About

162 Haiku is actually a haibun, a linked collection of haiku and prose across 179 pages, telling the story of a journey, here a journey through the Korean War and ending with the author's recent revisit to Korea. There is also a concluding haibun, 'Losing Private Sutherland" by an American soldier, Jerry Kilbride. The book is illustrated with sumi-e (brushstroke art) and war photos by the author

ERNEST J BERRY since 1995 has won:-
Twenty-seven 1st places; thirty-three 2nd's; eighteen 3rds as well as countless commendeds, honourable mentions and 'runners-up' in international haiku competitions.

Over the same period more than one thousand of his haiku were published in periodicals world- wide and he's been quoted in such eclectic media as Canadian radio, Gaelic Romanian and Japanese newspapers, Australian Croatian and Irish magasines and been translated into seven languages. He has judged two international haiku competitions, initiated an haiku in schools programme and had his haiku carved in stone (thrice) on haiku walks. He has convened fifteen haiku workshops, two conventions, five anthology launches, appears in numerous internet-sites and is founder/convenor of WINDRIFT HAIKU and PICTON POETRY.

This is Berry's second book, the first, RAINDROP, is still available.

Proudly published by Post Pressed

top

Reviews

JANICE BOSTOK:
... awesome ... powerful ... superstar stuff ... a milestone development for haiku in English....

CYRIL CHILDS
... intensity of experience ... horrors and humour of war are all there...

JERRY KILBRIDE
... wow! ... very powerful ... wonderful ... zoweee ... superb....

ELIZABETH ST JACQUES
... "Berry's haiku talent rates among the world's best"

JOHN KNIGHT
... "Berry's Korean sequence is as moving and poignant as the work of the great poets of the first world war"

MAJOR LES PYE N.Z. K.V.A.
... great, just great

top

Extract

...from the PROLOGUE:

As a youth in the 1940s, I was acutely aware of the advance of communism across Asia, and that it was only a matter of time before the red tide swung South to engulf my homeland. Fired with missionary zeal, I joined like-minded patriots dedicated to battling what we perceived as marxist front organisations. Invasion of South Korea brought my ‘righteous indignation’ to boiling point, so when the opportunity presented to enlist in ‘K FORCE’, [NZ’s contribution to the United Nations team in Korea] I couldn’t wait...

120

liberated village
the survivor holds out
his severed hand

space121

war widow
her old dog limps
beside her

122

xoxspacerxoxdear john letter
spaceron the canadian’s face
snowflakes

top