Readers of ghazals will recognize that whiff of the exotic in Alishan's perfectly executed haiku. A subtle blending of cultures occurs which makes his work even more valued and special and therefore – authentic. In adopting new forms, he remains true to his heritage and background by bending the spirit of the form to fit him instead of folding himself and his impressions into Japanese poetry. There is a very fine line there that is too often ignored by non-Japanese who become enamored with this new, to them, poetry. Some persons can write, in English, a fine imitation of what the Japanese have done. Too often prizes are given for this level of work. Much harder to accomplish and even more difficult to have accepted is the poetry that works with Japanese genre techniques but shows that the author was true to herself or himself for inspiration and understanding of the relationships of phenomena.
with the sonic boom
of jet aircraft you explode
in my mind
ten thousand birds scatter in flight
abandoning their nests for life
every day
under the weight of snow and ice
another of her branches break
soon
my mother alone will be left
Even the layout of this gentle book, shows an old-world courtliness and respect for the poetry by enclosing each poem, printed one to a page, in a fine, lined representation of a photo in an album. It is as if the editor understood that each poem is a picture, not only of the author and his life, but also of a reality. More than the blank space of the ivory pages, this detail raises each vision slightly above the previous one.