Explanation
Correct answer: D.
Choice D is the best answer. The convention being tested is punctuation use between a main clause and a supplementary phrase. This choice correctly uses a comma to mark the boundary between the main clause (“The haiku-like…writers”) and the supplementary phrase (“among…Cole”) that specifies a contemporary writer who has praised Tomas Tranströmer’s haiku-like poems.
Why the other choices are wrong
Choice A
Choice A is incorrect because it results in a rhetorically unacceptable sentence fragment beginning with “among.”
Choice B
Choice B is incorrect because it fails to mark the boundary between the main clause and the supplementary phrase with appropriate punctuation.
Choice C
Choice C is incorrect because a semicolon can’t be used in this way to join the main clause (“The haiku-like…writers”) and the supplementary phrase (“among…Cole”).