108 Breaths

By Mark Wollacott

"A haiku is but one breath. It is the kodak moment of modern poetry and it proves all Picasso needed to write a picture was 17 syllables."

In 2004, Mark Wollacott moved to Japan and discovered this perfect poetic form. One day, seven years later, he was digging around the old boxes under his bad, the ones he'd brought back from Japan with him, and he re-discovered a dusty notebook crammed full of haiku. A few hours later and after digging through the other boxes he'd found hundreds more.

108 Breaths represents the best haiku of his time in Japan. They chronicle the ups and the downs, the oddities and the small moments that make life worthwhile. His first month alone saw six typhoons and three earthquakes. Every night when he went to bed, he received a dozen mosquito bites and he formed a long alliance against the tatami ants with a gecko named Hiro.

108 Breaths contains 108 haiku, haikai and senryu, plus four haibun and a short story. Readers will also find a foreword by Brighton's finest Kiersty Boon, a mini essay on haiku and copious notes about life in Japan. This book is a must for all poetry and Japan fans alike.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mark Wollacott
• Release date: Jan 23, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465849939

Mark Wollacott

Mark Wollacott was born in 1980 in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, and grew up there, but has spent most of his 20s in Japan and Hungary. He studied at Europe's smallest university, the University of Wales, Lampeter and played badly for their cricket team. Graduation saw him move into an assistant manager role at a hiking store in Cirencester until it burnt down in 2004. After a brief stint in Bristol, he spent five years teaching English in Osaka, Japan. While there he wrote for Kansai Time Out, Kansai Scene and on coming back to England, The Austin Post. His first short story "The Spare Room" was published in the For Tohoku charity anthology in 2011. He has found it increasingly difficult to find work in Britain and his poetry collection "108 Breaths" is his first attempt on a long road to becoming a self-publisher and full-time writer. It is either that or join the dole queue. Mark now spends most of his time writing, arguing with his cat and wishing Aston Villa would not sell their best players.

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