Pop Goes the Haiku : A Book of American Haiku and Senryu

M. L. Vanblaricum

ISBN 10: 1960415786 / ISBN 13: 9781960415783

Edité par Henry Gray Publishing, 2026

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nach der Bestellung gedruckt Neuware - Printed after ordering - Pop Goes the Haiku: A Book of American Haiku and Senryu is a collection of very short poems by M. L. VanBlaricum, written in the spirit of Jack Kerouac's 'American Pops.' VanBlaricum states in the preface that he is not trying to obey traditional haiku rules or count syllables. His aim is simpler: to catch a moment, an image, a feeling, or a joke before it disappears. That gives the book its relaxed structure and its plainspoken voice.The collection moves through several sections: Love and Feelings, Moons, Observations and Happenings, Questions, Birds and Two Bees, Nature and Seasons, and Travel. The subject matter is broad but personal. VanBlaricum writes about marriage, surgery, grief, parents, grandparents, old friends, childhood memories, campus life, birds, insects, dogs, squirrels, weather, aging, travel, and comic mishaps. Many poems are closer to senryu than traditional haiku because they focus on human behavior, irony, memory, embarrassment, and absurdity. Others are more purely observational: moonlight through a skylight, a lone goose under the waning moon, cherry blossoms, monarchs, tree frogs, and Normandy crosses.The voice is warm but not sentimental. VanBlaricum often undercuts reflection with humor: memory slows, bodies creak, trombones annoy neighbors, and a vulture circling a grill becomes a joke about dead meat. But the book also has quiet emotional force, especially in poems about family death, marital devotion, and the passage of time. Murf O'Dean's illustrations and VanBlaricum's photographs add a casual visual companion to the poems, making the book feel like a curated album of moments. The closing dialogue makes the point directly: by becoming succinct, the writer leaves room for the reader's interpretation and emotional participation in each spare poem. Its commercial appeal will be strongest for readers who like approachable poetry, light humor, aging reflections, nature writing, and illustrated gift books.This is VanBlaricum's second book of poetry. His first, Reflections in a Boomer's Eye, was published in 2016.

N° de réf. du vendeur 9781960415783

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Pop Goes the Haiku : A Book of American Haiku and Senryu
• Éditeur: Henry Gray Publishing
• Date de parution: 2026
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 1960415786
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9781960415783
• Reliure: Taschenbuch
• État de l'article: Neu
• Dimensions: 229 L x 152 H x 9 P (en millimètres) 229 millimètres de largeur par 152 millimètres de hauteur par 9 millimètres de profondeur
• Poids: 237 grammes

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Synopsis

Pop Goes the Haiku is M. L. VanBlaricum’s collection of “American Pops,” three-line poems related to haiku and senryu but intentionally free from strict syllable counting. In the preface, VanBlaricum frames the book through Jack Kerouac’s idea of American haiku: simple, direct, image-driven poems that capture a moment without poetic overworking. The collection is organized around emotional and observational clusters: love and feelings, moons, observations and happenings, questions, birds, nature and seasons, and travel.

The strongest through-line is a mature attention to fleeting experience. VanBlaricum writes about marriage, parents, grandparents, surgery, old friends, frogs, birds, weather, childhood embarrassments, aging bodies, memory lapses, travel landmarks, and small jokes hidden in ordinary life. Many pieces lean toward senryu because they focus on human foibles, irony, and humor rather than formal seasonal nature imagery. The poems are often plainspoken, but the best ones leave interpretive space: an empty playground, a wife still sleeping beside an absent partner, crosses marching on Normandy Beach. Murf O’Dean’s drawings and VanBlaricum’s photographs give the book a scrapbook-like visual rhythm, supporting its central idea: remembered moments, sharply seen, can become concise poetry for readers. It is accessible, domestic, comic, elegiac, and deliberately modest in scale.

This is VanBlaricum’s second book of poetry. His first, Reflections in a Boomer’s Eye, was published in 2016.

À propos de l'auteur

M.L. VanBlaricum, better known as Mike, Daddy, Pops, Grandpa, and Duckman, unless he is in trouble and he is then invariably called Michael, lives in Santa Barbara, California, and Urbana, Illinois, with his wife, Pam. He was educated in public schools in Momence and Princeton, Illinois, and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he received three degrees in Electrical Engineering. He has been an earthworm and a Kool-Aid salesman, a paperboy, a lawn mower, a lifeguard, a deliveryman, a musician, a steel worker, a house painter, an appliance repairman, a Boy Scout, a ballet dancer, a lead smelter, a printer's assistant, a Girl Scout leader, a collector of books, a rare book dealer, a columnist, a dramaturg, an author, a lecturer, a research engineer, an inventor, a CEO, and, maybe once, a spy.