Gay Haiku
Joel Derfner

Old ponds, young frogs – A few years back, I wrote my friend, the Michigan writer Vicki Ruzicka, and noted my recent reading of the works of Matsuo Bashō, the great 17th Century Japanese poet. I reveled in the delicate beauty of simply translated verse, such as, “Old pond, young frog, splash.” Vicki wrote back: “Young pond, old frog, croak.” Joel Derfner’s small, funny volume on gay dating is a real treat. One morsel: “’Here’s Death in Venice – You like murder mysteries.’ Should have dumped you then.”