by Tom Quinn Kumpf

80 pages

83 photographs

30 years of haiku

hardcover $19.95

ISBN: 978-0-9670235-7-1

paperback $11.95

ISBN: 978-0-9670235-9-5

available from Devenish Press

House spider

     better for you to change your name

          and live in the woodpile

So short our time

     the vitality of summer  —

          autumn too passes quickly

A thin moon crescent

     appears to cradle the shadow

          of some magic yet unborn

Did it cry

     till only sound did dwell?

          Cicada shell

Tom Quinn Kumpf became interested in Japanese culture while serving in the Navy in the late 1960s.  Time spent in Japan, Vietnam, and other parts of Southeast Asia left him with many questions about the nature of man and warriorship.  In the decades that followed, he became deeply involved in the practice of Buzin-ryu, Aikido, Iaido and, above all, the writing of haiku and poems.

Two Sides is a melding of short verse and photographs designed to look like sumi-e paintings.  The author leaves us with a chronicle of nearly three decades of a life spent embracing both sides of a man’s being—one that is assertive and forceful, and the other that is creative and gentle.  Neither side is in conflict with the other.

Winner DIY Book Festival in Photography/Art Category

Winner 2008 CAL Award for Poetry

Finalist 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Photography

Finalist 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Poetry

Winner New York Book Festival in Poetry Category