set of haiku, then a “foreign language” section including Spanish, a few haibun and then a chapter of haiku in a theme of windows. There are several outstanding poets but […]

59. Purple Springs: A novel by Nellie L McClung (University of Toronto, 1921, 1992) was a wonderful read. I’ve had it on my shelf for years and we finally read it all aloud. So many great set ups of suspense of what’s going to hit the fan and yet the character Pearl brings out the […]

55. for the love of Black girls by Tatiana M.R. Johnson (Indie, 2017) is earlier poems than what we got graced with an audience at Tree Reading Series and these are grrrl power: “grow into everything you have never been told you could be.” It urges thriving despite. “Maybe survival starts in a root deep […]

52. Landmarks: A Haibun Collection by Ray Rasmussen (Haibun Bookshelf Publications, 2015) is a tight collection, not surprising I suppose given he has been writing haibun for decades and editing magazines of them. The stories are grounded, alert, amiable and articulate, the haiku striking. Definitely recommend. 53. Stumbling toward happiness: haibun and hybrid poems by […]

If you can’t move, from concussion, stress overload, or body cast, these will take take you away, like Calgon. 46. Smoke Bitten: A Mercy Thompson Novel book 12 by Patricia Briggs (Penguin, 2020). I’ve hopped around in the series. They are compelling, but mental potato chips. Feisty female coyote will go toe-to-toe with anyone. 48. […]

36. There are no coincidences by Ruth Salmon (self-published, 2016) is a travelogue of best-of stories. Oddly it and Cardinal Divide both had a scene of feeling safe in a log cabin, of seeking a sense of home and the phrase, “there are no coincidences”. It’s a fun ride and we read it all aloud. […]

26. Moving Meditation, edited by Lynne Jambor (2021) is an elegant little book graphically, with a layout that suits the content of haiku and senryu about tai chi and chi gong. (Contributor copy.) 27. Liberated Minds: A Close looks at Rastafari beliefs and customs (A Kirk Cornelius Book, 2017) was something I picked up at […]