In a few words, haiku goes beneath surface appearance to grasps the heart of an experience. Each word is chosen to unlock a world of memories and associations in the reader. Haiku, like Zen, is an intensely personal experience. Jonathan Clements has selected the best of three centuries of haiku, including the work of classic poets such as Basho, Buson and Chiyo-Ni and rendered into English the elusive spiritual quality of the poems. The poems are illustrated with images from the collection of Japanese prints and paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago.