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Wing Beats: British Birds in Haiku

Wing Beats cover Written and compiled by John Barlow and Matthew Paul, illustrated by Sean Gray, and with a foreword by Stephen Moss, Wing Beats features 323 experiential haiku and 131 species of British birds. Extensive informative texts also explore both British avifauna and the history and intricacies of haiku poetry, considering the relationships between these in a global context.

Hardback: 320 pages
ISBN 978-1-903543-24-5

‘In Wing Beats, the brief, Japanese-style haiku becomes an absolutely first-rate medium for capturing those fleeting moments all bird-lovers prize. The birds in these poems glide, poke, and zip across the many different landscapes of Britain, punctuating the wind and the sounds of human activity. Substantial appendices discuss how experience and tradition combine to freshen our understanding of the seasons in haiku. I find Wing Beats full of acute observations, artistically moving, and intellectually stimulating—a very important book.’

William J. Higginson, author
The Haiku Handbook, Haiku World, etc.