The
Day of Strawberries, edited by Paul O. Williams
(San Francisco: Two Autumns Press, 2004). No ISBN.
36 pages, 5 1/2½ x 5 1/2½, paperbound, saddle-stapled.
$9.00 postpaid from the publisher, 303 Holly Street,
Mill Valley CA 94941. Please make check payable
to HPNC or Haiku Poets of Northern California.
The
Day of the Strawberries is the companion chapbook
to the Haiku Poets of Northern Californias
fifteenth annual Two Autumns poetry reading series.
This years volume, containing twelve haiku
each by Jerry Kilbride, Garry Gay, D. Claire Gallagher,
and Yvonne Cabalona, was edited and introduced by
Paul O. Williams. Designed with elegant simplicity
by Karina Young, the chapbook is square in format
with an image of a crescent moon gracing the cover,
pumpkin-colored endpapers, the forty-eight haiku
spaciously laid out two to a page, and six pages
of biographical material. Given the experience and
excellence of the four poets, it is not surprising
that this is a superb collection, each poem a small,
sparkling gem. As Williams notes in his illuminating
introduction, Selecting poems from those submitted
was not easy. Their work was like a rich
Thanksgiving dinner for someone on a strict diet.
Although
each poet has his / her own unique voice, style,
and range of topics and concerns, the themes touched
upon by the group as a whole range from the cycles
of the natural and human worlds, family and pets,
social and political issues, to the realm of the
intuition and imagination. Each poet is a master
of the craft, conveying insight and emotion through
the carefully controlled selection and juxtaposition
of objective imagery. Similar to Williamss
challenge of selecting just twelve poems for each
poet, this reviewer had the difficult task of selecting
just one of the twelve to feature as a sample of
that poets work and of the treasures contained
in this small volume. Jerry Kilbride lives a life
devoted to social causes: volunteering to feed the
homeless and to aid breast cancer survivors, marching
against the war in Iraq, protesting for the rights
of union workers. His haiku
powerfully
sums up this commitment.
Garry
Gay, a photographer by profession, observes the
minute but so significant changes in his world with
insight, humor, and empathy. There is pain and sadness
in his haiku, but never sentimentality:
D.
Claire Gallaghers haiku path meanders through
gardens and along hiking trails, where her gaze
is sharp and her perceptions keen. She makes astounding
juxtapositions that take the reader by surprise
and make him marvel at her intuition and her craft:
Yvonne
Cabalona pinpoints with concision and grace the
tiny moments in the garden, the bedroom, and even
the dentists office that comprise our daily
lives. Nothing escapes her probing yet gentle eye:
The
Day of the Strawberries, which takes it title
from one of Gallaghers poems, is like a box
of rare chocolates: no matter which you choose,
its taste is rich and the aftertaste long-lasting.