I read Paper Cranes: Haiku, Senryu & Tanka by Alvin B. Cruz on the premise that it is a wake-up call for one’s dormant emotions. I was not disappointed. More than being a reminder to savor one’s emotions, it was also a call to action. The beautiful Japanese short verses were like shots after a very long day. They numbed my pain at first, but they made me remember once I was feeling their weight. The journey through the verses ended with forgetting, which brings me to a deep slumber. By the time I finished reading the book, I felt compelled to revisit the emotions which I was too scared to explore. I knew that doing so would burn me, but life is about burning on a planet filled with gas. It is how I burn that matters, and it was achieved by the over one hundred poems in the book.
The author’s creative play on words was the heart of the book’s magical appeal. The old typewriter gave the reader a sense of whimsy in the middle of heavy social themes discussed in the poems. The author’s personal realities were also explored in the verses. I felt the zero-waste life presented in a poem, as well as the eternal puzzle which the author continues to search for. By writing these poems, the author presents his life, his longing, and his laments. By reading his poems, his words take on a different meaning as I make them my own and process them through my own experiences. Having experienced pain, loss, longing, and grief, I empathize with the author. By appreciating his book, I celebrate his memories through his beautiful poetry. By finishing his book, I learned to dream again. The author presented poems on the loneliest human conditions, which inspire us all to dream again. After all, it is only through dreaming that one can improve one’s life and contribute to the upliftment of the human condition.
Paper Cranes: Haiku, Senryu & Tanka by Alvin B. Cruz is available on https://central.com.ph/.