EROTIC HAIKU (bilingual), edited and translated by Hiroaki Sato, illustrated by Emi Suzuki. Tokyo: IBC Publishing, 2004, 114 pp., 1200 yen (paper).

Since Eros was the god of love, in the sense of sexual desire, so "erotic," the dictionary explains, means "arousing or concerned with this." The cover of this little book is pink, and the front features the arched thighs and bottom of a naked woman. Between the covers are just over a hundred short poems, mostly by American poets, together with translations into Japanese.

"Haiku in English are free, with few constraints," says the editor and translator in an afterword, so that we know not to expect the customary references to nature. Nevertheless, there are verses that delicately invoke the seasons in a way that proves to be erotic, too:

steamy room
the tulip petals
spread wide