Venice Haiku

North East poet Michael Wilkin, previously published in the Bloodaxe collection Ten North-East Poets: An Anthology (1980), is a regular visitor to Venice. Over the years he has penned these vivid haiku, 51 in total, seeing the watery city in a new light. The book is a distinctive A7 in size, beautifully produced on textured paper, with one haiku per page.

Aboard a leaping Vaporetto – / The road to Venice / Splashes in our faces.

Today the rain-pocked canals / Are a weeping grey – / Swept clean of gondolas.

Michael Wilkin is a native Tynesider who has lived for the past thirty-five years in Cullercoats. He is a former trades union official at the Swan Hunter Shipyards and second-hand bookseller. The book is dedicated to the author's partner, Jean Thurston.