Summer Leaves by J.E. Jacobson

I finally had a chance to sit down and read "Summer Leaves an original collection of Haiku and Senryu" by J.E. Jacobson.

As Jacobson states in his forward - the poems do not follow traditional Haiku/Senryu format in most cases. "...please don't waste your time counting syllables." Jacobson states - but the poems in this collection do feel like Haiku/Senryu. With short, bursts of images and emotions. The reader is forced to bring more to these poems than that author is.

The collection is sprinkled with poems that give a belly laugh reaction - some of the potty humor is a welcomed break from the more serious, thought provoking poems in the collection.

Initially I read through the entire collection in roughly seven minutes - but then had a chance to go back and re-read some of the selections, it was upon this second reading that powerful favorites jumped out at me. A few examples...

tree falls
in a deserted wood
quiet morning

of all the daisies
growing in the flower pot
I plucked only one

old journals
only half filled
with metaphors

And there are many more. "Summer Leaves" is definitely worth picking up. More info on J.E. Jacobson HERE. Pick up the book either bound or downloaded HERE. And for a buck and some change who can beat 44 pages of entertainment.

The Underside of Leaves

Yesterday, my sophomores were in the computer lab working on a debate project and so I haphazardly grabbed a poetry book from my desk - one that I hadn't read yet. I grabbed The Underside of Leaves by Joseph Hutchison (he recently came to Pomona to do a poetry reading and the school library purchased a few of his books - they are right now sitting in my classroom so I can sift through them). I started it in the computer lab and then finished it after I took it home last night. I was completely floored. It was wonderful. Rarely do I ever start a book and then finish it the same day. I could not put it down.

Hutchison has a powerful command over language. I would go so far as to say he is an expert. His poetry speaks not only to literary experts and MFA Graduates, but to the common reader; the reader who may not know all that much about poetry. His poems are simple, but deep.

My favorite from the collection is "Demosthenes, Dying, Addresses His Dead Lover." I also enjoyed "Artichoke" - a short, simple poem from the collection. It is definitely worth a read - pick it up, you won't be sorry.