Books by Naomi Beth Wakan

Though mainly a prolific personal essayist, Naomi Beth Wakan admits that poetry in the form of haiku, tanka, and free verse has occupied a large percentage of her waking hours and many of her sleeping ones too. This exceptional collection, Wind on the Heath, includes poems written when Wakan was in her twenties along with many written in recent years, thus spanning roughly sixty years of inquisitive thinking and creative writing. The foundation of Wakan''s work is her dedication to living an examined life, which Wakan describes in this way: Seeking in the darkness/a crack through/which we may glimpse reality. Her poetry, superbly presented in this life-spanning collection, allows readers to see the flicker of light showing through the crack. This is poetry to live by. 

The Way of Haiku is a guide for learning to write the most popular form of Japanese poetry: haiku. But true to the inviting and personal style of its author, Naomi Beth Wakan, it is also an eye-opening view into the way that reading and writing haiku can change the way one looks at life. "Writing haiku helps you appreciate the wonder of ordinary things and ordinary days." Wakan discusses the history of haiku's development, its important literary elements, and the differences between haiku written in Japanese and those written in English. Numerous examples of haiku are provided, some written by Japanese haijin (haiku writers) and presented in translation, and some written by English-speaking writers. The rich explanation of the experience of writing haiku and the encouraging words of the author nurture readers in their own writing of haiku while remaining open to the possibilities it provides for personal growth. (Along with Poetry That Heals and The Way of Tanka, The Way of Haiku completes Naomi Beth Wakan's important and insightful Japanese poetry trilogy.)