Gay Haiku | 
 enlarge | Author: Joel Derfner
Publisher: Broadway
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy Used: $1.72
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Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 373978
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 128
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.1 x 5.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 076791984X
Dewey Decimal Number: 811.6
EAN: 9780767919845
ASIN: 076791984X
Publication Date: May 10, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Standard used condition.
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Product Description
Impossible to resist, this hilariously sassy and sweet collection of haiku turns the perilous sport of gay dating into pure poetry.
For hundreds of years, the Japanese haiku has been equated with peaceful contemplation and spiritual enlightenment. A delicate balance of rhythm and line, the haiku has provided countless readers with an appreciation of the changing of the seasons and the miracles of nature. Now, in Gay Haiku, readers can finally appreciate more important things—like the changing of boyfriends and the miracles of shopping.
Irresistible and irreverent, this collection of one hundred and ten witty and wicked short poems captures the many dating disasters of first-time author Joel Derfner. In a wonderfully fresh and original voice, Derfner shamelessly mines his personal life to send up such broad-ranging topics as gay pop culture, politics, family, sex, and, of course, home decorating.
Gay, straight, or undecided, readers will delight in Derfner’s dry sense of humor and unmistakable charm as he tackles the big questions of life.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Technically Proficient July 15, 2008
This tawdry collection of stereotypes receives two stars because the author bothered to make them into actual Haiku.
There are some barley clever ones (maybe 2), but after shelling out the money, I said to myself "what the hell am I going to do with this now?"
Save your money.
 Smart and Sassy May 17, 2008
Derfner, Joel. "Gay Haiku", Broadway Books, 2005.
Sweet and Sassy
Amos Lassen
Joel Derfner is my new hero. After reading his new book, "Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever", I made my own quest to find his first book, "Gay Haiku". It sounded like it would be great selection of short jokes but it is so much more than that. Yes, it is funny but it is also insightful and biting. It is a description of the crazy and maddening world of gay dating and it is very easy to relate to the haikus that he gives us. In seventeen syllables he catches each moment perfectly something that authors have written full books about and not managed to get.
The Haiku poem has long been part of the Japanese literary tradition. Usually a haiku expresses peace and contemplation as well as spiritual enlightenment with a balance of rhythm and rhyme. Rather than write about the changing of the seasons or the miracles of nature, Derfner writes haiku about the changing of boyfriends and the miracle of shopping. (How can one not love that?). Included are 110 irreverent and witty haiku poems and each is fresh and original. Topics of the poems include decorating, dating, shopping culture and politics, family and, of course, sex.
"Gay Haiku" is terrific and is a laugh a line. It will probably give you an impetus to write haiku of your own.
The reviews are right April 8, 2008
Go out and buy five copies; it will never be returned if you lend it to friends.
-- HX, April 29, 2005
This is too true. My copy has been "on loan" since a month after I bought it in 2006. Now I need to buy another copy, because I really can't not have it at home forever.
Witty, hilarious, and beautiful October 13, 2007
I picked up Joel Derfner's "Gay Haiku," because it looked like it would be an amusing collection of short gags. I was shocked to discover how brilliantly biting and insightful it actually is. In short (as is only fitting for this collection of poems), this is the most accurate depiction of the sometimes maddening world of gay dating I've read yet. I related to each and every one of these haiku. In each 17-syllable gem, he manages to capture a moment perfectly, such that he concisely says what other books and people have taken paragraphs, if not full chapters, to convey, and with even more depth due to its brevity. I don't think there's a gay man out there who wouldn't be able to relate to at least some, if not all, of what Derfner has to say. If you're a gay man, I couldn't recommend this to you highly enough.
Watch out--Not Lovey Dovey August 25, 2005
2 out of 17 found this review helpful
I actually picked this book up at a bookstore as an impulse gift for my boyfriend. I am in the habilt of writing love haikus to him and thought seeing this book was kismit. Well, I made the mistake of giving it to him without reading some of the haikus. Instead of sweet, loving poems, it was filled with bitter ascerbic "break up" haikus that gave both of us a queezy feeling. It really was a downer for our blossoming relationship. I asked for, and was granted, an indugence to take back the gift, which I returned to the bookstore. My haikus will have to do.
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