John Barlow has been so busy publishing the highly popular Snapshots journal, the Haiku Calendar, and other fine publications, including various haiku collections by other people, that it was high time he brought out his own collection! This book was entirely written on the famous Greek island of Lesvos (yes, John describes this as a book of "Lesbian haiku"), and has, as is usual with John's publications, a highly attractive photograph on the cover. John has put together a fine collection of haiku and senyru which will evoke the atmosphere of his stay on the island. Although he has his unique style of writing, some of his poems remind me of the great early haiku exponents such as the Masters of haikai, Basho and Issa, to name but two. They make me remember where this all started. I will leave you to discover. Personally I have been waiting a long time to be able to hold a book of John's own haiku and senyru, and I can promise you that you will not be disappointed. He has a delicate touch, and a skill to make this incredibly short form of poetry echo far beyond what we could perceive as boundaries. What I would like to do is just leave you with a little taster of what you will find in his collection. silence at last a cicada husk clings to bark almost dawn the taxi driver leans into the straight harbour taverna the squid fisherman picks his nose pine woods each cone she collects a little better Flamingo Shapes haiku/senyru Full-colour cover Printed in silver ink on silk art paper with photographs from this unspoilt corner of the Aegean. ISBN 1 903543 UK: £4.50 (ppd) Overseas: US$10 (ppd)

haijinx volume II, issue 1 spring 2002 entrée welcome haiku and haiga page 1 | page 2 page 3 | page 4 page 5 | page 6 page 7 | page 8 page 9 | page 10 page 11 | page 12 page 13 | page 14 page 15 | page 16 page 17 | page 18 articles Patrick Gallagher William J. Higginson features juxtaposé light seasonings (eng) light seasonings (jpn) editors' picks — I:2 reviews Flamingo Shapes by John Barlow Thunderbolt by Takatoshi Gotoh materials received spotlights Janice Bostok Peggy Willis Lyles Ryu Yotsuya tributes Bob Spiess Mentor to Many Niji Fuyuno Lightness and Grace about this issue acknowledgements contributors letters fin

archive links (2001-2003)

I:1 | I:2 | memorial | II:1 | contributor index | john crook award 2002 results

relaunch links (2010- )

home | about haijinx | III:1 (2010) | IV:1 (2011)

Originally Published: 2001-2003 Revised Archive: April 2011 Copyright © 2001-2011 Mark Brooks (haijinx). All rights reserved. The copyrights of individual poems, articles, translations, and images belong to their individual authors. The editors do not necessarily endorse the opinions of authors, nor do they assume responsibility for factual errors, infringements of copyrights, or omissions in acknowledgements. Comments or Questions? info-at-haijinx-dot-org