Pop Goes the Haiku: A Book of American Haiku and Senryu is a collection of very short poems by M. L. VanBlaricum, written in the spirit of Jack Kerouac's "American Pops." VanBlaricum states in the preface that he is not trying to obey traditional haiku rules or count syllables. His aim is simpler: to catch a moment, an image, a feeling, or a joke before it disappears. That gives the book its relaxed structure and its plainspoken voice.
The collection moves through several sections: Love and Feelings, Moons, Observations and Happenings, Questions, Birds and Two Bees, Nature and Seasons, and Travel. The subject matter is broad but personal. VanBlaricum writes about marriage, surgery, grief, parents, grandparents, old friends, childhood memories, campus life, birds, insects, dogs, squirrels, weather, aging, travel, and comic mishaps. Many poems are closer to senryu than traditional haiku because they focus on human behavior, irony, memory, embarrassment, and absurdity. Others are more purely observational: moonlight through a skylight, a lone goose under the waning moon, cherry blossoms, monarchs, tree frogs, and Normandy crosses.
The voice is warm but not sentimental. VanBlaricum often undercuts reflection with humor: memory slows, bodies creak, trombones annoy neighbors, and a vulture circling a grill becomes a joke about dead meat. But the book also has quiet emotional force, especially in poems about family death, marital devotion, and the passage of time. Murf O'Dean's illustrations and VanBlaricum's photographs add a casual visual companion to the poems, making the book feel like a curated album of moments. The closing dialogue makes the point directly: by becoming succinct, the writer leaves room for the reader's interpretation and emotional participation in each spare poem. Its commercial appeal will be strongest for readers who like approachable poetry, light humor, aging reflections, nature writing, and illustrated gift books.
This is VanBlaricum's second book of poetry. His first, Reflections in a Boomer's Eye, was published in 2016.
