Customer Reviews:

• "Connections is Emily Romano’s second book of haiga published by Shadow Poetry, following her recent release of Immersions. Picking up this newest haiga chapbook, I am greeted by a rich forest green cover with white lettering and Emily’s own computer art design of green and peach swirls interconnecting on a white ground: a vibrant eye-catcher! As with Immersions, turn your book to a horizontal orientation to view this colorful chapbook of beautifully rendered haiga, printed in high quality laser from the Shadow Poetry press.

I will describe a few of my favorite haiga here for you with my own personal interpretations, but please be aware that seeing them is the real way to enjoy the rich colors and the full impact of Emily’s computer art coupled with her excellent haiku, so that you can draw your own interpretative experiences and conclusions.

*Page 10: Visual image: a deep purple ground, graduated to lighter shades near the top; a full yellow moon. Near the right bottom corner vignetting of moss green leaves. Yellow lettering:

            cemetery moon-
            just enough light
            to read your name

‘Cemetery moon’ pulls me into its intrigue with deep spiritual purples and hints of down-to earth green foliage showing through its purple shadows. The overhung full moon sheds minimal light on the subject matter as well as the scene, creating a macrocosmic mood over our earthly experiences of life and death. Is the memory of the deceased loved one also fading?

*Page 14: Deep Prussian blue ground; full golden moon shaded with oranges; green, gold and orange leaves drooping downward:

            moon phase-
            we meet
            to talk

The phases of their relationship are synchronous with the phases of the moon: another interesting example of macrocosmic and microcosmic ‘connections’ if you will, from the title of her book.

*Page 20: Cadmium gold ground with geometric design of browns and greens:

            pulling the blanket
            closer around me...
            ancestral love

Not only do we have connections with life and death as we know it and with our planet and the universe, but also with the memories of our loved ones. As the final haiga in this series, love indeed is the eternal connection that permeates all other connections.

Other haiga in Emily’s book explore further connections between man and nature, our senses and how they relate to us in our surroundings, the impact of our connections with the seasons, and other connections that are both personal and universal. You will surely want to explore them all by adding this elegant and thought provoking chapbook to your library. ~Review by Jan Turner, author of 4 chapbooks by Shadow Poetry.

• "Connections is a jewel box of haiga. Each page is a gem, with color that either softly beckons or intensely floods the senses, and presents a haiku that reflects some common experience that connects us all. As the title suggests, Connections also leads us to the connections between each original work of art and the impact of Emily’s words so carefully paired with it.

One of my favorites is:

            last leaf
            fluttering
            heartbeat

The image is of a single bronze leaf drifting through an October blue sky. Perhaps the leaf is a birch leaf, as it is somewhat heart-shaped. The art resonates with the words whichever way it is read: last leaf fluttering/heartbeat or last leaf/fluttering heartbeat. I am fully involved, and feel the sadness that comes with the passing of time, the end of a season, the end of a life drawing near. And then, I think again, perhaps it’s not the end of a life? Perhaps it’s that first flutter of life in the womb, and one life is ending (that of the leaf, that of the season, that of a loved one) as a new life is beginning. Emily says so much with so few words, and as my mind turns them over and over I find layers of meaning and new insights.

Another favorite is:

            this vine
            encroaching
            on my page

It appears so simple: just a bit of ivy overgrowing a page. Yet isn’t something always encroaching on our lives, our thoughts, our plans? How much of this is serendipitous and how much a result of our own previous actions which have set a series of events in motion? How much is fate or a higher power asking us to take notice? What appears to be an annoying distraction may become a turning point or an enlightening moment. When mold “encroached” on the bacterial growth in a now famous experiment, Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered penicillin. And so my thoughts explore meaning after meaning, connection after connection.

From the moment I opened the striking front cover until I turned the last page to see Emily’s photo on the back cover, I felt deeply connected to the natural world and to human nature. I think you will enjoy finding your own connections in this collection of beautifully rendered haiga." - Margaret R. Smith