HAIKU. By Andrew Vachss. Pantheon. 214 pages. $24.95.
Andrew Vachss writes with compelling immediacy about the darker side of human behavior. His narratives have a streetwise sensibility about them that bring into sharp relief societal issues that most people don't consider. He makes visible what many people would just as soon stay invisible.
In his first novel since he ended his Burke series, he illuminates "… those who desperately sought shelter on the street … always on display, looked down upon from glass boxes as if the pantomime of poverty was some form of performance art" -- the homeless. At the center of his story stands an aged Japanese man whose street name is Ho. Once the honored sensei of an American martial-arts school, Ho succumbed to "arrogant self-absorption," which led to the death of a female student. Ashamed, he shuttered the doors of his dojo and headed off on a journey to salvage the truth of a warrior's life.
The culmination of that journey, as well as its continuing process, is the writing of a "personal haiku, a haiku that must emerge from within … One of truth" that must be rewritten endlessly. This book is a record of that emerging poem, which appears on the final page.
Along his path to redemption, Ho finds himself the center of a small community of fellow homeless, men who "had lost all, yet still retained themselves." There's Ranger, the Vietnam vet, always on a mission; Target, who rhymes four words off any given word of his companions; Lamont, the ex-con, ex-gangleader, who gained and lost a life as a poet; Michael, a stockbroker who had it all and gambled it away; and Brewster, a schizophrenic who compulsively collects noir paperbacks. In spite of Ho's efforts to spurn their devotion, they turn to him as a leader; he, in turn, looks to them for guidance.
The "mysteries" that appear are seemingly minor ones, particularly in the eyes of someone from the "outside" world: a woman in a Rolls throws something off a wharf; the building where Brewster hoards his books is to be demolished. Who is the woman? What will happen to the books?
Ho realizes that in the resolution of these questions resides his redemption, and the group's future survival.
As he guides them to the book's finale, he reveals to them their new path while he reveals to us more of this alternate universe than we have seen in any other mystery.
He has seen them for the last time; we will never see the homeless the same way again.
Robert Moyer is retired from teaching drama at the UNC School of the Arts.
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