Seven More

All seven daily haiku from Haiku Andy 06.24.24 - 06.30.24

Here you go!

But first, thanks to all the readers who requested postcards! They are on the way!

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haiku 20240624 (Salem, OR USA)

summer heat

birds in the garden

keep to the shade

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haiku 20240625 (Carmel, NY USA)

watching night fall

all the trees flatten

into silhouette

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haiku 20240626 (Felton, CA USA)

arm sling

people I don't know

ask what happened

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haiku 20240627 (Bryson City, NC USA)

nevada city

old mining equipment

adorning downtown

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haiku 20240628 (Springfield, MO USA)

evening walk

tops of evergreens

red with sunset

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haiku 20240629 (West Liberty, OH USA)

folding socks

still some burrs

hanging tough

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haiku 20240630 (Oakland, CA USA)

another visit

from the hummingbird

kitchen window

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That’s all seven! See you next week! And remember…

I STILL want to send you a card

It’s kinda weird you read my Substack but haven’t requested a card yet. I don’t get it. Please ask! It’s free. I ask nothing in return, aside from your good graces or maybe a cup of coffee if you’re so inclined.

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If that’s your thing… https://www.instagram.com/haikuandy/

I also post reels of each week’s haiku postcards on Instagram. The “live” photos feature reveals my sloppy attempts to angle in on the best shot. Check it out!

Recommended reading

I heartily recommend all the books below. I get no commission, zip zero nada, if you buy through my links. (Amazon Associates gave me the boot because I didn’t move enough merch. Oh well.)

Milkweed: Selected Haiku & Senryu, by Alexis Rotella

I kinda-sorta reviewed this must-have collection in my post Milkweed by Alexis Rotella: A Master Class. Buy it here.

Haiku: An Anthology of Japanese Poems, Stephen Addiss/Fumiko Y. Yamamoto/Akira Y. Yamamoto

With the exception of The Haiku Anthology (see below), this was the first haiku anthology I bought when I first started sending out haiku cards. I stumbled across this small, beautiful book, while making my requisite writer’s pilgrimage to Shakespeare’s Books in Paris (ooh la la). The richness and scope between the covers in this little book is simply amazing, featuring over 102 poets, many more if you include anonymous authors. Buy it here.

The Haiku Anthology (Third Edition), Edited by Cor van den Heuvel

Want to know what modern English-language haiku really looks like? What it is capable of? Here is your answer, and a must for every haiku poet’s bookshelf. When I first started writing haiku, this volume served me very well. Many of the haiku within have remained with me throughout the years, and I have been privileged to now count some of the contributors as colleagues and friends. Buy it here.

Three Simple Lines: A Writer’s Pilgrimage into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku, Natalie Goldberg

Many writers will immediately recognize Goldberg from her forever bestselling Writing Down the Bones. In Three Simple Lines, she intertwines memoir, history, and travelogue in a magnificent way as she journeys through Japan, chasing down the ghosts of Bashō and Buson, among others. She also draws much needed attention to women haiku poets, who were too often overshadowed by their male contemporaries. Buy it here.

Mountain Tasting - Haiku and Journals of Santoka … (tr. John Stevens)

I found Santoka challenging at first. Much of his haiku feels incomplete to me or dashed off. But he grew on me. Soon I felt like a companion on his journey, bouncing from inn to inn, begging for alms by day, pounding sake by night. Buy it here.

The Essential Haiku - Versions of Bashō, Buson, & Issa

Essential is right! Edited by Robert Hass, a great poet in his own right. Hass includes great essays on the history and evolution, as well as other writings by the poets themselves. A true master class in haiku! Buy it here.

Narrow Road to the Interior and Other Writings, Matsuo Bashō (tr. Sam Hamill)

Haiku poets have a tradition of wandering the countryside, and Bashō set the example! Buy it here.

Selected Poems, Masaoka Shiki (tr. Burton Watson)

I wrote a whole post about Shiki. Haiku might not exist today without his influence and renewal of the form. Buy it here.

Issa's Best: A Translator's Selection of Master Haiku, Issa Kobayashi (tr. David G. Lanoue)

Issa is probably the most beloved of the classic poets. His humility and joy in the face of unbearable loss and poverty endear him to haiku lovers everywhere. Lanoue seems to have made translating Issa his life’s mission, and I love his versions. Buy it here.