(Strange Beauty by Matthew James Friday)

Poet Matthew James Friday is turning 50. To celebrate this milestone, Friday has assembled a collection of his 50 best haiku and senryu. Haiku and its related form senryu seem fitting ways to celebrate this with their emphasis on brevity and imagery; the observance of all that is transient by focusing on a given moment. ‘Given’ is a fitting word as haiku are always a form of praise and gratitude for what is experienced in the natural world. Senryu, by contrast, focuses on human nature, often with a comic tone.

Readers will find short poems full of humor and moments of revelation drawn from the world around the poet. Ordinary experiences, objects and familiar animals are reframed as both accessible and spiritual interactions. After all, our lives are a blend of the mundane and the magical, the personal and the universal, the ‘now’ and something deeper.

Matthew James Friday is a British born writer and teacher. He has had many poems published in US and international journals. His first chapbook The Residents was published by Finishing Line Press (2024). His second chapbook The Be-All and the End-All was published by Bottlecap Press (2024). His first full length collection Wunderkammer is due to be published by Kelsay Books (2026). Visit his website at matthewfriday.weebly.com.

Matthew James Friday is a teacher, storyteller and poet. Friday is the author of the poetry collections The Residents, The Be-All and the End-All and Strange Beauty.

matthewfriday.weebly.com • edutopia.org/profile/matthew-james-friday • bottlecap.press/products/stramjf