Cor
van den Heuvel and Alan Pizzarelli need no introduction
in the haiku world. Van den Heuvel is, of course, the editor
of The Haiku Anthology and a fine poet in his own
right, while Pizzarelli has long been recognized as a leading
writer of haiku who opened the form to urban images and
themes. So what are we to make of Haiku Cowboys? This chapbook
is a tribute to the Western movies told in a series of haiku
that relay the story of how the faceless Lone Rider tracks
down the equally faceless Two Gun Kid.
Few
of the haiku work as poetry (gunshots echoing in a canyon
is as sublime as it gets), and as a story Haiku Cowboys
is a patchwork of clichés from old serial movies
without a plot, well-defined setting, or interesting characters
to enliven them:
reaching
for their holsters
Pow-Pow-Pow
three rustlers bite the dust . . .
The
Lone Rider
spits into the fire
& steps back into the shadows
This
is comic-book writing without the pictures. I have no doubt
that both poets enjoyed recreating the movies of their childhood,
and I am equally sure that their many admirers will wish
to overlook this book and wait for their next, more serious,
efforts. EZ
|