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Between the heart-beats, a collection of haiku, Graham High, Ram Publications, ISBN 0 9511386 3 4, 32 pp, £ 2.50 from the author at 13 Witham Road, Isleworth, Middlesex TW1 4AJ

Between the heart-beats is Graham High’s first collection of haiku and the author’s preface gives an account of his haiku orientation (via The Iron Book of British Haiku), subsequent exploration and a New Year’s resolution to write a haiku a day for a year (he managed 339). Despite the claim that he is ‘very aware of being in a different state of mind when producing haiku than when I’m engaged with my other poetry’ it’s evident that writing these haiku Graham High was a mainstream poet at heart. He keeps defaulting into conventional poetry techniques as in Brief life of breath,/ cloud on the jagged mirror,/ red bloom in the hand and Rain contains the room / the well fills; the gourd swells; / fingers drum the womb both of which lack a sense of timing and are little more than lists. The completely overstated Night lit feast of meat - / on the turning spit of sky / huge hills are rolling which I suppose was inspired by a sunset but becomes the world according to ‘Poet’. A simile is used in Sage-looking monkeys / in the ruined temple / posing like Gods just in case the reader missed the point made in the first line.

A haiku sequence under the title of Love Story includes such imponderables as Parting glance / up at the window. Slammed door / leaves curtains trembling followed by A slow sinking sun / impales itself upon a tree / as you walk away. The idea of a haiku sequence is a western-influenced notion and in this case is really just a narrative poem using haiku-like verses. The introversion moves us away from the communal nature of Japanese poetry that avoids a developing plot or narrative. Earl Miner explains (in Japanese Linked Poetry) how haikai is based on the twin principles of response and affect: a poet is moved to write and a reader is affected by what has been written to lead to a second expression which alters and doesn’t simply continue what was first expressed - the reader is always a partner. This is what makes the whole genre of haikai so interesting in that it offers a uniquely different viewpoint from that which westerners are used to. The principle of understatement is essential to leave room for the reader to respond and this remains fundamental to haiku if it’s not to become just short conventional poetry. Graham High doesn’t seem to be clear yet about what might differentiate haiku from mainstream western poetry. The Iron Book of British Haiku simply doesn’t provide enough haiku orientation to guide him away from his need to be in control as illustrated by the above examples. That said there are some atmospheric images that can evoke a haikuesque response such as chasing minnows - the boy’s net gathers only; the scent of water mint which in itself illustrates the differences in approach.