NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

This is a very substantial publication with more than 200 pages of poetry and related material, roughly half of which is in English, and the remainder in Japanese. It includes verse translations from many languages; a haiga gallery with monochrome illustrations; advertisements for contests; subscription information and a submission form. Most importantly it includes work by 159 poets in languages ranging from English and Japanese to Slavic, work by junior writers and five essays on haiku criticism, advice and editorial reflection.

In a work of this scale and breadth it is inevitable that there should be some very fine writing. In attempting to make a representative selection, I initially chose more than twenty poems of various types, from which short-list here are some favourites (cited in English):

	Midnight
	neon advertising
	lights the eyes of a dog

	Dejan Bogojević

		Torrential rain —
		Christians and Jews find shelter
		in a mosque

		Vladimir Devidé

	A flower vendor's voice
	keeps chasing me
	at the end of the year

	Tomiko Endo

		In front of the minarets
		bent fishing-rods
		cats waiting

		Kaj Falkman

	     cold Aegean sun —
	the temple
	     half stone, half shadow

	Stanford M. Forrester

		The red stars of maples
		Cover the ground
		Warm twilight

		Lyudmila Hristova

	Chilly evening,
	the chant of the witches
	warms the moon

	Toni Piccini

		The autumn air is so high
		a river of sulfur
		curved

	Sumiko Saito

	first snow
	a homeless child carrying
	a dollhouse

	Petar Tchouhov