Mt Tremper Haiku
New York City: Flypaper Press, 2000. paper covers. Square format (17.8cm), 72pp (unpaginated) comprising: 2pp (blank), 2pp (tp, copyright), 2pp (Introduction), 1p (dedication), 31 haiku with 31 facing images. Speckled red paper covers with title in black on spine, black free endpapers, signed by Baatz in pencil on the first blank. Fine. Item #732
Ronald Baatz is a poet I discovered when cataloguing Billy Jone's library of poetry chapbooks. He lives in Troy (upstate New York) with his wife Anda and is known for never providing biographical notes beyond this, preferring his poetry to speak for itself. I recently came across a review of his work that resonates: "Often when I think of his work, the word delicacy comes to mind, not just in execution or image, but a certain delicacy of feeling, more implied than stated, running just beneath the surface." (Issa's Untidy Hut, The Liliput Review Blogspot, 2012). The reviewer goes on to describe experiencing a lump in his throat on successive readings of one particular poem. Baatz has this capacity to go gently to the heart of things, drawing the reader from quiet contemplation to amusement to upwelling tears and back again.
Price: $45.00