{"id":1469,"date":"2025-08-14T11:37:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T11:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/?p=1469"},"modified":"2025-08-14T11:37:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T11:37:22","slug":"late-blooming-cherries-haiku-poetry-from-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/late-blooming-cherries-haiku-poetry-from-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Late Blooming Cherries: Haiku Poetry from India"},"content":{"rendered":"

Late Blooming Cherries: Haiku Poetry from India<\/em>
\nEdited by by Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih and Rimi Nath
\nPublished by Harpercollins India (2024)<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t expect a collection of haiku to feel like a quiet conversation with stillness\u2014 but ‘Late Blooming Cherries’ did exactly that. This book isn\u2019t just a compilation of poems. It\u2019s a slow unfolding. A series of brief, breath-held moments that ask you to pause, look, and listen\u2014 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\u2019t just the technical precision\u2014 though that\u2019s undeniably present\u2014 but the emotional restraint. These haiku don\u2019t shout, they don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something deeply meditative in how these poets capture what\u2019s often overlooked\u2014dust on windowsills, the curve of a crow\u2019s flight, a grandmother\u2019s silence. These are poems that don\u2019t need explanation. You don\u2019t read them to understand\u2014 you read them to feel. And maybe to breathe a little slower. (Which exactly what I did with my book\u2013 Versifier’s Odyssey)<\/p>\n

As someone who usually writes in free verse, reading this felt like standing in a form I don\u2019t often wear\u2014 but one that still fits. It reminded me that minimalism isn\u2019t emptiness. It\u2019s precision. Intention. The kind of poetic discipline that forces you to cut closer to the bone. ‘Late Blooming Cherries’ doesn\u2019t try to dazzle. It doesn\u2019t rush. It whispers.<\/p>\n

And in those whispers, I found stillness I didn\u2019t know I was seeking. If you’re someone who finds poetry in everyday dust, in the waiting, in the unspoken\u2014 this collection is for you. Don\u2019t rush this book. Let it unfold like dawn\u2014 soft, silent, and inevitable. You\u2019ll carry its quiet long after you turn the last page.<\/p>\n

Let it sit with you. Let it bloom slowly.
\nNot every poem needs to shout to be heard\u2014 some just need to be felt in the quiet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Late Blooming Cherries: Haiku Poetry from India Edited by by Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih and Rimi Nath Published by Harpercollins India (2024) I didn\u2019t expect a collection of haiku to feel like a quiet conversation with stillness\u2014 but ‘Late Blooming Cherries’ did exactly that. This book isn\u2019t just a compilation of poems. It\u2019s a slow unfolding. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":1470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1469","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-poetry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1469"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1472,"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1469\/revisions\/1472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/attagalatta.com\/booksmart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}