Review of A Tree Frog's Eyes

[Kennedy NC]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "A Tree Frog's Eyes" by David E Navarro.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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A Tree Frog's Eyes by David E. Navarro is a book of haiku exploring the integral essence and beauty of nature. The author, a wandering minister, confesses that he wishes to use poetry to help people reconnect with God, nature, and a greater sense of self and purpose. In this book, he shares with us how he fell in love with haiku as a form of poetry, and how he feels connected, or in some way a student of those considered to be the ancient masters, such as Matsuo Basho and Yosa Buson.

This book starts with a foreword that tries to provide the reader with some background information into the nature, structure, and essence of haiku, which will help him in deciphering the poems that follow. He shows us that the conventional haiku is divided into zoka, ma, tathata, and toriawase, as expressed through the functions of kigo, and kireji. I am sure you would like to find out what these words mean and how they function in a haiku. You can only do so by reading this book.

The poems explore the essence of nature and the four seasons of spring, summer, winter, and autumn. The second segment focused on the wild and various fragments of nature such as trees, woods, paths, flora, fauna, insects, mountains, oceans, rivers, stones and shores. The last segment contained a very important admonition by the author that I will leave you to find out.

Written in simple yet profound diction, the haiku poems contained in this book compel deep introspection and thinking by the reader. This forms one of its numerous positive aspects. As is the case with haiku, the meaning of most words as they are used in the poem is not immediately apparent. And just as the author advised towards the end of the book, one may only be able to appreciate their embedded meanings upon repetitive reading.

I appreciate the extensive effort made by the author in the foreword to provide the reader with additional and background information which will help him to better understand the poems that follow. This evinced an honest desire on the part of the author for the readers to get his message. The author reveals in his foreword that the interwoven connection of God, nature, reality, and spirituality is an underlying driving force behind and within his haiku. And we see this strong connection to nature and reality reflected in his poems.

I did not discover a single grammatical error in this book. This is quite rare and is a testament to the exceptional editing that went into this work. The book was accompanied by pictures and illustrations, which added to my pleasure while reading this book. I have nothing negative to say about this work. Because of this, I do not hesitate to give this book of poetry a perfect 4 out of 4 stars. This is a great piece of literature for those who are experienced in haiku and those who want to understand more about this profound form of poetry. Therefore, I recommend it to such a group of readers or audience.

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A Tree Frog's Eyes
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[Reader-247]

A wonderful premise for an enchanting genre of poetry, thanks for a lovely review.. I hope to read this one day:)

[ashyclouds]

interesting, I like what the book is about and the gorgeous topics the author conveyed like the essence of nature and the four seasons of spring, summer, winter, and autumn which sounds cool to the reader. thanks for the review.

[Justine Ocsebio]

This book of poems that explores the essence of nature and four seasons seem like a great read. Good job on the review!