Author Description

There is nothing everyday in everyday things-not if you have a sense for the sensation of being. Gary Hotham not only has got that sense, he's got the ability besides to evoke that sensation in his tiny reports of reality. He did not have to prove that again. But I'm happy he did. -Max Verhart Gary Hotham works with quick incisive brushstrokes. In his poems we see a world we recognize, but often we forget to take the time to look. His poems remind us we should be seeing more. - Jonathan Greene Readers of contemporary haiku in English can welcome this new collection by Gary Hotham. In our language, haiku's structure of juxtaposition is expressed in the sparest of lines. That moment of grace or Zen-the essence-is more important than a syllable count, and Hotham is a master of its understated simplicity. Where each haiku is its own universe, when read in sequence, through the cycles of the changing seasons, his poems quietly share a loved one's illness as naturally as a morning glory or snow. These kigo-season words-make several appearances, and each new guise recalls the old one. The dew of the first haiku, near "the danger sign" reappears later at "a small curve in the path" from which "we" recall that "we haven't walked anywhere/ the dew hasn't been[.]" These are poems to read and to re-read; this, a book to own and to give. -Maxianne Berger