Selma’s Review of “Haiku for the Midnight Hour”

by Dawn Pisturino on September 13, 2024

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I’m pleased and honored to share poet Selma Martin’s review of Haiku for the Midnight Hour. Selma lives in Japan and knows a lot about haiku and Japanese poetry, so her review means a lot to me. Selma’s debut poetry book, In the Shadow of Rainbows, published by Experiments in Fiction, was a #1 Amazon New Release in 2023.

Selma in Japan

5.0 out of 5 stars Right on time for the changing season of both hemispheres. Let yourself get subsumed.Reviewed in Japan on September 9, 2024

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“HAIKU FOR THE MIDNIGHT HOUR by Dawn Pisturino is elegant and warm in tone. It is a brave compilation of poems that challenges the traditional form of Japanese poetic art, which is short meditations on natural and philosophical themes.

It’s a great “experimental challenge,” a lovely compilation comprising dark themes on observations that embrace the other side of literature and life: monsters, ghosts, natural fears, supernatural forces, fearful gods and goddesses, and whatever constitutes the Otherworld.

HAIKU FOR THE MIDNIGHT HOUR is fast-moving. It’s current and right on time for the changing season of both hemispheres when one wants to have an unputdownable book close at hand.

I invite you to open the door/cover to this poetry collection and enter its imaginary portal.

Here are some of my favorites:

“mausoleum flanked/
by cypress trees and willows/
bent by mournful winds/”

“requiem mass fills/
church with flowers and mourners/
a sold-out event/”

“fish-faced men smelling/
like cod sire children with gills/
unholy inbreeds/”

“cockroaches old as/
t-rex scoot across the floor/
hiding in shadows/”

It’s a fascinating collection and I’m sure all readers will find favorites in this book too. I highly recommend this book for your reading pleasure or gift-giving for the upcoming holidays.”

Thank you so much, Selma, for your wonderful review! Visit Selma’s website HERE.

Have a magical day!

Dawn Pisturino

Author, Haiku for the Midnight Hour (2024) – #1 Amazon New Release in Japanese Poetry & Haiku, Haiku & Japanese Poetry, and 90-Minute Teen & Young Adult Short Reads

Author, Lunar Gazing Haiku (2024) – #1 Amazon New Release in Asian and Contemporary Poetry, Japanese Poetry & Haiku, 45-Minute Teen & Young Adult Short Reads, Poetry for Teens & Young Adults, and Haiku & Japanese Poetry

Author, Ariel’s Song: Published Poems, 1987 – 2023 (2024)

#1 Amazon Bestseller Author 2024

#1 Amazon Bestseller Co-Author 2022, 2023, 2024

Author of the Month for March 2024 on Spillwords Press

Co-Author, Cadence: Life’s Poetic Rhythms (2024)

Co-Author, Petals of Haiku: An Anthology (2024)

Co-Author, Hidden in Childhood: A Poetry Anthology (2023)

Co-Author, 2023 Arizona Literary Magazine

Co-Author, Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women (2022)

Official Author Website: www.dawnpisturino.org

September 13, 2024