Rating: 
Summary: Haiku as a journey.
Review: "SEEDS FROM A BIRCH TREE is about nothing but dust and clay," Clark Strand writes in the Introduction to this book, "because all things, including ourselves, have their being in the earth" (p. 2). I returned to Strand's book today after first reading it several years ago. It is actually a book about living life as haiku, a spiritual path Strand has been travelling for twenty five years. He is a former Zen Buddhist monk, and an editor for "Tricycle" magazine.This book offers many insights into haiku. Most of us only know haiku as a seventeen-syllable poem drawn from nature, arranged in three lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Most of us also spend our lives behind walls. "Nature occupies a small place in our lives," Strand observes, "if and when we really notice it at all" (p. 40). "The Way of Haiku is to return to nature" (p. 11), Strand writes. As a child, he "struggled with the feeling that there was a language in the blossoming of trees" (p. 12). After taking up the study of Zen Buddhism, Strand discovered "haiku is a spiritual path" (p. 16). Reading haiku "becomes a journey" (p. 29). "Haiku," Strand explains, "in many ways the most outward, most concrete, and most profoundly grounded form of poetry, is also the most inward. It requires a lot of inner work" (p. 135). Haiku poetry flows "directly out of life" (p. 107). In these pages, "chrysanthemums bloom" (p. 19),"oars flash in the sun" (p. 71), "warm breezes turn leaves over" (p. 93), "a field cricket bangs his head" (p. 100), "mosquitos bite" (p. 100), and "a button pops off" (p. 120). Reading haiku "evokes a smile" (p. 54). Strand knows his subject. I recommend this 189-page book for anyone interested in reading or writing haiku, or for anyone interested in Zen practice. It is well-illuminated path amidst the birch trees you, too, may find yourself revisting over the years. G. Merritt
Rating:
Summary: Haiku as a journey.
Review: "SEEDS FROM A BIRCH TREE is about nothing but dust and clay," Clark Strand writes in the Introduction to this book, "because all things, including ourselves, have their being in the earth" (p. 2). I returned to Strand's book today after first reading it several years ago. It is actually a book about living life as haiku, a spiritual path Strand has been travelling for twenty five years. He is a former Zen Buddhist monk, and an editor for "Tricycle" magazine. This book offers many insights into haiku. Most of us only know haiku as a seventeen-syllable poem drawn from nature, arranged in three lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Most of us also spend our lives behind walls. "Nature occupies a small place in our lives," Strand observes, "if and when we really notice it at all" (p. 40). "The Way of Haiku is to return to nature" (p. 11), Strand writes. As a child, he "struggled with the feeling that there was a language in the blossoming of trees" (p. 12). After taking up the study of Zen Buddhism, Strand discovered "haiku is a spiritual path" (p. 16). Reading haiku "becomes a journey" (p. 29). "Haiku," Strand explains, "in many ways the most outward, most concrete, and most profoundly grounded form of poetry, is also the most inward. It requires a lot of inner work" (p. 135). Haiku poetry flows "directly out of life" (p. 107). In these pages, "chrysanthemums bloom" (p. 19),"oars flash in the sun" (p. 71), "warm breezes turn leaves over" (p. 93), "a field cricket bangs his head" (p. 100), "mosquitos bite" (p. 100), and "a button pops off" (p. 120). Reading haiku "evokes a smile" (p. 54). Strand knows his subject. I recommend this 189-page book for anyone interested in reading or writing haiku, or for anyone interested in Zen practice. It is well-illuminated path amidst the birch trees you, too, may find yourself revisting over the years. G. Merritt
Rating: 
Summary: Haiku Inspirations
Review: A classic book on how haiku can enrich our daily lives. Beautifully written, it got me started on writing haiku. We can nurture a greater sense of awareness with haiku.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful piece of writing
Review: As I sit here browsing through Seeds from a Birch Tree for this review, I realize that I want to re-read it now, so this review will be shorter than I originally planned. It is somewhat hard to define what kind of a book Seeds from a Birch Tree really is. It mixes haiku and regular text elegantly to make up very attractive chapters where haiku and text take turns illustrating each other. Reading it gave me a great feeling of serenity. It was like drinking crystal clear water for the soul. I hope it has changed my way of thinking in some respects - I think I see new things now. Reading Seeds from a Birch Tree is a comfortable opportunity to take "the road less travelled by" for a short while and shift one's focus a little. I heartily recommend it to any lovers of poetry and life, and I pity anyone who doesn't read it.
Rating:
Summary: CLARK STRAND -- An American Haiku Master
Review: Clark Strand is an American Haiku Master; he doesn't say so (no American does), but he is. Most of the haiku contained in the book were written by his disciples (he calls them his students). Anyone interested in becoming a serious haiku poet or who just wants to be able to write a few good haiku, will benefit from reading this book. The book is very straightforward and easy to understand. He offers the readers some good tips on how to get started and describes many deeply personal episodes of his own spiritual and haiku journey and development, which for Strand, often go hand in hand. He even makes fun of himself and describes personal failures, something most writers would never dare to do! A definite intimacy between writer and reader is established which is also rare. It should however be said that Strand's approach to haiku is heavily influenced by his experiences and schooling in the teachings of Zen. It should also be mentioned that Strand belongs to the Shiki school that believes haiku are "sketches of life". This is one viewpoint; there are many other valid ones. Shiki stated that most of the haiku written by the painter Buson were excellent while most of the haiku written by the philosopher Basho were mediocre, but it appears that Strand parts paths with Shiki on this point. He likes Basho's approach as well and quotes his own Zen master's haiku in the book, a type of haiku much closer to the Basho school than to the type of haiku Buson and Shiki and their successors wrote. My favorite example from Strand's book of the "sketch approach" is the following haiku by Ken Stec: Oars flash in the sun: at the center of the lake two men cease to row My favorite example from the book using the "philosophical approach" is the following haiku by Strand's Zen Master, Soen Roshi: hana no yo no hana no yoh naru hito bakari in a universe flowering with sentient beings each being flowering Strand has a very disciplined approach and thus strongly defends the 5-7-5 syllable pattern in writing haiku in English. He makes some good arguments, but makes the serious mistake of comparing English language syllables with Japanese jion (sound beats) which are shorter in length. It has been proven that 17 jion are the equivalent in sound length to about 11-14 syllables in English. He also fails to mention that the Japanese use three words for punctuation: ya, kana, and keri instead of using the dash, comma, colon, semi-colon, exclamation mark, and ellipsis used in English. Comparing these two systems with one another is like comparing pineapples with pine trees. Strand also fails to mention urban haiku for city-dwellers (he only includes a couple of mild examples in his book) and important issues such as the degradation of the environment. Today we have acid rain, polluted skies and seas, contaminated rivers and frog ponds, golf balls on the moon, disappearing rain forests, extinct and endangered plant and animal species, thousands of skin cancer cases due to the depleted ozone layer, etc. all of which most of us on this planet are deeply affected by today and are therefore legitimate topics for inclusion in haiku. The pristine beauty of the natural environment in the days of Basho passed long ago. But these criticisms should not be overweighed; the book is a very enjoyable reading experience for anyone who is interested in haiku and/or Zen and includes four helpful exercises that anyone can easily try out as an experiment. For me, the book reaches a peak in about the middle. My favorite chapters are Cockscombs, Daisies, and Sound. These three chapters alone are worth the price of the book; they are priceless! Sound is only about a page long, but contains the key to writing really good haiku. Want to know what it is? Buy the book and find out! But different parts of the book, fifty short chapters in all, will appeal to a wide range of people for different reasons. Clark Strand is a good teacher. He has a gentle and intimate approach and like all really great teachers, teaches from his own experiences and practices what he preaches. It is a bit curious that Strand has not come out with a book of his own haiku yet nor an anthology of his follower's haiku. I certainly hope that all of us won't have to wait too much longer. However, Seeds From a Birch Tree, a book long overdue, was well worth the wait.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Brilliant
Review: Clark Strand's book on the history and technique of haiku is simply brilliant. In this book, Strand provides a great introduction to the art of haiku. Like haiku, this book is short and full of information. Rather than provide a dry analytical discussion, Strand explains the ground rules and encourages the reader to try his/her hand at writing haikus. He also discusses how to turn haiku writing into an everyday spiritual practice. My only complaint is that Strand did not include a larger number of classic haiku. But then again Strand never promised an anthology. I highly recommend this book to anyone, especially a non-poet or non-writer, looking for a creative outlet or considering haiku. A better introduction cannot be found anywhere else.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Brilliant
Review: Clark Strand's book on the history and technique of haiku is simply brilliant. In this book, Strand provides a great introduction to the art of haiku. Like haiku, this book is short and full of information. Rather than provide a dry analytical discussion, Strand explains the ground rules and encourages the reader to try his/her hand at writing haikus. He also discusses how to turn haiku writing into an everyday spiritual practice. My only complaint is that Strand did not include a larger number of classic haiku. But then again Strand never promised an anthology. I highly recommend this book to anyone, especially a non-poet or non-writer, looking for a creative outlet or considering haiku. A better introduction cannot be found anywhere else.
Rating:
Summary: Haiku as a spiritual practice
Review: If you're into writing or Zen or both, or if you'd like to learn about either or both, I highly recommend this book. Clark Strand, a writer and former Zen monk, writes about haiku as a spritual practice of awareness of nature. The book includes many haiku written by Stand and by participants in his workshops. Also recommended: Strand's introduction to meditation, "The Wooden Bowl"; and Natalie Goldberg's books on writing as a spiritual practice ("Writing Down the Bones," etc.).
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting take on spiritual journey and haiku
Review: This is a book I wished I liked better than I do. The concept - a nurturing, gentle introduction to the writing of haiku for spiritual seekers rather than poets - is an excellent concept. The author feeds the formal and historical information required to read or write haiku in small, friendly doses. He uses primarily examples from his students or himself rather than "the masters". He has the pleasant ability to laugh at himself and, thus, make the reader confortable with stumbling/bumbling along the way themselves. And some of his students have written excellent haiku. The problem? the subtitle promises more than it gives "writing haiku and the spiritual journey" for spiritual journey is limited to the author's own Zen journey, the description of which, gives the reader little confidence in the author's qualifications. From the poems of Sister Benedicta he includes, I'd rather read the same material as written by her. I say that in the context of being a Westerner and a Catholic who is also both a haiku poet and a Buddhist scholar. From the other reviews of this book, I observe that several individuals highly recommend this book - if their reviews entice you to read this, don't let my lack of enthusiasm disuade you.
Rating:
Summary: A haiku a day helps you work, rest and play...
Review: This is an excellent book - much more accessible than some other introductions to haiku. Perhaps this is because it is fairly short, but I think more due to the author's writing style. Strand weaves his way between pearls of wisdom about writing, autobiographical snippets and pointers to haiku practice with fluidity and ease. I read half of this book in the bookstore where I found it - I just couldn't put it down. In fact one of the many factors that kept me reading was the author's self-revelation. With remarkable concision he tells us a great deal about his own spiritual journey, in and out of Zen monasticism, in and out of depression, without a single word of self-indulgence. If you want to know everything there is to know about haiku, this book is only the start. But if you want to know how to merge haiku with your everyday life in a meaningful way, this book is the *best* place to start.
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