18 POEMS

Japanese poetry consists of many distinct forms and variations of these forms. They are all exceptionally prescriptive. Of these, haiku, a relatively newcomer, might be the most well known type. Many of the forms are over a thousand years old. In this slim volume, the old forms constitute the bones, the framework of the poems. The poetic explorations that follow use three of these ancient Japanese poetic forms—chōka, tanka, and shichigon-zekku—as classic skeletons on which to hang some romantic modern flesh in English. The Japanese used these forms to write epics of war, erotic odes to love, and paeans to nature. The chaos of their life and times was contained in these relatively short vignettes in an attempt to understand the chaos.They were good enough for a few obvious truths then; and will serve equally well now.

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