Red Dragonfly on My Shoulder

by Sylvia Cassedy

Photographic collages of common objects illustrate an introduction to the spare language of the haiku, in a collection of thirteen favorite three-line poems translated from the Japanese.

Genres: Poetry, Art, Picture Books

Paperback

First published March 1, 1992

About the author

An American author of picture books, poetry, and fiction, the Brooklyn-born creative-writing teacher began her career with a few minor picture books, such as Little Chameleon (1966), but is best known today for her poetry and novels. Roomrimes (1987) and the posthumously published Zoomrimes: Poems about Things That Go (1993) were praised for their perceptiveness, humor, and unusual variety of poetic forms.

Cassedy's three novels, Behind the Attic Wall (1983), M.E. and Morton (1987), and Lucie Babbidge's House (1989) are all intricate, leisurely paced novels about troubled or difficult protagonists who gain self-esteem through the intervention of possibly magical characters.

The author's incisive characterizations, carefully wrought prose, and ambiguous endings made her a critics’ favorite.

Cassedy's early death cut short an extraordinary writing career that had yet to peak, and fans can only wonder about—and mourn the loss of—the novels that were yet to be.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly charming collection. Unfortunately the cover is misleading, because these actually are all traditional Japanese nature poems. The cover poem is translated as:
"Red dragonfly on my shoulder calls me his friend. Autumn has arrived." Soseki*

There is a translator's note, and an illustrator's, and both have credibility.

The illustrations are "playful" collages. I particularly enjoyed the use of set gems for a frog's eyes. I also appreciate the 'easel' format, which serves to slow the reader down, make him or her realize that this isn't a quick narrative but is poetry and is better enjoyed as at a more lingering pace.

*There is a diacritical mark over the 'o' in this name but I don't know how to type it or what it's called, sorry.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice bunch of haiku illustrated with interesting photos of collages made from found objects. Unfortunately, the illustrations by Molly Bang didn't always do it for me. The poem about the dog sleeping in the sun was illustrated with a picture of what looked like a dog more dead than asleep. The poem about the "butting, tumbling cat" was illustrated with a cat asleep--not exactly a match to the poem! Nevertheless, there were some gems: the poem about the fly praying for his life, the poem about the sparrow in the rain, and the one about the water striders, particularly. Also, it was fascinating to glance at a picture and see an animal, and then look more closely at it to see what found objects it's made out of. Overall, a book uneven in quality, but nice.

[Christiane · Rating 5 out of 5]

More haiku! (No zombies though.) Sylvia Cassedy and Kunihiro Suetake have translated some absolutely lovely Japanese haiku but the real wonder of this book are Molly Bang's collage illustrations made of cookies, beads, yams, clamshells, rocks, buttons, copper wire, screws, safety pins, and lots more! A 1992 book there's only 2 copies left at SPL (CEN, HIP) so if you want to read it, do so now!

[Kerfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A children's book of haiku illustrated by the wonderful Molly Bang. I was especially taken with the leaf-sparrow in the rice-rain to illustrate Buson:

All at once, the storm!
Overcome, a poor sparrow
grasps a blade of grass.