plum afternoon, haiku of Kristen Deming

Description

Winner of an Honorable Mention for a Touchstone Distinguished Books Award 2017!

Winner of a Haiku Society of America Merit Book Award 2018 (HM) for Best Book of Haiku!

“A captivating collection, plum afternoon will be welcomed by longtime lovers of haiku and those new to the form. President emerita of The Haiku Society, Kristen Deming’s evocative images confirm her haiku bona fides. Fine work permeates this exceptional volume.” —  Roberta Beary

“Kristen has been a bridge connecting Japanese and American poets since her days in diplomacy in Tokyo. The crystalline quality of her haiku in plum afternoon enables us to see through not only her moments, but brings back ours as well.” — Emiko Miyashita

     new green leaves
     the faint hum
     of a power line


          my body
          his body
               plum afternoon


a kind of afterlife . . .
you her him
them

ISBN: 978-1-936848-95-9
Pages: 74
Size: 4.25″ x 6.5″
Binding: perfect softbound

plum afternoon by Kristen Deming (Red Moon Press, 2017) Review by Roberta Beary

The pocket-sized collection of 63 haiku by the late Kristen Deming (1939-2019) is always close by. I first met Kristen in Tokyo, where she lived for many years at the American Embassy compound, where her husband was a member of the diplomatic service. Although we moved in vastly different circles, haiku brought us together. Haiku in plum afternoon reflect Kristen Deming’s deep awareness of life’s joys and vicissitudes:

 
my body
out of a million mothers —
budding leaves

 
autumn deepening
the voices of insects
polish the moon

 
soundless rain
the names of the fallen
come out of the stones

 
autumn wind —
holes in my lungs
fluting

 
plum afternoon won two finalist awards, a Touchstone Distinguished Books Award (2017) and a Haiku Society of America Merit Book Award for Best Book of Haiku (2018). But that’s not the reason my copy always is within reach. It is because the haiku speak to me, heart to heart:

my body
his body
plum afternoon
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