Late Blooming Cherries: Haiku Poetry from India

Late Blooming Cherries: Haiku Poetry from India
Edited by by Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih and Rimi Nath
Published by Harpercollins India (2024)

I didn’t expect a collection of haiku to feel like a quiet conversation with stillness— but ‘Late Blooming Cherries’ did exactly that. This book isn’t just a compilation of poems. It’s a slow unfolding. A series of brief, breath-held moments that ask you to pause, look, and listen— closer than you usually do. Each haiku blooms in its own season, and the silence around the words matters just as much as the syllables themselves. What stood out to me wasn’t just the technical precision— though that’s undeniably present— but the emotional restraint. These haiku don’t shout, they don’t try to be profound. They simply are. Honest. Fleeting. Luminous in their brevity. Like holding a raindrop long enough to feel its chill before it slides away.

There’s something deeply meditative in how these poets capture what’s often overlooked—dust on windowsills, the curve of a crow’s flight, a grandmother’s silence. These are poems that don’t need explanation. You don’t read them to understand— you read them to feel. And maybe to breathe a little slower. (Which exactly what I did with my book– Versifier’s Odyssey)

As someone who usually writes in free verse, reading this felt like standing in a form I don’t often wear— but one that still fits. It reminded me that minimalism isn’t emptiness. It’s precision. Intention. The kind of poetic discipline that forces you to cut closer to the bone. ‘Late Blooming Cherries’ doesn’t try to dazzle. It doesn’t rush. It whispers.

And in those whispers, I found stillness I didn’t know I was seeking. If you’re someone who finds poetry in everyday dust, in the waiting, in the unspoken— this collection is for you. Don’t rush this book. Let it unfold like dawn— soft, silent, and inevitable. You’ll carry its quiet long after you turn the last page.

Let it sit with you. Let it bloom slowly.
Not every poem needs to shout to be heard— some just need to be felt in the quiet.