A renowned poet shares his experience of haiku and its potential to surprise us again and again into a sudden awakening and thus to a deeper sense of what it is to be truly alive. His remarkably refreshing insights have delighted confreres around the world.

In Haiku, the Gentle Art of Disappearing, a renowned Irish poet shows us how haiku may be used as a powerful tool for spiritual interpenetration. This implies that we divest ourselves of the ever-chattering mind, shed the voracious ego and enjoy momentary glimpses of unity with natural phenomena. In the companion volume, Haiku Enlightenment, he further explores these thoroughly delightful experiences and invites us to disappear! Haiku is dynamically focussed on the present, from season to season, from day to day, from hour to hour, from second to second. But how illusory, how fleeting is that present moment? How caught up is it with the past, with the future? Can we stop its flow? Are there more ways than one of experiencing its essence? If we experience a moment intensely enough, might we disappear? Surprises await those readers who may have considered haiku to be nothing more than an innocuous three-line poem. A renowned poet shares his experience of haiku and its potential to surprise us again and again into a sudden awakening and thus to a deeper sense of what it is to be truly alive. His remarkably refreshing insights have delighted confreres around the world.

The Japanese Effect in Contemporary Irish Poetry provides a stimulating, original and lively analysis of the Irish-Japanese literary connection from the early 1960s to 2007. While for some this may partly remain Oscar Wilde's 'mode of style', this book will show that there is more of Japan in the work of contemporary Irish poets than 'a tinkling of china/ and tea into china.' Drawing on unpublished new sources, Irene De Angelis includes poets from a broad range of cultural backgrounds with richly varied styles: Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon, Ciaran Carson and Paul Muldoon, together with younger poets such as Sinéad Morrissey and Joseph Woods. Including close readings of selected poems, this is an indispensable companion for all those interested in the broader historical and cultural research on the effect of oriental literature in modernist and postmodernist Irish poetry.

Lake Cora is a beautiful spring-fed lake located in the cradle of southwest Michigan's orchards and vineyards. The lake is surrounded by a soft sandy shore, natural grasses, and stately trees. Though it is small and not widely known, locals affectionately call it the other great lake. Although Lake Cora is an ideal setting for water skiing, small sailboats, kayaks, and an occasional wave runner, it is primarily a quiet reflective setting for fishing, swimming, and a calm nightly parade of pontoon boats. As such, the lake gives rise to thoughts of nature and the nature of life. The ancient craft of haiku provides a vehicle to express such reflections. Haiku is a generally unrhymed poetic form traditionally consisting of seventeen syllables arranged in three lines of five, seven, and five syllables, respectively. Haiku is perhaps the most popular and best-known poetic form worldwide. These poems are deceivingly simple enough to be taught to children and yet have been the subject of doctoral dissertations and academic careers. Lake Cora Haiku is a fresh new collection of this admired poetic form.

Demystify and appreciate the pleasures of poetry Sometimes it seems like there are as many definitions of poetry as there are poems. Coleridge defined poetry as “the best words in the best order.” St. Augustine called it “the Devil’s wine.” For Shelley, poetry was “the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.” But no matter how you define it, poetry has exercised a hold upon the hearts and minds of people for more than five millennia. That’s because for the attentive reader, poetry has the power to send chills shooting down the spine and lightning bolts flashing in the brain — to throw open the doors of perception and hone our sensibilities to a scalpel’s edge. Poetry For Dummies is a great guide to reading and writing poems, not only for beginners, but for anyone interested in verse. From Homer to Basho, Chaucer to Rumi, Shelley to Ginsberg, it introduces you to poetry’s greatest practitioners. It arms you with the tools you need to understand and appreciate poetry in all its forms, and to explore your own talent as a poet. Discover how to: Understand poetic language and forms Interpret poems Get a handle on poetry through the ages Find poetry readings near you Write your own poems Shop your work around to publishers Don’t know the difference between an iamb and a trochee? Worry not, this friendly guide demystifies the jargon, and it covers a lot more ground besides, including: Understanding subject, tone, narrative; and poetic language Mastering the three steps to interpretation Facing the challenges of older poetry Exploring 5,000 years of verse, from Mesopotamia to the global village Writing open-form poetry Working with traditional forms of verse Writing exercises for aspiring poets Getting published From Sappho to Clark Coolidge, and just about everyone in between, Poetry For Dummies puts you in touch with the greats of modern and ancient poetry. Need guidance on composing a ghazal, a tanka, a sestina, or a psalm? This is the book for you.

"When a Zen master puts brush to paper, the resulting image is an expression of the quality of his or her mind. It is thus a teaching, intended to compassionately stop us in our tracks and to compel us to consider ultimate truth. Here, forty masterpieces of painting and calligraphy by renowned masters such as Hakuin Ekaku (1685–1768) and Gibon Sengai (1750–1837) are reproduced along with commentary that illuminates both the art and its teaching. The authors’ essays provide an excellent introduction to both the aesthetic and didactic aspects of this art that can be profound, perplexing, serious, humorous, and breathtakingly beautiful—often all within the same simple piece."--Publisher description.

Take a hilarious crash course in literature—just three pithy lines—from a bestselling haiku humorist. Why spend weeks slogging through The Iliadwhen you could just read the haiku? From Homer to Faulkner to Lao Tzu, the Great Books are now within the reach of even the shortest attention spans. Show off your literary prowess at cocktail parties with minimal prep time, thanks to the author of the popular Haikus for Jews. In the sixteenth century, Zen monks in Japan developed the haiku, a poem consisting of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Little did they know that their ancient art form was destined to become a handy tool for today’s time-crunched Western reader! Reducing eyestrain and deforestation, Haiku U.distills dialogue and plot, capturing the essence of our favorite literary classics, seventeen syllables at time: Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past: Tea-soaked madeleine— a childhood recalled. I had brownies like that once. Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre: O woe! His mad wife— in the attic! Had they but lived together first. Just in time for graduation, Haiku U.gives the gift of an entire literary canon, packed into one hilarious gem.