haiku
Between 2007 and 2009, I authored four books of haiku. For 3 years, I thought in seventeen syllables. I've since branched out to longer forms (see: textlings), but by and large I remain convinced that the more words you use the greater your chance for catastrophe.
Susan August has authored six collections of haiku:
- Haiku Applecart (© 2007)
- Haiku Building (© 2007)
- Haiku Chance (© 2009)
- Haiku Distance (© 2009)
- Only Owl, No Moon (© 2013)
- This Muse, This Time (© 2021)
Regarding the haiku of Susan August, Jim Wilson of Shaping Words generously writes:
"Taken together these four books represent a significant addition to contemporary Haiku. They are also noteworthy for demonstrating that the creative energy of syllabic Haiku introduced to us by poets such as Richard Wright and James Hackett continues to flourish. August has a keen eye for detail and a poet's sense of craft. Her Haiku are beautifully shaped and I suspect I will continue to learn a lot from reading and studying her Haiku."
Additional reviews of the author's haiku can be found online:
Selections from Haiku Applecart
the eighth floor window
reveals a landscape opened
by cracks of lightning
launching the canoe
onto the fog shrouded lake
she returned older
Selections from Haiku Building
autumn carnival
full of big top innocence
the taste of dry leaves
the dead of winter
warmth spreading across these sheets
my letter to you
airport terminal
watching the bumpy landings
of long lost lovers
Selections from Haiku Chance
these wounded salt flats
a ghost town in the distance
reaching out in heat
holding the small stone
some edges soft, others rough
all that friendship asks
you from a distance
each thought threaded carefully
as a pearl necklace
Selections from Haiku Distance
small dandelions
wait patiently for your wish
surrendering stars
so unexpected
this love that shifts the world off
its spinning axis
closing the distance
between the cliffs and the sea
a monarch appears
