Haiku of a Wayward Sailor

by Mike Walling

The contains 42 haiku and 4 poems

69 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 24, 2025

Reviews

[Robert S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved how this collection flowed, haiku after haiku, like tides rolling in. Some made me smile, some made me stop and breathe, and some made me unexpectedly emotional. It is the kind of book you keep close and return to when you need grounding.

[Kelly J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each haiku feels like a journal entry from a soul adrift yet anchored, offering both the peace and the ache of the open sea.

[Nancy T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection is a reminder that poetry can come to you in sudden flashes of inspiration. Reading it felt like I was witnessing the author’s discovery process in real time.

[Aurelia Quintana · Rating 5 out of 5]

The haiku feel spontaneous yet polished, like they were caught mid-flight before they could escape. That urgency makes them come alive.

[Mary Goncalves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haiku of a Wayward Sailor feels like a quiet conversation with the sea. Each haiku is small, but it opens into something vast, memory, longing, reflection. The simplicity pulled me in, but it was the honesty that kept me turning pages.

[Julie R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reminded me that poetry does not need to be long to be powerful. Each haiku is like a tiny lighthouse, sending out flashes of meaning across the ocean of thought. Beautiful, concise, and deeply moving.

[Marilyn A.]

I do not usually read poetry, but this collection surprised me. It is gentle but piercing, like hearing waves crash while sitting in silence. You feel both the discipline and the freedom of the haiku form, and the author balances both effortlessly.

[Kelly G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a purity in these verses. They do not try too hard, they do not dress themselves up. They just exist. And in that rawness, they shine. Reading them felt like catching glimpses of truth between the rolling waves.

[Louis Verdin · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a purity in these verses. They do not try too hard, they do not dress themselves up. They just exist. And in that rawness, they shine. Reading them felt like catching glimpses of truth between the rolling waves.

[Carolyn C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author’s voice is steady but tender. You can tell these haiku came naturally, almost uninvited, and that makes them all the more authentic. It is not just poetry, it is a record of inspiration striking like lightning.

[Susan C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was struck by the sincerity of this collection. There is no sense of the poet trying to impress. Instead, it feels like an offering, a glimpse into moments captured and shared, like seashells left on the shore for others to find.

[Pam J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection feels alive. The haiku arrive quickly, urgently, as if the poet himself could barely keep up. That energy comes through in the reading, it is fresh, immediate, and impossible to ignore.

[Isabel Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is rare to find poetry that feels both disciplined and free, but this book manages it. The haiku form demands precision, and the author wields it gracefully. Every word is deliberate, every pause meaningful.

[Lisa Denham · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I appreciated most was how this book slowed me down. In a world that moves too fast, Haiku of a Wayward Sailor asks you to notice the small things, the flicker of an image, the weight of a single word.

[Kenisha D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who has read a lot of haiku, I was impressed by how natural these felt. They did not feel forced or artificial. They felt like they grew out of lived experience, like the sea itself whispered them into being.

[Alicia J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The collection feels cinematic in its pacing, small flashes of imagery that build into a larger atmosphere. By the end, you feel like you have taken a journey across shifting waters, even though you have only read a few dozen pages.

[Edwin N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haiku of a Wayward Sailor is a quietly powerful collection that captures the essence of life at sea through vivid, compact verse that lingers long after the page is turned.

[Su P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

In just a few lines per poem, this book paints entire worlds of solitude, wonder, and deep connection to nature, echoing the rhythm of the waves that inspired them.

[Shirley J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

With remarkable precision, the author transforms fleeting thoughts and ocean moments into timeless reflections, showing how less can truly be more.

[Jack S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

These haiku speak not only of water and wind, but of the inner journey that comes with silence, solitude, and surrender to something greater than oneself.

[Edward B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s an undeniable authenticity in this work, as if each poem was lived before it was written, making the collection feel as raw as it is refined.

[Claudette R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reminds us that poetry doesn’t need complexity to move the soul sometimes, seventeen well-chosen syllables are enough to open a universe.

[Nikki R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beauty of this book lies not just in its words, but in the spaces between them, where emotion, memory, and meaning quietly unfold.

[Scott Decoteau · Rating 4 out of 5]

The imagery is so vivid, I could almost smell the salt air and hear the creaking timbers of a ship. It is cinematic in its own way, not by being loud, but by painting pictures in the reader’s mind.

[Jennifer E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The longer poems included at the end give this book depth and balance. They expand on the fleeting beauty of the haiku, like anchors holding the ship steady while the smaller verses drift like waves.

[Laurel M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book proves that you do not need pages of explanation to move someone. Sometimes all it takes is 17 syllables, carefully chosen, to stir something deep inside.

[Veronica S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing here is lean but rich. It reminded me of minimalist art, simple lines that somehow say more than a crowded canvas ever could.

[Shawn A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is something timeless about this collection. The sea, the journey, the fleeting moments, it could have been written a hundred years ago or yesterday, and it would still resonate.

[Nathan V. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised by how quickly I read it, but also how long it stayed with me. The haiku linger in the mind like echoes, and I found myself reflecting on them long after closing the book.

[Gabriel Y.]

The brevity of these haiku amazed me. Each one feels like a pebble dropped into water, sending ripples of thought far beyond its small size.