John O’Connor: Parts of the Moon (2009)

Jack Ross, ed.: Poetry NZ 38 (March 2009)

John O’Connor. Parts of the Moon: Selected Haiku & Senryu, 1988-2007. ISBN 978-1-92121-422-6. Teneriffe, Queensland: Post Pressed, 2007.

John O’Connor: haiku

These haiku and senryu have been selected from two books of poems published here by Sudden Valley Press. There’s no denying that they make a stronger impression gathered together like this, though. Five of O’Connor’s haiku are included in the present edition of Poetry New Zealand, so his strengths in this form, and the reason for his success both internationally and locally with his shorter pieces, need not be taken for granted. I found the mini-essay about the use of graphic symbols in verse included in this slim volume particularly interesting – worth it even for those who have the other books already.

(12/08)

Poetry NZ 38 (2009): 107-8.

[121 wds]

Poetry NZ 38 (2009)


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