Review: La Honda Journal by David E. LeCount

The old gloves

hold the same wrinkles worked

into my hand

Just 20 miles from the Silicon Valley, the little village of La Honda has long served as a counterpoint to the frantic high tech lifestyle.  From the regulars who hang out on the porch at Apple Jack's (motto: We eat puppies) to the readers and writers who hang out at La Honda's monthly Lit Night (motto: Drink hearty and read something) to the musicians who seem to be playing everywhere at all times (motto: The best music you never heard), the town has long been an alternative outpost. 

Picture window —

a hummingbird stares at me

in my cage

David E. LeCount, whose haiku has appeared on tea bottles all over the world, now has a lovely new book called La Honda Journal: a haiku diary.  It's a gentle, funny, and very wise reflection of family, love, children, and the rural life.

Digging for "treasure" …

two boys hushed having found

a rusted square nail

David has frequently joined Lit Night at Cafe Cuesta (formerly Sullivan's) to down a beer and read a poem or two.

To write, the old waitress

takes the pencil behind her ear

and tongues the point

I want to quote them all, but I'll stop now.  You can purchase the book at amazon with this link. You'll get 153 haiku for just $12.  That's less than 8 cents per haiku.  What a deal!  Read them and you'll go to a place where fat frogs sink the lily pads, where a woman's hair blows across her lips as she's saying good-bye, where piglets climb tumbling over your foot as you shovel their wallow.  You'll be glad you came.