Reviews for Whirling

The average rating for Whirling based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2007-08-01 00:00:00 Chan Kien Sing/kenny A lot of world poets and a lot of strong translations. My own translation YOU CAN SAY THAT THE BIRD AS THE SAYING GOES by Nicholâs Maré appears on page 299.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-03-04 00:00:00 John Nodrick The word "contemporary" attracted me. As much as I enjoy the works of the four pillars of haiku, I'm more of a fan of what came after the 1920's. What also caught my eye was the price! This book was listed on Amazon for over $900. I was puzzled. It would not be going too far to say I was flummoxed and gobsmacked. Some time later, I came a cross a copy for 1/50th of that price and ordered a copy. Lucien Stryk has been involved with haiku for decades so I felt good about ordering with no preview. While I'm not disappointed, there are some micro poems in there I'm not sure qualify as haiku and many others that stretch my already liberal and forgiving tolerance of a haiku definition to the breaking point. A few were more like complete sentences broken into 3 lines. Still others had cheater titles to help them along- Garden Gloves on the garden gate left here with me the shape of her hands -Bob Arnold See? That could have been written so as to omit the need for a title, the "fourth line." All in all, the Acorn book was was worth $20 and has secured a place in my haiku library. Please don't buy a 900 dollar copy though. The price is hard to fathom. Perhaps its because of its rarity in the US. I think it was released for a UK audience. There were a number of haiku I much enjoyed. ancient headstones names and numbers worn to mutters William Hart a small jar has bent the goldfish Hamish Turnbull the sun is a beehive rocked in the forest bear's paws drunk. the final honeyed ray Arseny Konetsky in the lampshade the soft detonation of moths John Capp with their voices cicadas create the shape of a big tree Tsunehiko Hoshino A welcome read for haiku fans and those who enjoy tiny poems inspired by haiku, but its not hundreds of dollars good. Don't be a sucker.