A Pepper-Pod

This collection of Japanese haiku profiles noted poet Kenneth Yasuda and is a welcome addition to the world of haiku. In the compact, evocative verse-form known as haiku Japanese writers have for centuries been condensing their finest poetic thought and feeling. Adequate translation of haiku into English awaited a Japanese writer fully acquainted with the English language. That writer has now appeared in Kenneth Yasuda, and this book is the result of a long-time labor of love on the finest poetry of his homeland. Readers will have some notion of the delight to be expected from the pages of this book, not the least interesting art of which is the final brief section of haiku written directly in English by Mr. Yasuda himself. He also supplies a scholarly clear, fascinating introductory essay on nature and development of haiku form.