Alexis Rotella subtitles this self-published work “a one-time anthology,” and so it is: a collection of butterfly poems from nearly all the top haiku poets of the day (1981). You’ll find boldman, Harr, Kenny, Lamb, LeCount, Romano and Roseliep here, along with Rotella, so for my sampling I’ve selected poems from some of those poets who have not remained quite so much before the public’s eye. What a way to close the year, with butterflies . . .

You can read the entire book in the THF Digital Library.

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Haiku featured in the Book of the Week Archive are selected by Jim Kacian, following a concept first explored by Tom Clausen, and are used with permission.

end of autumn—
an old monk recites Latin
   to a cabbage moth

     —Anthony R. Mendenhall


tiger swallowtails
     in arabesque frenzy;
          I think of Matisse

     —Frederick Gasser


near the seashore
a boy with a butterfly net
catching the wind . . .

     —Geri Barton


Green grass
     with silent spaces
          of butterflies

     —Kay Langdon


She hangs out the wash—
briefly lighting up her face,
passing butterfly

     —Carrow DeVries


whiteness . . .
butterfly’s worth
leaves the peony

     —Zolo