Wren's House: haiku & senryu
ISBN: 978-0-9795844-5-9. 6 x 9. $10.
Ortolani employs images to create scenes, but ultimately his haiku seek the human heart—a good laugh at the neighborhood café, a connection with kids at Halloween, a mid-life crisis, or a stint in the cardiac ward. His ordinary language about everyday events creates awareness about what really matters—a lasting awareness of being fully alive. ~ Randy Brooks, Editor, Mayfly
Al Ortolani’s haiku touch all five senses with the essence of Kansas, including the swelling sound of cicadas, newly planted shadows of apple trees, and scent of turned soil. . . . Like prairie grass roots, his images reach deep and are perennial. ~ Ruth Yarrow, Poet, No One Sees the Stems
A collection of the best of thirty years of writing haiku and senryu. Ortolani finds inspiration inside the house and outside, and gives us plenty to contemplate from first poem to last: “Late summer:/waking to the vacant O/of the wren’s house.”
August heat . . .
invisible strings
swing the dragonflies