NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

An independent small press poetry review

NHI independent review
VALENTIN NICOLITOV: DOAR CLIPA/ONLY THE MOMENT
Editura Orion
Str. Judetului 13, bloc 18 ap.27. sector 2
Bucharest
Cod 023756
Romania
ISBN 973 8020 68 9

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VALENTIN NICOLITOV: DOAR CLIPA/ONLY THE MOMENT

This is a substantial edition, with two haiku to a page. Each haiku appears with two translations, the translators being Dana Dima, Constantin Frosin and Denise Rotaru. The book is divided into the four seasons, senryu and meditations. I give below an example of each season, starting with spring:

	Sky adorned with stars,
	by my side in the grass,
	only a glow worm.

		Two large umbrellas
		running in the summer shower:
		a couple of lovers.

	A single green blade
	among the dead leaf litter.
	A lonely feeling.

		Thick flakes of snow.
		The light coming through the window
		fainter and fainter.
As the haiku above demonstrate, the seasons are handled simply and quietly, and give the usual mix of subjects. The meditation section contains personal thoughts and dreams:
	Autumn has arrived.
	Leaves are gently circling round:
	Death without pain.

		Moonbeams at the windows
		are making the acquaintance
		of solitude.

	Under the old nut tree
	the crows' croaking is breaking
	the silence.
Clearly these poems are pointing to the sadness of life and the transience of our existence. There are plenty of emotions here. The poems are not substantially in keeping with western approaches. Valentin Nicolitov was born in Bucharest. He is an engineer and he is the General Secretary of the Romanian- Japanese cultural magazine HAIKU. It is always refreshing and interesting to look at different styles and approaches to haiku. Nicolitov gives a forward, and in it he talks about his approach, which centres on love and humanity. He says of the world that:
I dream of the day when it would be better, when we shall understand and love one another more.
This is an interesting book.

reviewer: Doreen King.