Karen Neuberg, author of Detailed Still (Poets Wear Prada, 2009), reviewed Urban Haiku and More on Gently Read Literature:
Dreaming in Haiku: Karen Neuberg on Patricia Carragon’s Urban Haiku
Urban Haiku and More, Patricia Carragon, Fierce Grace Press
Anyone familiar with the poetry scene in New York City and its environs is very likely familiar with Patricia Carragon, whether through her two highly respected and well-attended Brownstone Poets reading series, her own featured readings at myriad venues, her participation in open readings, or her generous support of other poets on and off the ‘circuit’. Her latest chapbook of poetry, Urban Haiku and More; Haiku, Senryū, Hay(Na)Ku, and other Unrhymed Tercet Poetry, may well provide her with an even larger audience of admirers. One is always surprised and never disappointed by the range and style of Ms. Carragon’s writing.
love
decides to
take the subway
and gets screwed
in the
tunnel
your
MetroCard is
not his E-Zpass
(Read more on this review at http://gentlyread.wordpress.com/?s=Patricia+Carragon&submit=Search)
George Wallace, Writer in Residence at the Walt Whitman Birthplace and author of 22 chapbooks, reviewed Urban Haiku and More in Big City Lit's Fall 2011 Issue:
It's been roughly a century that American poetry has had a dalliance with the Japanese Haiku, and during most of it, American practitioners wrestled mightily with a form that is at once elusive and tantalizing.
Through it, there've been those who adhered to a set of principles and practices — either traditional or of their own devising — syllabic strictures, concreteness of imagery, reference to the seasons, and the like.
Others have been more concerned with being true to the 'soul' of a haiku. Kerouac was one of those, saying he wanted to pack his haiku with what he called the 'Void of Whole' — a graceful elegance and dimensional resonance unlike Western rationalist 'pearls of wisdom' or opaque epithets.
(Read more of this review at http://www.bigcitylit.com/bigcitylit.php?inc=fall2011/reviews/wallace)
