Water
Poems: Haiku, Tanka, and Sijo, by Kirsty Karkow
(Eldersburg, Md.: Black Cat Press, 2005). 130 pages,
6½ x 5½, perfectbound. ISBN 0-9766407-0-8. $15.95
postpaid from the author, 34 Indian Point, Waldoboro,
ME 04572.
Water
Poems, a first collection by award-winning poet
Kirsty Karkow, is an attractive volume of forty
haiku, forty-two tanka, and ten sijo, all related
to the theme of water. Edited by Cathy Drinkwater
Better, introduced by Michael McClintock, and illustrated
with four watercolors by the author, the three forms
are intermixed and spaciously laid out one to a
page. Due to the focus of this journal, the present
review will concentrate on the haiku only.
Through
the imagery and carefully-crafted language of her
haiku, Karkow guides the reader on a journey along
the coast of Maine, where she lives, and onto the
waterways of that state and the Canadian Maritimes,
where she spends summers sailing and kayaking. We
accompany her to the shore at sunrise:
Karkow
is a poet in complete control of her craft, skillfully
using the tools of prosody, such as rhyme, repetition,
alliteration, and assonance in little gems like:
Just
as the cry of a seagull/calls [the poet] back
out of reverie, the insight, craft, and joy of Karkows
haiku transport her readers to the waterways of
Maine and then call them back again for a lingering
view.