a breath of fresh air… a moment of repose by Marcia Twain Brett Brady's "wind in the pages: haiku" lends the reader an oft-overdue moment of repose. Each haiku is a breath -- an unconscious “flash” that, once considered, illuminates the simultaneous significance and futility of thought -- of the act of thinking. Indeed, each page transports us beyond this plateau, as the visceral experience reminds us of what lies beneath and beyond the self-importance we construe through our memory of names and feelings and words: it is not just "poetry," but a lens through which we can recognize (without cognizing if we are so lucky) -- and perhaps even become -- understanding. It is a rare book that one can leaf through randomly or sit down and soak in each page in its carefully crafted order. Highly recommended... as evidenced by the following excerpts: dead leaves… one by one they go like butterflies implicit...succinct...pithy... to-the-point tho elegantly indirect... curiously multi-layered, like life, they invite ambiguity, suggest the narrative and intuit truth... they are haiku! The character of every experience can be seen in all manner of manifestations…. The blue in the sky; the deep of an ocean; the temporary-permanence of a cloud-shape; from the endlessly vast vacuum of outer space and the profoundly still silence of the inner-mind, to the minuscule jittery-twitchings of an ant's antennae, it is, after all, the immediacy of the moment that gives us a deeper sense of life… particularly if we allow room for our own nurturing nature to evolve and grow. A willingness to embrace this awareness enhances and highlights our innate abilities to perceive, appreciate, and flesh-out our own uniquely distinctive surroundings in remarkable ways, ways in which we might not have otherwise permitted nor even remotely considered. To penetrate beyond the walls of our insular selves and fully explore the world as it is, invigorated, invites us to collaborate in its artistry..., as we will have learned how to poignantly feel an infinite truth resonating in a single flash of intuitive insight. There is no such thing as a "second time" experience. And this is haiku! a swirl of dandelion-fluff flying off -brett brady -ABOUT THE AUTHOR - an occasional ripple... author/poet/musician [writer, singer, actor, athlete, lyricist, composer, illustrator, lecturer, teacher, coach, news reporter, bus driver, lighthouse sweeper, lobster fisherman, house builder, house parent, construction worker, songwriter, guitarist, flautist, filmmaker, playwright, printer, publisher, director, producer, professor, feasibility adviser, paper boy, garbage man, salesman, life-counselor, camp-counselor, college dean, university executive vice-president, farmhand, and quite likely a few more...] - “There are many wonderful haijin out there deftly presenting the case for haiku. I’m probably better suited as an observer; rather more like a student of the art than a lawyer for its defense [or prosecution.]” “Anonymity [the closest we can get to invisibility] facilitates a wish/need to breathe-in each now-moment as fully liberated as possible... there is a serene freedom in solitude. It affords an extraordinary luxury to absorb life… wherein, sometimes, I might jot down a few ordinary notes.” “To quote Ryokan [a favorite poet]: “the nightingale’s song brings me out of a dream: the morning glows” …then the very fine haijin ai li: “quiet observation enables us to write truthfully”… to which I can only add: "yes!"" His work appears in various publications, some of which are: Across the Dark [pub: Celestial Arts]; Tearing Mind/Silent Streams [Sea Litho Press]; Dalhousie Gazette [Joseph Howe Award; archives]; Haiku Journal [2nd annual International Yuki Teikei Haiku Contest; Sumitomo Bank Award]; Cicada; Dragonfly; Poet; Lucidity; Quiet Storms [Michael Hoppe, Gaia Records]; The Yearning [Michael Hoppe; pub: Chordially Yours Music; Bainbridge Records]; The Dreamer [Michael Hoppe; pub: Chordially Yours Music; Bainbridge Records]; Requiem [Michael Hoppe; pub: Chordially Yours Music]; Today’s Beautiful Gem [e-mag]; Quotes That Leave A Mark [e-pub]; Jiyu-Katari [New Haiku Contest (awarded)]; The Hawaii Education Association International Haiku Contest [for: “humorous” (senryu); “Hawaii word”; “season word”]; Clouds Peak; TinyWords; The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (2009); andrearazzauti.com; brettbrady.com; foggy autumn lake [B.Brady; A.Razzauti; M.Perez; pub:4evrsumr]; 11 haiku: "two eagles soaring" [B.Brady; M. Hoppe; pub: 4evrsumr], The Haiku Foundation: Registry of Poets; 2009 Australia Riverbeats Festival - Brett continues to live on the Big Island of Hawaii, where he raised his daughter. foggy autumn lake... an occasional ripple to break the silence