The Turbulent Mountains

First Honorable Mention – 2019 TLP Haiku chapbook Contest

The Turbulent Mountains
By Mohammad Azim Khan

Remarks below are from Susan Antolin, the judge of the 2019 contest

Haiku on the topic of war date back to the time of Basho.

In this collection of wartime haiku, the setting is Afghanistan and the specific images are both unique to this war and universal in their depiction of the horror that encompasses all wars.

war zone—
amongst the rubble
an empty birdcage

These poems have an immediacy that brings the reader into the moment in a way that is startling and authentic. The smaller details seem in a way to land with a greater heaviness than any that make reference to larger ideas or events.

For those of us in the U.S., to whom the war in Afghanistan can feel distant and surreal, this collection provides a valuable look at the real day-to-day consequences to life in the region. Perhaps haiku can show us what news reporting cannot.

To view this free ebook, please just click on the below image. It will generate a slide show of the work in our gallery.