marlene mountain
reviews of mm

Cor van den Heuvel began his discussion of several poets:

This is a haiku: pig and i spring rain

'The author, Marlene Mountain, is one of the most innovative and powerful of the new haiku writers. The few syllables of this poem call into being the sense of delight one feels in the coming of spring--a delight that extends to all of nature, from blossoming flowers to the animals being freed from the rigors of winter. This includes the pig, whose happiness is in the immediate sensuousness of the warming weather, the refreshing wetness--and the resultant mud. To miss the missing mud is to miss the humor of this haiku. The woman who speaks shares the pig's sensual pleasure but feels also the pleasures of realizing her kinship with all of nature and recognizing the promise she sees in the rain.' {Used by permission.}

'Concision, Perception, Awareness--Haiku,' an article on THE HAIKU ANTHOLOGY for 'The New York Times' Book Review (March 29 1987), Cor van den Heuvel