EMBRACING THE FIREBIRD: Yosano Akiko and the Birth of the Female Voice in Modern Poetry, by Janine Beichman. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2002, 352 pp., $23.95 (paper). Vivid, rich, suggestive, imaginative -- with these words, writer Janine Beichman aptly describes the extraordinary early poetry of Akiko Yosano (1878-1942). The first work in English to undertake such a comprehensive assessment of Akiko's early life and poetry, "Embracing the Firebird" is an outstanding account of the formative years of Japan's preeminent modern female poet.