A Heartbeat From Disaster

Haiku & senryu inspired by the Great East Japan Earthquake, 11 March 2011. This collection of haiku in English is the poetry debut of author, speaker, designer and poet Helen McCarthy. Helen has written poetry since childhood, but only considered publication after tweeting haiku daily for over two years.

Poetry is an ideal medium for considering the appalling natural disaster that struck Japan and humanity's reaction to it. Haiku and senryu, Japan's spare and evocative poems of seventeen syllables arranged across three lines, address the natural and human spheres, reflecting a cataclysm in which humankind and nature were inextricably entwined.

The dignity and grace of the Japanese people deserve respect, but their suffering, like that of all disaster survivors, cannot be forgotten in a year. They have a long road ahead. All profits from this book will be donated to the Japan Red Cross to help survivors of this and other disasters.