“Over several books John Brandi has shown himself to a master of the tricky and insightful form of haiku. These poems carry the immediacy and freshness of original experience, but they are rooted in a long, honed practice of attentiveness. Brandi’s antennae are always up, and he captures momentary revelations with spontaneity, wit, and a deep sense of compassion.” —Tim McNulty, author of Ascendance

“John Brandi’s haiku are among the most powerful ones written in English. Vivid, insightful, and unique—they have both freshness and wisdom. The humorous senryu spirit mixes effortlessly with perceptions of the natural world. Brandi’s work reflects the influence of the Beats yet also draws from the lineage of the Japanese masters. What a pleasure to experience mountains and rain, as well as human life, through this book.” —Miram Sagan, author of the haiku collection Borderline (Cholla Needles, 2023).

John Brandi’s haiku practice spans four decades—a steadfast companion to his life as a poet, visual artist, and author of numerous books of poetry, travel essays, and haibun. The haiku collected in The Rain Sweeps Through are culled from wherever they first landed: pocket pad, a paper napkin, a daily journal, the palm of the author’s hand, or in notes accompanying his field sketches. As the author writes in a moving afterword, “[the haiku] world is timeless within one’s given time. There is always the vastness, that upside-down raven at play between the dust devils spinning across the mesa. There is always intimacy, that bead of sun moving on the back of the housefly on the windowsill. The haiku mind is tuned to both worlds, alert to what either might deliver.”

$18.00 ISBN 979-8-9883701-3-0 Available October 31, 2023 Order now