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Title: Three Lines Do Not Always Equal Haiku
Review: Haiku is a Japanese lyric with a deceptively simple form: 17 syllables in three lines of 5,7,5 syllables. Strictly speaking, a haiku must contain a "season word" and restrict itself to condensed, defined, natural imagery. Those are the outward rules, and they are rules which can be (and are) broken. It is in the inward force of a rich combination of Taoism, Buddhism and Shintoism that gives haiku it's power and grace. THE HAIKU YEAR, while an interesting experiment, is problematic in that much of it appears to imitate haiku and the powerful subtlety for which haiku is known is simply not there. Aspiring haiku writers would do better to consult the translations by R.H. Blyth, THE HAIKU ANTHOLOGY (of English language haiku) by Cor van den Heuvel, and the indispensable and well-respected THE HAIKU HANDBOOK by William Higginson.
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