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Fire Pearls: Short Masterpieces of the Human Heart. M. Kei
Editor. 2006. Lulu.com ISBN: 978-1-4303-0999-4.
160 pages, " X 9", perfect bind, black and white interior ink.
$ 14.95.
Fire Pearls, Short
Masterpieces of the Human Heart, addresses all aspects of the
human heart. Fifty poets run the gamut of emotion from laughter
to grief, anger, jealousy, joy, delight and more. All the poems
are short five line stanzas: tanka, kyoka, cinquains, and free
verse, yet the poets of Fire Pearls can pack an entire lifetime
into a single intense poem. Arranged by season, including a
‘fifth season,’ Fire Pearls is sure to delight romantics and
curmudgeons alike.
“Fire Pearls will be quite a surprise for those who are
frequent readers of tanka, the five-line poem with a 1300 year
history. For newcomers to tanka, the poems should be a challenge
and a delight. The last section, entitled “Fifth Season,’ is a
tour de force. To journey through this anthology is to
experience key moments of our lives.”
—Sanford
Goldstein, co-translator of Tangled Hair: Selected Tanka from
Midaregami
“What a magnificent anthology… it weakens, heartens, humbles,
enlarges, and delivers so many poetic truths that I just am so
glad to see this come to fruition.”
—Tom
Clausen, author of Growing Late
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