Seeds From a Birch Tree: Writing Haiku and the Spiritual Journey

Infused with hearty Zen wisdom and proceeding at a deliberately unhurried pace, Seeds from a Birch Tree attempts to make the poetry of nature into an easily accessible refuge from the fast pace of the technological world. Clark Strand, an English teacher who has lived as a Zen Buddhist monk, has written an engaging book that weaves personal memoir with poetry instruction. The book is well written if unusual, a happily meandering series of lessons that encourage the reader to appreciate how the writing and reading of haiku can become a very practical meditative process.