B L U S T E R H E A D

'Spinifex ', as John Bird writes in his introduction to the book, 'comes to us after Beverley George has achieved national and international success with haiku, tanka, haibun, free verse and children's literature'. Its publication 'comes to us at the end of her editorship of Yellow Moon Literary Magazine, which made her a household name and friend of most haiku writers and many other poets. Spinifex assumes the status, although unsought, of a benchmark in Australian haiku.'

I looked forward to the release of Spinifex and was not disappointed. The book is presented in Pardalote Press's classic haiku book style - portable, aesthetically pleasing, with a good amount of white space around easy to read print and with subtle illustrations to complement the poems. There are 59 pages of Beverley George's prize-winning haiku, some of which are formed into sequences but each of which can stand alone and a three page haibun.

Interestingly, the title, doesn't originate from any of the poems in the book, nor does it designate any theme. The cover image and the delicate illustrations make it clear that the title names the tough, flexible, grey-green 'dune grass' which binds the sand along our coastal regions - the true spinifex, not the inland tussock grass often referred to by the same name. The spinifex illustrations haunt the pages, functioning, with the title, like a symbol to remind us that haiku, can take the reader beyond the obvious, the observed, to connections and correlations that surprise and delight.

Such implied connections also inform the editorial sequencing of the book. The opening haiku:

train tunnel

the sudden intimacy

of mirrored faces

and the second last (within 'Gathering Coke')

waterfall

our faces ripple closer

in the pond

both focus on images of reflected faces, though what a difference there is between the mutual discomfort experienced by train travellers shocked from private daydream into unexpected, fluorescent-lit intimacy and the gentler, hesitant of growing intimacy with those we know.

Those who are new to haiku and consider it a form of 'nature reporting' will be illuminated by Spinifex. Beverley George is not deceived by over literal interpretations of the notion that haiku should be about 'things as they are', aware that human beings perceive the world through the human senses and construe pattern and meaning with minds shaped by personal and cultural history.

clanking billy

the mist draws

eucalypts together

'Things as they are', when we observe them, become things observed by a human being whatever they may be without our presence: acknowledging this brings us into relationship to their mystery and to our own.

This haiku:

leafless stem

I prune above

a green bud

from the 'Scorched Garden' sequence shows the gardener's careful husbandry focused on a living bud's promise of regeneration. It's what gardeners do. It is also what poets do with unpromising poems and what we all do to promote new beginnings in our lives. Haiku such as:

winter twilight

the shadowed hill

beyond the hill

resonate with perceptions and concerns beyond the observed image of nature. 'Winter twilight' is an example of how the right kigo, well juxtaposed with an accurate visual image, can work to define context and to suggest a metaphorical relationship between the seasons of the year and the seasons in human life.

I was delighted to find some of Beverley George's haiku that I was already familiar with, such as the many-layered, prize-winning 'lengthening shadow - /above her eggs the hen's heart / beats against my arm'. My new personal favourite from this inspiring collection, one I find myself going back to again and again, is from the 'Village Hall, April 25, 2006' sequence:

sprigs of rosemary

something about the tea urns

makes me cry

I don't fully comprehend why this haiku affects me so much, any more than the haiku seems to comprehend what it is about the tea urns - those homely, functional, two-gallon steel fixtures of ordinary community life in Australia - that make the 'me of the poem' cry. Rosemary, of course, is for remembrance, on Anzac Day, in a Shakespearean tragedy or on any occasion which requires reflection on or acknowledgement of the significance of the past. Perhaps the poem's effect might be that it subtly springs a recollection of the value of ordinary community life and the sometimes taken-for-granted service that holds a community together, as the roots of spinifex bind sand and prevent erosion.

Beverley George's haibun, 'Gathering Coke', winner of the World Haiku Club R.H.Blyth Award for 2004 and voted Best of Issue by readers of Presence #26 2004, concludes the book. This haibun's three pages of tight prose, incorporating two well-placed haiku, validates Beverley George's anti-Procrastean belief that the topic and its sufficient development are the best criteria for haibun length.(See her views at Simpley Haiku)

I wholeheartedly recommend Spinifex to new readers of haiku and to seasoned readers and haijin alike. The haiku are as long as each needs to be, no more, no less, and the language throughout has the flow of carefully honed spoken language - no outdated adherence to the 5-7-5 model nor the chopped English of haiku 'telegraphese' here. Enter Beverley George's beautifully written, deceptively small poems and you'll find the world widening and deepening.

Publishers

If you would like a book to be considered for review please send a copy of the work to: PressPress PO Box 94 Berry NSW 2535 Australia.

This is a new section so it will take a while for reviews to appear. As with other review outlets, there is no guarantee that any particular book will be reviewed. Priority will be given to poetry, and then to prose (fiction and non-fiction).

Please contact info@blusterhead.com for advertising.

B L U S T E R H E A D : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :

REVIEWS + NOTICES

Spinifex by Beverley George

Publishers