Tags
bicycling, filling up, haiku, Ithaca, laughing, myself, nature, photography, photos, poetry, sleep, summer
before sleep
laughing to myself
at myself
04 Thursday Apr 2024
21 Tuesday Jun 2022
Posted Book reviews, haiku, Laughing To Myself, Published Poems, senryu
inLaughing To Myself, by Tom Clausen, Michael Ketchek Publisher, 125 High St., Rochester, New York, 14609, mketchek@frontier.com, 2013. 8.5 X 5.5 inch paperback, 25 pages.
Review by Dennis (chibi) Holmes
I’ve known Tom online for a few years. He has written in the short poem venue based upon the Japanese haiku, senryu, haibun, and tanka since 1989. His book, Laughing To Myself, spans then until now with poems plucked from publications such as Bottle Rockets, Brussels Sprouts, Empty Ring of Stones, Frogpond, Modern Haiku, and Upstate Dim Sum, to mention a few.
Laughing To Myself, is strewn mostly with three line poems together with a two and few one line poems. The poems are personable, mostly, containing a “nature” theme. The poems are easy to read and resonate with an inner calm, offering a polite “ah” with a thoughtful yet enjoyable “ha.”
A good three line example from Tom’s book:
riverbank swallows
my beer label
peels easily
(It’s probably my penchant for puns, but, I read “swallows” as word play, although, I do not know if that Tom’s intent.)
A two line poems:
losing control of my son
—and myself
(I’ve been there and do/did that!)
A one line example:
in the theater spotlight dust falls
(the imagery quite fetching)
I would hope to see more of Tom’s poems in future publications. I’ve smiled at his poems in, Laughing To Myself.
review by Dennis (chibi) Holmes in Lynx XXVIII: no. 3- October , 2013
16 Thursday Jun 2022
Laughing To Myself
A collection of haiku and senryu by Tom Clausen, a favorite poet of many readers of haiku. Tom has been writing haiku for over twenty years and has enchanted readers with his very personal outlook on family, nature and living in this modern world. Tom opens his heart so that those who read his poems not only feel like they know him, but because his poems touch a universal chord readers also feel like they know themselves a bit better too.
before sleep
laughing to myself
at myself
Since 1989, when Tom Clausen first came onto the haiku scene, he has been in the forefront of English language haiku, senryu, haibun and tanka. Tom was a pioneer in the haiku movement that let haiku not only roam through the natural world, but let it into our cities, homes, and all other aspects of our modern world. No other haiku poet has so openly let the reader into his life and into his heart. Tom, while retaining his individual voice, manages to convey the aspiration and angst of all of us who live in this modern world and does so with a wry and whimsical smile. This collection which spans the entire 24 years of Tom’s insightful, honest and often humorous poetry will give those who know Tom’s work a chance to revisit old favorites and find gems they might haves missed and give those less familiar with Tom’s work a chance to see why he is one of the most influential haiku and senryu poets of his generation.
bitter wind-
we circle our candles
for peace
Review by Alan Summers