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Mid-winter evening,
alone at a sushi bar—
just me and this eel.

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Awake in the dark—
so that is how rain sounds
on a magnolia.

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From the afterword:

Of the poets writing in English today, haiku has no better friend than former United States Poet Laureate, Billy Collins. . . . Collins now reads haiku regularly at his well-attended public readings. Because he is the most popular poet on the American reading circuit, none have his potential to influence the American perception of haiku. As you have seen yourself, the message he has to share about haiku has at its core the belief that a haiku is a poem of significance as well as sensual pleasure.
        
        —Lee Gurga
        Editor, Modern Haiku Press

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