Haiku from the tip of Africa

The conventions inherent in the ancient Japanese art of writing haiku, are embedded in its seventeen syllables spread over three lines. They display a poet's imaginative wit and dexterity. Haiku capture what Gerard Manley Hopkins calls the 'inscape,' or essence of a moment in nature.

These African haiku illustrate the power of poetry to appeal to the sensory and the cerebral. African philosophical traditions accept that the experience of wonder, reflected here, is the originating source of philosophy. In this new collection of haiku, Botswanan-born Anthea Pretorius, captures a variety of precious, but provocatively sombre insights into lived life at the tip of Africa. This collaboration of Japanese word art and African wisdom will keep you spellbound.