A book of William E. Cooper "The Dance of His Haiku " - Cyberwit.net, India, 2012 pp. 105, ISBN 978-81-8253-316-5

A book of William E. Cooper

A book of William E. Cooper "The Dance of His Haiku " - Cyberwit.net, India, 2012 pp. 105, ISBN 978-81-8253-316-5

There! I have to write my first haiku in praise of this man who has done a splendid job in bringing out such a fine collection of haiku. The words dance, and in his book, The Dance of Her Napkin, they come ordered in threes and twos, sometimes one. But th

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dance of words

man can write
 
There! I have to write my first haiku in praise of this man who has done a splendid job in bringing out such a fine collection of haiku. The words dance, and in his book, The Dance of Her Napkin, they come ordered in threes and twos, sometimes one. But the impression they leave take lines and fathoms of paper to put down.
 
What catch us first as we read through his haikus are the profound ideas he uses.
 
Yoga competition
How will she judge
The souls
 
Yes, how will she judge the souls? We think and think at the truth of his words, the everyday things that come with meanings and thoughts. It is not every day that you can read a book and find your own versions of explanations- even excuses- for kinds of things you do. Cooper has done an excellent job in helping you interpret the ‘sun that dies with the day lily’ too.  The Dance of Her Napkin contains around 100 haikus; all of them have distinct distinctiveness that will definitely have you wanting, reflecting and finally being elated at the meanings they can give you.
 
Cooper’s haiku tells us of the details of life that we often miss- beautiful, simple yet deep and reflective in their implications-
 
green yellow blue
her island
in three crayons
 
Don’t these three lines talk about the simplicity that a child  possesses, almost like how the island would look from above, so simple and bright in its being, but so detailed and complex in its hearts.
 
The writer has keen observation of normal happenings, and one of my favourite would be:
 
daughter’s room
an empty drawer
once overstuffed
 
Haiku lovers and writers of haiku should not miss this book. The Dance of Her Napkin would be an ideal book to read and reflect, just like ‘under the jacaranda so many ways to breathe’.
 

By Aiswarya T. Anish