NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

This Anthology of Haiku includes Ana Ruse, Alexandra Flora Munteau, Vasile Moldovan, Radu Patrichi and Laura Vaceanu.

The foreword of LIME-TREE FLOWERS gives the rationale of the lime tree theme of this haiku collection, linking it to Mihai Eminescu, a highly regarded late Romantic poet (1850-1889), who used the lime tree frequently throughout his poetry. Linking the motifs of Eminescu's work and the lime tree, shows how both have come to be revered in Romanian culture.

By the end of the anthology, one is inclined to feel as Flaubert felt when he was immersed in writing the closing poisoning scene for MADAME BOVARY: that he was almost entirely overcome by the process of having to conjure Emma's experience! In LIME-TREE FLOWERS, the smell, and taste suffuses the entire anthology, suggesting an almost synaesthetic quality, where all the senses have become almost fused together in the imaginative experience.

The translations sometimes jar, pointing to the gaps between the languages in expression. Finding words in another language might sometimes rob the original haiku of its creative vitality. However this reader found them interesting nonetheless. Some examples:

	lime smell
	among rain drops
	I am still on my way

	Magdalena Dale

		limes in bloom
		smells and crickets
		in the old lassy

		Adina Enachescu

	the lime shadow
	and the poet's trace
	take me in dream —
	flowers smells
	distort the love

	Stela Moise