The Unworn Necklace

Roberta Beary has written another gem in "The Unworn Necklace." Her haiku has the power to reach into the corners of the heart. harvest moon the long pull of faraway children Make poetry of everyday matters, spring morning the vacuum's cord snaps back into itself And, evoke long buried memories or make us smile. This collection, perhaps her best, is filled with observations on life cast in beautifully chosen language creating a vivid mind-scene.

Roberta Beary is a very keen observer of her surroundings, people in her life, and of herself, too. This is a wonderful collection of autobiographical senryu and haiku that leads the reader through the poet's life-matters and shares her view of the natural world. thunder the roses shift into shadow Some of the more ironic poems may cause you to at least snort if not produce a full guffaw. family picnic the new wife's rump bigger than mine A haiku poet is always present in a poem, often passively, but sometimes as a participant. Roberta handles her language very deftly, allowing the reader to share even in matters personal to the writer: birth, death, love, divorce. The production of this book is also excellent -- published in Britain by John Barlow's Snapshot Press. I recommend this collection by a talented and unique poet. Paul MacNeil Ocala, Florida

The Unworn Necklace is a highly enjoyable collection of haiku and senryu by one of the best practitioners of these genres in English. Readers of poetry other than haiku might find it easier to respond to the more personal poems, such as: no longer married only their shadows touch . . . graduation day * mother's visit side by side we outline our lips But the same quiet insight and humor also underlies the nature poems: turning away from the pear tree . . . turning back The Unworn Necklace is a handsome book as well. John Barlow and Snapshot Press are doing their part to bring haiku in English into the mainstream of literature in the West.

A long-time fan of Roberta Beary's haiku and senryu, I just wrote a lengthy review of this book at my weblog, f/k/a, which has an audience of lawyers and haiku poets. Most lovers of fine haiku don't know or care that Roberta has a law degree and is a real estate finance attorney. For them, she's not "the best lawyer haiku poet;" she's quite simply one of the best haiku poets alive -- and she has proven it in haiku journals, contests and anthologies, year in and year out, for over a decade. But, we've been waiting for a full-length volume of her work. Therefore, The Unworn Necklace is a long-awaited, much-anticipated haikai milestone. I'm not into "poetic" language. I especially like the focus of haiku and senryu on the concrete, the small things that are part of everyday life. Roberta excels at that focus, while courageously revealing moments (as well as cycles and seasons) of pain, understanding that darkness and hurt (from divorcing to watching your parents become frail) are not only natural parts of life, but can be as life-affirming as the joys and beauty she also finds and shares. Filled with poems that will surely be hailed as "classics", this collection will leave haiku lovers wanting a sequel. And, if given the chance, it will create haiku lovers out of a lot of people who swear, like me, that they really don't like poetry.