Matthew Paul

Off the Beaten Track presents new work by twelve writers taking part in a unique collaborative project: each of them was invited to compose one haiku per day for a month, thus contributing towards the total of 365 haiku for a full calendar year. Half of the authors are widely published writers of haiku, while the other half are almost (or entirely) new to the form. This situates the collection within the tradition of English-language haiku, while also seeking to extend its boundaries through the inclusion of ‘outsiders’ with respect to that tradition. Complementing the haiku are original illustrations by twelve artists, making the volume as visually striking as it is thought-provoking and diverse.

The Evening Entertainment shifts back and forth through history – the personal and familial, and that of anonymous characters from recent and ancient past, going about the business of seeking fleeting happiness in their quotidian lives. This debut collection, 30 years in the writing, is divided into three sections. The first features an array of people, from a medieval monk to existential Sussex surfers, engaged in quiet, heroic and sometimes bizarre pastimes; the second travels back to the poet’s childhood and early adulthood in suburban London and the North of Ireland; before leading to the final, poignant third section, in which the now-grown speaker must engage with the loss of his father during his battle against dementia.