Legal Commentary

John Barlow: not only for the birds

By David A. Giacalone

With the QE2 going into retirement later this year, the UK needs a grand new symbol of British culture and craft, and of its ties to far-flung shores. Snapshot Press may have found the answer, with the launching, on September 18, 2008, of the monumental Wing Beats: British Birds in Haiku (ISBN 978-1-903543-24-5; to order). The 320-page volume features 323 experiential haiku and 131 species of British birds. It is written and compiled by John Barlow and Matthew Paul (with haiku by 30 additional poets), and has photographic-watercolor illustrations by Sean Gray, plus a foreword by Stephen Moss.

With extensive texts that “explore both British avifauna and the history and intricacies of haiku poetry, considering the relationships between these in a global context,” Wing Beats might do for birding and haiku what Cor van den Heuvel’s Baseball Haiku did last year to link the American past-time with the poetic genre — by demonstrating their natural affinity, turn haiku fans into lovers of birds and birders into lovers of haiku.

In the Forward, the BBC’s naturalist Stephen Moss says, ?The poems in this volume are worthy heirs to three great traditions: the British love of nature, especially birds; the poetic approach of John Clare, rooted in observation and reality but taking the reader to a higher plane; and finally, of course, the long and venerable tradition of haiku. Similarly, haiku poet, editor and author William J. Higginson says:

“In Wing Beats, the brief, Japanese-style haiku becomes an absolutely first-rate medium for capturing those fleeting moments all bird-lovers prize. The birds in these poems glide, poke, and zip across the many different landscapes of Britain, punctuating the wind and the sounds of human activity. Substantial appendices discuss how experience and tradition combine to freshen our understanding of the seasons in haiku. I find Wing Beats full of acute observations, artistically moving, and intellectually stimulating?a very important book.”

storm bands . . .
the gathered rooks scatter
this way and that

still water
only the wing beats
of the circling curlews

… by John Barlow - Wing Beats (Snapshot Press, Sept. 2008)
?storm bands? Magnapoets 1; ?still water? Simply Haiku 5:2

You can find a few additional sample poems by John Barlow from Wing Beats (and also five by Matthew Paul), here. In addition, a couple dozen of John Barlow’s aviary haiku are featured in an online exhibition at 3LightsGallery, titled “The Bittern’s Neck” (April 2008), and many will appear in Wing Beats.

Despite his ties to Wing Beats — as co-author, editor, and publisher — the f/k/a Gang wants you to know that John Barlow’s haiku oeuvre is not solely focused on birds. John’s first book-length collection of haiku, “Waiting for the Seventh Wave” (Snapshot Press, 2006; order form; reviewed in Modern Haiku Vol. 39.1) shows the diversity of his subjects, styles and moods. Yes, there’s a bird on the cover of Seventh Wave, and quite a few bird-ku inside. But, you’ll also find some delightful birdless haiku and senryu throughout the volume — allowing even house-bound Yankees to relate to poem after poem, without the assistance of Aviary Guide (or even a British-to-American English dictionary).

Indeed, I enjoyed so many of John’s little gems, that I’m going to simply open the book at random and share the first few bird-free poems I find:

early morning??
the cat?s tail
circles the bed

after a day
of arguments __
night rain

train delays
for the fifth day now
the dead fieldmouse

morning breeze
through the sunlit flat
her perfume lingers

. . . by John Barlow - Waiting for the Seventh Wave (Snapshot Press 2006)

You’ll find more poems from Seventh Wave in Michael Dylan Welch’s Modern Haiku Review, which also takes a long look at Matthew Paul’s The Regulars (Snapshot Press, 2006). We wish John and Matthew the best of luck with the launch of their much-anticipated project of love, Wing Beats.

Full post as published by f/k/a . . . on August 24, 2008 (boomark / email).