Author Description

Haiku is both a type of poetic pattern and a way of experiencing the world. This short, 17-syllable form, usually written in three lines with a 5-7-5 syllable count, focuses our attention on a single, insightful moment. Closely tied to the Japanese aesthetic of Yugen and the spirituality of Buddhism, Haiku looks deceptively simple, yet can take years to master. A well-executed haiku is rooted in the physical world of our senses, yet suggests something deeper, often evoking the mysterious, transitory nature of all existence. Everyday Haiku by Paul Jacobs was written over the last decade or so just as he experienced them in the time and place where they happened. Most of them occurred while he was hiking or simply sitting in Irvine Regional Park, a few miles outside of Orange, California. The stunning photographs included in this book are a collection of his favorites from those he had taken over the last 60 years in various places around the world. They were intended to resonate rather than to illustrate the poems and are simply in the spirit of Zen. Everyday Haiku celebrates the timeliness of the present moment. It shows to readers and poetry lovers a closer bond between oneself and the immediacy of the natural world. Inspired by the art of Zen, a Japanese form of Buddhism, it also presents to readers a way to look deeper into one’s own experiences.