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Volume 35.2
Summer 2004

 

book review:

Puddle on the Ink Stone: Haiku and Other Short Poems
by Carolyn Thomas

 

reviewed by Charles Trumbull

Puddle on the Ink Stone: Haiku and Other Short Poems, by Carolyn Thomas (Cathedral City, Calif.: by the author, 2003). Paper, perfectbound. 142 pages; 5½ x 6H½. ISBN 0-9724396-0-9. $12.50 from the author at 36679 Las Begonias, Cathedral City, CA 92234.

 

The latest book from Carolyn Thomas is a delight from start to finish, both in terms of design and in the content of the 76 haiku, 17 senryu and all-year haiku, and 25 short poems, mostly tanka. The haiku are arranged in sections by season (pun intended), and the whole work carries the scent of Zen and Buddhism that we expect from Thomas. Here are two haiku and one short poem that will show you why you want to get multiple copies of this book, one for yourself and others to give as gifts to close friends.

spring mist . . .
this morning’s dream
still lingering

evening solitude—
at the bottom of the bowl
all the loose grapes

moon reflecting   
in the monk’s 
round face
round face
in the monk’s 
moon reflecting   

 

 

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