Haiku is celebrated as a concise form of poetry able to convey a singular moment with great clarity. While haiku most often depicts the natural world, when focused on the elements of love and sensuality, haiku can be a powerful vehicle for evoking the universal experience of love. In this elegant anthology, love is explored through beautiful images that evoke a range of feelings--from the longing of a lover to the passion of a romantic relationship. Written by contemporary Japanese poets as well as by haiku masters such as Basho, Buson, and Issa, these poems share not only the haiku poets' vision for love, but their vision of the poignant moments that express it.

Author Biography

PATRICIA DONEGAN is the author of Haiku Mind. For a decade she taught East-West Poetry at Naropa University in the writing department's early years under Allen Ginsberg and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. After studying with Japanese haiku master Seishi Yamaguchi, she completed a Fulbright grant in Japan, coauthoring Chiyo-ni- Woman Haiku Master with Yoshie Ishibashi. For the past ten years she taught creative writing at a university in Tokyo. A member of the Haiku Society of America and the Association for International Renku, she currently is the poetry editor for the Kyoto Journal. As both a writer and a senior meditation teacher, she continues to write essays, give talks, and lead workshops internationally to promote haiku as an awareness practice for inner and outer peace.