The Pocket Haiku

A collection of classical Japanese haiku selected and translated by one of America's premier poet-translators.
Haiku may be the most popular and widely recognized poetic form in the world. In just three lines, a great haiku presents a crystalline moment of image, emotion, and awareness. In this collection of haiku, translator Sam Hamill has compiled the best of traditional Japanese poetry, with a particular focus on the three great masters: Bashō, Buson, and Issa. Based on images from nature, the poems address the themes of joy, temporality, beauty, wonder, loneliness, and loss.