Falling Ashes

Japanese Poems From A New Hampshire Poet

A small New England publisher, Hobblebush Books, publishes a series called "The Hobblebush Granite State Poetry Series" consisting of short books of poetry by New Hampshire writers. The series aims to give deserving poets in the state well-earned recognition and to make their works available to a wider audience. The books in the series are uniformly bound with lovely cover art and aesthetic typography and arrangements of text on page.

The most recent work and volume 7 in this ongoing series is "Falling Ashes: Haibun, Haiku, Senryu, & other Poems" (2013) by James Fowler. Hobblebush kindly provide me with a review copy. After serving 25 years in the Navy, Fowler went to college and received his degree from Antioch University in New Hampshire. Since receiving his degree, Fowler has had a second career in teaching, editing, and judging poetry in addition to publishing over 250 poems of his own. During his military service, Fowler spent 20 years homeported in Japan and became deeply involved with Japanese forms of poetry.

Fowler's book makes use of several types of Japanese poetry each of which have found their way into English usage. The best-known of these forms is the Haiku, a short elliptical type of nature poetry. In English, Haiku usually consists of 17 syllables or less and is arranged in three lines. The Senryu is similar in form to the Haiku but tends to be about the foibles of human behavior rather than about nature. The Haibun is a combination of prose and poetry. It usually consists of a prose paragraph which tells a story followed by a short Haiku or Senryu which acts as a counterweight to the prose text. Prose paragraphs and poems can alternate to form a longer text. Each of these three forms have been adapted for use by many English-speaking poets, including Fowler.

Fowler's poems combine autobiography and a certain intimacy with reserve. His subjects include his lengthy military service and his experience of war, his marriage, a feeling of loneliness and isolation, and nature. The poems are short and concentrated. As an example, here is the evocative, untitled Haiku that concludes the collection.

"after the rain
a thousand moons
on the street"

A poem called "Cyclorama" is in the form of a Haibun. It is too long to quote but deserves discussion. The title refers to the famous 19th century battlefield Cyclorama at the Gettysburg National Park. Fowler's poem alternates prose paragraphs with short poetic commentary. The first sentence of the poem establishes its autobiographical character and its tone: "A Navy man, a Nam and Storm vet, I'm long retired but newly wed." The prose paragraphs describe a visit Fowler and his new wife take to Gettysburg. Fowler describes the monumentation of the battlefield, such as the Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania monuments and the iconic battlefield sights, such as Little Round Top, Devil's Den, and the High Water Mark. The three paragraphs describing Fowler's Gettysburg visit are each followed by a short poem in which Fowler recalls his own military experiences in light of what he sees in the field in front of him. For example, he reflects:

"jungled coast
a friendly-fire missile
melts our main mast"

Near the end of the poem, viewing the fields of Pickett's Charge, Fowler observes "I cannot bring myself to step on such
blood-soaked ground." The concluding poem includes the following ironic admonition"

"Cyclorama
'the next show starts in ten minutes
come see the battle'"

In this poem and in several others in the collection, Fowler combines well Japanese and American forms and themes.

This series of the work of New Hampshire based poets offers lovers of poetry the opportunity to leave the well-trodden path and to expand their poetic sensibilities. I enjoyed getting to know Fowler's work, with its combination of personal, Japanese, and American themes.

Robin Friedman