The Penguin Book of Haiku

“After word of this book gets out, the English-language practice and study of haiku will never be the same.” —Jay Rubin, GQ

“Adam L. Kern’s authoritative new anthology challenges the myth of haiku as a monkish meditation on the natural world . . . What we get is a cultural history of Japan up to the end of the 19th century condensed into verse . . . This feast-like anthology reminds us that poets excelled at social media long before the ‘floating world’ of the internet.” —Jeremy Noel-Tod, The Times (London)
 
“This collection will appeal to the general reader as well as the academic. Kern’s impressive research and copious annotations will give the scholar plenty to digest, but the lay reader can equally delight in a collection that truly revolutionizes the schoolbook image of haiku . . . With this new collection, haiku stands poised and ready for its reintroduction to the world of literature.” —Japan Times