Breath Marks: Haiku to Read in the Dark

by Gary Hotham

Gary Hotham has been described as a poet whose vision and craft combine to form an aesthetic all haiku poets aim for but few ever achieve. Global Haiku lists Hotham as one of the top ten... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1885767587
• ISBN13: 9781885767585
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Canon Press
• Length: 109 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 4.3" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Pure Moments Etched on Paper

There is something wondrously ironic and perfectly haiku-esque in the biblical scriptures noted in the introductory pages of this splendid, thin volume of haiku. Perfectly Zen-like. When I first read this book months ago I underlined this quote - which is a fitting introduction to Hotham's work: "But why read or write poetry? Well, because poetry lets the writer do something with our language that other forms do not. And that something special is the energy inherent in the words and their arrangements." I am not sure why one would want to read these words in the dark. All I can figure is that we can read them in the dark because of the quiet and sure echo or ripple they carry upon one's heart. While so very simple in form and so compact in number of words, the eighty haiku within continue to resonate for a long, long time.

a slivered glimpse of haiku

I bought this book on a lark and found that one reading was not enough. I have read it many times over and seen varying images appear in each haiku. I have shared his haiku with others who also enjoy his breath. It is a beautiful slivered glimpse of haiku. Try reading it between an inhale and an exhale and feel the marks it leaves in your breath. A most appropriately titled book. I am looking forward to his next book.