For many religious people, the erotic remains forbidden territory and to enter into this mysterious realm is to traffic in sinful and selfish behavior. Yet to many mystics in all religious traditions, the erotic is an arena of experience that can bring us back to the present moment and give us a chance to be playful and enchanted and totally focused on the flesh.

This delightful volume assembled by Hiroaki Sato, a translator and essayists who writes a column for The Japanese Times, brings together haiku about sexual themes (sometimes called "erotiku"). These 17 syllable poems appear in both Japanese and English and are accompanied by charming illustrations by Emi Suzuki, a Tokyo-based graphic designer. Here are a few examples:

• darkness
doing nothing
but feel
— Stanley Pelter

•Without clothes
it's a different
conversation
— John Brandi

• she leaves —
a curled hair
in my soap
— David Walker

• on the car seat beside me
the sun
light on her thighs
— James Tipton

• memories
lingering
on these finger
tips
— Giovanni Malito