Childhood Haikus: Seeing into Tomorrow: Haiku by Richard Wright and Nina Crews

The haiku from Richard Wright's childhood came from the closely observed landscapes and animals he knew, the railroad trains that rumbled down the middle of the town, the caws of the crows and the rustling of the leaves, a dusty road down which his bike travels, the blue of the skies in which his yellow kite rises, and a sunset that colors and changes everything. --Nina Crews

Empty railroad tracks. And the rails leap with life.

Like the classic style dictates, Richard Wright's haikus capture a tiny memory, a moment in time as a child might see it.

Suddenly mindful,

the tree was looking at me,

each green leaf alive.

In her Seeing into Tomorrow: Haiku by Richard Wright (Millbrook Press), artist Nina Crews sets Wright's haiku against photos of real boys in the real outdoors, arranged together to set off the meaning and feeling of each haiku, the photos and the text each a slice of life, caught in the moment. For reading aloud and for poetry lessons, this book is perfect for youngsters learning to listen to the music of words and to write their own poetry.
Says Publishers Weekly, "The clustered, overlapping photographs scatter and dissipate at the edges of the spreads, subtly reflecting the evanescence of the moments Wright describes."