Haiku Habitat

It has been a long time since I posted poetry here at Waccobb. My focus on poetry has shifted and these days I write, for the most part, haiku in the traditional three-line, 5-7-5, syllabic pattern. I find this satisfying, shaping words to an established form. And I enjoy reading the huge amount of formal haiku (by 'formal' I mean haiku written in the 5-7-5 pattern). There is such a wealth of excellent 5-7-5 haiku being written in English these days. So I thought I would use a thread here at Wacco to share some of my favorites. Here is one:

I would like a bell
Tolling in this soft twilight
Over willow trees.

Richard Wright -- Haiku: This Other World, 1998

Wright is my favorite English Language Haiku (ELH) poet. Wright (1908 - 1960) came to haiku only in the last 18 months of his life, while he was living in self-imposed exile in France. According to Wright's daughter, he was introduced to haiku by a friend who gave him R. H. Blyth's translations and commentaries from the Japanese. After that Wright carried around a notebook wherein he spontaneously wrote his haiku as they came to him. Wright selected 817 out of 4,000 for publication. Though a few were published in Black magazines, the publication as a whole was delayed for 38 years. I think it is the finest collection of ELH yet to be published. Wright seamlessly merges the syllabic and seasonal tradition of the Japanese original with the techniques and patterns of English language poetry. His haiku flow so naturally that when you read them it feels that haiku is a long-standing English language poetic form. I like to say to people that if you read one book of English Language Haiku, read the haiku of Richard Wright.

On a withered bough
A crow alone is perching,
Autumn evening now.

Basho - Translated by Kenneth Yasuda, Japanese Haiku, Its Essential Nature and History, 1957

There are many translations of Japanese haiku into English. Among these Yasuda's translations are one of my favorites. Yasuda (1914 to 2002) was born to Japanese-American parents and grew up bi-lingual. He was studying poetry at the University of Washing when WW II broke out and was interred at Tule Lake. When WW II ended Yasuda published 'A Pepper-Pod' in 1947, his first work on English Language Haiku prosody. Yasuda argued for a 5-7-5 syllabic structure combined with end-rhyme for lines 1 & 3. Though the 5-7-5 syllabics has become very popular, end-rhyme has not gained as much traction. There are haiku poets who use end-rhyme in almost all of their haiku; e.g. Paul Muldoon, Richard Wilbur, James Emanuel come to mind. But most ELH poets who use rhyme do so now and then. My observation is that end-rhyme in haiku has become a tool that is available when needed for most ELH poets at this time.

Yasuda's translations also include translations of Japanese tanka, the oldest and most significant Japanese poetic form. He also wrote his own haiku, tanka, and a collection of sonnets.

The haiku by Basho is a famous one that has been translated many times. This is the translation that, I feel, captures best the feeling and tone of it, along with the sonorous quality of Basho's haiku.

One bit of blue sky
then clouds over the city
twelve hundred years old.

Edith Shiffert -- The Light Comes Slowly

Edith Shiffert (1916 to 2017) was a well-known poet who published over 20 volumes of poetry during her long life. Her work was published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, etc. (when newspapers used to publish poetry). Born in Canada, her family moved to the U.S. and she lived in various cities. She was attracted to poetry in her teens and stuck with it for the rest of her life. One of her professors when she was in college was Theodore Roethke. She moved to Hawaii in the 40's, and returned there in the 60's, writing about Hawaii in her collection 'A Return to Kona'. 'Kona' contains the first 100-verse Renga written in the English language. Renga is a complicated Japanese form from which haiku would eventually emerge. The form requires that specific topics be mentioned at specific locations in the poem; Shiffert has all the topics in the right places. I haven't been able to find out who was her guide in the renga form, but it definitely shows an intense interest in Japanese poetry on her part.

Shiffert moved to Kyoto in 1963 and remained in Japan for the rest of her life. She published three or four collections of haiku as well as some translations, co-written with her husband Yuki Sawa. I find her haiku to be very attractive, often focused on fine details that include both human and natural worlds. One thing I have noticed about Shiffert is her use of what I call 'time shift', an approach that appears regularly in her haiku. The above haiku is a good example. Time shift in haiku happens when the scene depicted in the haiku is shifted into a much longer temporal context. In this haiku line 1 is a simple descriptive scene. Line 2 sets the scene in motion with the word 'then'. And line 3 concludes with a much longer timescape. I very much like this approach and find it very satisfying. In Shiffert's poetic hands it has a contemplative dimension.

Turning from the page,
Blind with a night of labour,
I hear morning crows.

Amy Lowell -- What's O'Clock, 1925

Amy Lowell (1874 - 1925) was born into a wealthy Boston family; some of her siblings and relatives were famous in their field of study, such as the astronomer Percival Lowell who was her brother. She had a number of disabilities that socially isolated her in school, but that seemed to re-enforce her self-reliance as she was known to be opinionated and forceful in stating her views. In 1902, after going to a poetry reading, she was taken with poetry and dedicated her life to it. She travelled widely and on a visit to England met Ezra Pound. They didn't get along. Lowell became an influential presence in the Imagist movement and I think it is likely that Pound felt some jealousy, considering her an interloper.

Her poetry was widely read and, in general, well received. She wrote metrical, free verse, and syllabic verse, an indication of her wide-ranging acquaintance with contemporary poetic trends. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage at a young age. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize the year after her death upon the publication of her collected works.

Lowell took an interest in haiku, writing two sets. She referred to them as 'hokku', an older term for the form. Most of the pre-WW II English language writers of haiku call their work 'hokku' because that was the word for them in Japanese until the Japanese poet Masaoka Shiki (1867 - 1902) changed the name of the form to haiku. However, it took several decades for this name change to reach the anglosphere and the very first contacts with Japanese poetry used the word 'hokku' which set a precedent that wasn't really abandoned until after WW II.

Lowell's haiku are syllabic and well-constructed. It is impressive that Lowell took to syllabics in a straightforward way; there are, for example, no run-on lines in her haiku. Some of her haiku are, from our perspective, more emotional than the present time prefers. But that was a style at the time that was widely expected; it was considered a kind of poetic discourse.

I like this haiku. Lowell was an avid book collector and reader and I can see her, during a long night, smoking her cigars (for which she was famous), turning the pages and then, before she knows it, morning has come and a crow's caw pulls her from the pages of the book into the natural world. It's a nice feeling.

Seeing the thin elm
this dismal sunless morning,
I think of yellow.

Hilda Aarons - Borrowed Water, 1966

'Borrowed Water' is the first anthology of English Language Haiku (ELH). It was published by Tuttle in 1966 and sold very well, including translations into other languages. Borrowed Water was put together by a group of 13 women who belonged to the Los Altos Writers Group. The 13 women had previously published some of their haiku in American Haiku, the first journal devoted to ELH. The editors of American Haiku encouraged the Los Altos group in their work on publishing this first anthology of ELH. There have been subsequent anthologies of ELH, but from my perspective I think Borrowed Water is still the best anthology yet produced.

Borrowed Water arranged the haiku into seasonal sections: spring, summer, autumn, winter, with a concluding section of 'miscellaneous' haiku that don't have a specific seasonal focus. Subsequent anthologies of ELH arrange their haiku by author; either alphabetically or chronologically. There are a lot of other contrasts between Borrowed Water and subsequent anthologies, but that would require an extended post. Suffice to say that I find the choices made by the Los Altos group satisfying and rewarding.

I don't know much about Hilda Aarons, but I really like this haiku. In line 2, 'this dismal sunless morning', Aarons uses a noun-clause technique that is widely found in formal haiku. The technique is to have a line consist of a series of modifiers, and then conclude that line with a noun. It is a satisfying technique for defining a poetic line that is neither metrical, nor is it free verse; it is a specifically syllabic approach to poetic construction. The concluding noun has a cadential feel to it, like the end of a musical phrase.

I also like the way Aarons begins in lines 1 & 2 with an objective description of a bare elm tree, and then in line 3 there is a shift into the interior mental realm of the poet. What this says to me is that the realm of mind and the realm of nature are porous to each other, mutually embracing and woven together.

room in the puddle
for your reflection, or mine
or maybe the moon

Susan August -- Haiku Distance, 2009

Susan August is a contemporary haiku poet living in the Bay Area. She has published four books of haiku; and recently she published an e-book of haiku available on kindle. I like to browse for new haiku books by searching through various websites both big and small. That's how I stumbled upon August's haiku. I took a liking to her haiku from the very first read. August has what I call a 'plain' style; very straightforward. She uses poetic techniques such as metaphor and simile very rarely; and techniques such as rhyme appear only spontaneously. You could say that her haiku are unadorned.

One of the aspects of this haiku that appeals to me is how it encompasses the whole cosmos. Line 1 is earth centered. Line 2 is human centered. And line 3 moves us to a celestial dimension. Heaven, earth, humanity; the classic tripartite cosmos, all in the confines of a single haiku.

Emptiness -- you know
what I mean? Moonlight howling
in the room like snow.

Hayden Carruth -- Collected Shorter Poems 1946 - 1991

Hayden Carruth (1921 - 2008) was a well-known successful poet. Carruth published over 30 books of poetry, taught at various Universities and mentored many young poets.

Carruth had an interest in haiku, though it was not his primary focus. He seems to have taken a particular liking to Basho; several of his haiku praise Basho.

I rarely give talks because I am not a very good speaker. But when I do give talks I like to offer people examples of well-crafted haiku. I think examples are better than theory at opening the door to understanding a poetic form. A few times I have used this haiku because I like it a lot. The response has not been enthusiastic. Maybe my taste is eccentric in this case. I think what some people don't like about this haiku, and Carruth's haiku in general, are the frequent stops, what I call his 'craggy' approach to writing haiku. In most English Language Haiku the aesthetic ideal is to flow from the start to the finish; but Carruth's haiku have frequent stops and starts, multiple cuts. I understand this feeling, but I sense that Carruth is being true to his manner of expression while at the same time retaining the basic syllabic shape and seasonal reference of traditional haiku.

This haiku contrasts with the previous haiku by Susan August in that with this haiku I observe a multitude of poetic techniques being used; in that sense it is kind of a virtuoso display. The haiku includes metaphor, simile, personification, and end-rhyme. Line 1 states the theme of the haiku with the first word, 'emptiness', which is emphasized by a dash after the word. The second part 'you know what I mean?' consists of the last part of line 1 and the first part of line 2 and asks a question about the meaning of the abstraction 'emptiness'. It asks if we know what emptiness means. The question has the feel of a run-on line, or enjambment. The third part begins in line 2 with the word 'moonlight' and continues through to the end of line 3. This is a complex texture.

The question about emptiness is answered through the use of metaphor, simile, and personification. 'Moonlight' is an often used metaphor for emptiness in East Asian poetry and thought. With Carruth's interest in Basho I feel this connection was likely on Carruth's mind. Moonlight is immediately personified with the verb 'howling'. 'Moonlight howling' is a vivid metaphor for the startling experience of emptiness that is the theme of the haiku. The metaphor becomes more stark with line 3 because the howling moonlight is placed in a room; this might be a picture of desolation or vastness, or perhaps both. Line three concludes with a simile, 'like snow' which accentuates the feeling of loss; the idea here is that emptiness is a kind of snow storm, a blizzard in the mind. I think most people when they consider emptiness think of it in more serene terms, that's one of the reasons why I like this haiku so much, because it turns our ideas or understandings of emptiness over and looks at emptiness in a startling and new way. Finally, line 3 ends with an end-rhyme to line 1: know / snow. This has the effect of bringing this haiku to a close as end-rhyme gives people a sense of finality to a poem. It's like the poet has now answered his own question and is saying he is finished.

One of the things that really attracts me to formal haiku is that even though the form is very brief, the different interests and talents of poets are clearly expressed. Some haiku poets have what I refer to as a plain, unadorned, style. Others, like Carruth and Edith Shiffert, write haiku that are dense with poetic techniques and usages. And everything between. All of these approaches have value and demonstrate the openness of English Language Haiku to a wide range of poetic possibilities.

A winter sunset --
the day's unanswered questions
simply disappear

Priscilla Lignori - Beak Open, Feet Relaxed, 2013

Priscilla Lignori is a contemporary haiku poet living in New York's Hudson Valley. She leads a local haiku gathering that meets monthly. Her work has been published in Japanese and American haiku journals, and Japanese newspapers, on a regular basis. Her one published book is this modest collection of 108 haiku, "Beak Open, Feet Relaxed", which refers to the cover photo of a flying crane. I find Lignori's haiku to be skillfully constructed and at the same time accessible at a first reading. The interesting thing about them, in my experience, is that they resonate more on repeated readings as new layers of meaning and association continue to unfold.

This haiku is classically constructed with its two parts and seasonal reference, as well as standard syllabics. Line 1 gives us two dimensions of time; the season of the year and the time of the day. Lines 2 & 3 are mildly disjunctive to line 1 by switching the focus to the poet's inner landscape. I read this haiku as a contemplation on how nature can have the effect of calming the mind. Unanswered questions are resolved by placing them in the larger context of nature and its temporal cycles, released into a vastness these kinds of questions no longer agitate the mind.

Eating fish and chips,
two old sisters gently dab
ketchup from their lips.

Pat Boran - Waveforms: Bull Island Haiku, 2015

Pat Boran is an Irish poet. Bull Island is a small island near Dublin that Boran likes to visit. This collection of haiku is a modest one, about 120 small pages. And there are a lot of photographs which reduce the number of haiku. I have enjoyed the collection and read it several times. Boran has a great ear for rhyme and in that respect reminds me of another Irish poet who has written a lot of rhyming haiku, Paul Muldoon.

In Japan a poem like this would probably be called in 'senryu'. Haiku in Japan are topically defined and traditionally require a season word or phrase. If that is absent, and the poem is focused on human affairs, often on human foibles, then it is likely a senryu. If the poem is philosophical, or perhaps witty, it is likely a zappai. In English Language Haiku (ELH) these distinctions have not been adopted by most poets. Instead, for many a simple formal definition of 5-7-5 is sufficient. In other words, the term 'haiku' in English does not necessarily imply a specific topical focus. I have gone back and forth on this; part of me simply accepts the situation for what it is, not good or bad. Another part of me would like to retain the seasonal focus of traditional Japanese haiku as I think the seasonal aspect of traditional haiku adds a meaningful dimension. This has been an ongoing discussion in ELH for many years and is likely to continue.

The boys are in school;
fall leaves -- the only swimmers
in the swimming pool.

Margot Bollock -- Borrowed Water, 1966

For more information about 'Borrowed Water' see Hilda Aarons above. This is a haiku from another of the 13 women who published the first anthology of English Language Haiku. I enjoy uncovering the earlier published haiku, particularly pre-1970. These earlier haiku were more willing to engage with the heritage of English language poetry; its techniques and rhythms. In the 1970s there was a tendency to sideline those techniques and, from my perspective, this ended up constricting the expressive range of English Language Haiku. Fortunately, I sense that this tendency may have run its course. In any case, this haiku skillfully uses end-rhyme in a way that feels completely natural.

One additional comment about 'Borrowed Water': the anthology contains numerous haiku about children; from infancy to when they leave for college. In subsequent anthologies of English Language Haiku, this theme is either entirely absent, or extremely rare. I first read 'Borrowed Water' after I had read more recent ELH anthologies. I wasn't really aware of 'Borrowed Water' for a long time. I got a used copy from amazon. Right away I noticed this topical difference.

A feather drifting.
A twig floating in the stream.
A wild goose flying.

Johnny D. - Poems One, 2008

Johnny D. is a British poet. As far as I know he has published only this collection. He says in the Introduction that the haiku in this book are a selection from haiku he wrote over the previous ten years; he selected haiku he likes and haiku that others told him they liked. The Introduction reveals someone who is knowledgeable about Japanese criteria for writing haiku and respects them, but at the same time acknowledges that the anglosphere is a different context. This haiku is a good example of that bridge. Each line is a full sentence that has a complete image. Each line begins with an article plus a noun, or noun phrase, and also contains a present tense verb: drifting, floating, flying. Together the three sentences combine to form a naturescape that I find attractive. The opening repetition in each line has a kind of feeling that makes me want to chant the haiku, adding to its attractiveness.

Renouncing the world --
The autumn leaves are falling
In my place of birth.

David Hoopes -- Alaska in Haiku, 1972

Alaska in Haiku was the first book of haiku I ever read. I was attending the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and this book came to the campus bookstore. I bought it out of curiosity and I enjoyed it. I still have a copy which I reread now and then. I think the haiku still hold their own.

In the 1960's and 70's Tuttle published a significant number of English Language Haiku books. I previously mentioned 'Borrowed Water', and 'Alaska in Haiku' is another. All the books (I think there were about 15 of them) take a traditional approach to haiku; for example they all retain a syllabic, 5-7-5, commitment, and most of them arrange the haiku by season. The seasonal arrangement is maintained in 'Alaska in Haiku'.

I don't know a lot about David Hoopes. He participated in the Alaska Poetry Society which published a haiku anthology, 'Haiku Drops from the Big Dipper' in the 70's; some of Hoopes's haiku appear in the anthology. I believe Hoopes was a naturalist with some sort of State position, living in the panhandle. Later Hoopes moved to Washington State. Hoopes continued his interest in haiku and decades later self-published a more modest collection, 'A Whisper of Snipe: Four Seasons of Haiku', using print-on-demand technology.

The move by Hoopes from using a traditional publisher like Tuttle, to using print-on-demand technology is one example of how p-o-d technology has greatly changed English Language Haiku. Before this new technology ELH was defined by a few editors of small-circulation ELH journals and a few publishers, like Tuttle, who were willing to publish to this niche market. Editors, in particular, thought of themselves as gatekeepers to English Language Haiku and seemed to have felt that ELH was, in some sense, their property. All that changed as print-on-demand technology became widely available and online blogs, forums, and websites for ELH blossomed. This allowed ordinary people to bypass the editorial process (both in journals and book publishers). My feeling is that this has made ELH much more interesting, varied, and creative.

In the garden pool,
dark and still, a stepping-stone
releases the moon.

O. Mabson Southard - American Haiku, Number 1, 1963

American Haiku was the first journal devoted to English Language Haiku. It was published for five years: 1963 - 1967. Various editors participated, some of whom, like Robert Spiess, went on to found their own ELH journals. American Haiku contains a huge hoard of formal haiku, meaning haiku in 5-7-5. Most of these haiku have fallen out of view and haiku poets today are, for the most part, unaware of them. A few years ago I spotted an issue of American Haiku online at a used book site for a very cheap price and out of curiosity I ordered it. I was startled to encounter haiku of uniformly high quality, haiku that I find inspiring. This treasure trove of English Language Haiku is written by a wide range of poets, using a wide range of techniques. Some of these poets were already known to me, but a surprisingly large number were names I had never heard of. A significant number published in one issue, never to heard from again.

I feel like the contemporary ELH community has lost sight of these contributions and precedents and that those of us interested in ELH will benefit by reconnecting with these contributions. My hope is to bring these haiku, and these haiku poets, into the 21st century.

Jazzanatomy

EVERYTHING is jazz:
snails, jails, rails, tails, males, females,
snow-white cotton bales.

Knee-bone thigh, hip-bone.
Jazz slips you percussion bone
classified "unknown."

Sleek lizard rhythms,
cigar-smoke tunes, straight-gin sky
laced with double moons.

Second-chance rhythms,
don't-give-up riffs: jazz gets HIGH
off can'ts, buts, and ifs.

James A. Emanuel - Jazz from the Haiku King, 1999

James Emanuel (1921 to 2013) was a highly regarded African American poet. He published 13 books of poetry, edited anthologies, and was the first to compose what I call haiku stanza poems. Emanuel was a master rhymer; notice the virtuosic use of rhyme in this poem. There are end-rhymes, internal rhymes, list rhymes, and combinations of internal rhyme and end-rhyme like tunes / moons, and riffs / ifs.

Haiku stanza poems differ from haiku sequences. In a haiku sequence the haiku are individually created and then brought together by the author, usually because they share a common focus or technique. In haiku stanza poems, the 5-7-5 stanzas do not stand alone and were not created separately. The stanzas lead into each other and lead to a conclusion in the last stanza.

Since Emanuel, other poets have also written haiku stanza poems; notably Richard Wilbur who also marks his haiku stanza poems with exuberant rhyme. I think there are enough now to create a small anthology.

The exuberant rhythms and rhymes of Emanuel's haiku are extraordinary and take English Language haiku in a new direction.

All day the clouds sing
under a sun like summer
a song high and sweet

Nighthawks - Katherine Hastings, 2014

Katherine Hastings was a local Sonoma County poet who hosted a poetry reading called 'Word Temple' for many years. She also gave a few readings at Many Rivers Books & Tea where I work. 'Nighthawks' contains a haiku sequence called 'Haiku Clouds'. It also contains a lot of other excellent poetry. Katherine has moved away from Sonoma County, but I still think of her as a wonderful influence on the Sonoma County poetry community.

Steam from the red-hot
sun sinking into the sea
clouds the horizon.

Francis Harvey ((April 13, 1925 to November 7, 2014) - Donegal Haiku

Francis Harvey was an Irish poet. He published Donegal Haiku in 2013, late in his life. I think this is his only haiku collection. Irish haiku seems to be very centered in particular locales. Bull Island Haiku by Pat Boran, Inchicore Haiku by Michael Hartnett, and Donegal Haiku by Harvey. This approach to haiku roots them in a particular place and offers the reader an introduction to a specific locale. I haven't read Harvey's other poetry; he was well-known in Ireland and much respected. What I noticed about Donegal Haiku is that Harvey uses many different approaches to constructing his haiku within the traditional frame of 5-7-5. This haiku is an example of a single-sentence haiku that flows easily from the opening to the end. Harvey also skillfully uses alliteration in line 2. But in Donegal Haiku you can also find two-part haiku; some are two full sentences and some are a sentence and fragment. You can also find three sentence haiku with each line being a full sentence. And other ways of construction are also used. I have sometimes thought that if I were to teach a class in formal haiku, the art of 5-7-5, I would use Harvey's small collection as a source book because it illustrates many different approaches to the craft. That is unusual; most haiku poets settle on a particular way of shaping the syllables and lines of their haiku. A lot of formal haiku poets write single sentence, or single thought, haiku. Others specialize in a two-part structure. But Harvey seemed to enjoy uncovering many different arrangements and he uses them all effectively.

Autumn . . . the path now
wanders to oblivion
under every tree.

James Hackett (August 6, 1929 to November 9, 2015)

James Hackett was a significant and influential haiku poet. Hackett won a Japanese haiku contest (as I recall sponsored by Japan Airlines) in 1964. The contest was international and received thousands of entries. Hackett won with the following haiku:

A bitter morning:
Sparrows sitting together
without any necks.

This was the first time that a poet from the anglosphere won a Japanese haiku contest. This gave poets in the anglosphere a sense that they were on the right track and validated the efforts they were making in adopting the Japanese form into English.

As a young man, I think he was in his 20's, Hackett had a severe motorcycle accident. He was hospitalized for a lengthy time and almost died. During this time Hackett had a deep mystical experience about the nature of life and death; this experience appears to have been spontaneous. The impact of that experience remained with him for life. Hackett would find that haiku was a vehicle for expressing what he spoke of as his 'enlightenment experience' which he connected with Zen awakening specifically. Hackett argued throughout his life that haiku could be a vehicle for awakening when done in the right state of mind. He thought of it as a type of meditation that could lead to realization.

Hackett moved to the Bay Area and married Patricia, a music teacher and professor. They met at San Francisco State University. They remained partners for their whole lives. Hackett's haiku were published in early English Language Haiku journals, such as American Haiku, in the 60's. But Hackett's personality was not conducive to aligning with haiku organizations such as journals and the nascent associations in the U.S. He dropped out almost completely from participation in them, at least in the U.S. Hackett seemed to get along better with British haiku groups and journals where his haiku were regularly published and his books reviewed (unlike in the U.S. where they were not reviewed). Now and then Hackett would give a talk, but there would be years between such appearances. Hackett wasn't a hermit, but, on the other hand, he seems to have been content with his life as a poet, and with his circle of friends that included his wife. He and his wife would eventually move to Hawaii where they resided in the town of, guess what?, Haiku (for real).

Hackett also wrote theoretical works on haiku. In the 70's when many North American haiku poets became attracted to minimalism, Hackett criticized that approach. Rereading that essay today, it strikes me that he had remarkable foresight as to the negative effects minimalism would have. Minimalism never took hold in England to the extent that it did in North America, and perhaps that is one of the reasons Hackett seemed to have smoother relationships with the British haiku world.

Hackett is one of my favorite English language haiku poets. I regularly reread his collections and always learn something from doing so. Unfortunately his works are out of print at this time, but used copies are available.

The date of his death,
Reading James Hackett's haiku
As the sun rises.

Morning sun enters
like a broom. Light brushes dust
off the temple steps.

Yeshaya Rotbard - The Calligraphy of Clouds, 2007

I don't know anything about Rotbard other than what is written on the back cover; that he was raised in Milwaukee and currently lives in New York State. 'The Calligraphy of Clouds' was published through print-on-demand technology, in this case iUniverse. More and more haiku poets are using this technology, which, as I have noted before, has dramatically changed the ecology of English Language Haiku. The field has become much wider, and the fauna far more varied. English Language Haiku (ELH) used to be confined to a few journals who had, in my opinion, narrow views as to the parameters of ELH. Now it is easy to stroll past those gatekeeping journals and just speak directly to an interested audience.

I like Rotbard's collection; it consists of haiku and tanka, the older form of Japanese poetry in 5-7-5-7-7 syllables. The poems are well crafted and I feel they have a musical quality to them. I have read it several times and enjoyed each reading.

froth on his whiskers
a man in the pub explains
how high the tide was

David Cobb -- Global Haiku, edited by George Swede and Randy Brooks

David Cobb passed away last Friday. He was one of the founders of the British Haiku Society. I have enjoyed Cobb's haiku for years as well as some small anthologies that he edited. British haiku has a different emphasis than North American Haiku. It feels to me that it is more connected to the overall heritage of British poetry, less given to avantgardism or the minimalism that came to the fore in North America in the 70's. I think this is reflected in Cobb's spacious approach to haiku in that he explicitly stated that he wrote in both formal (5-7-5) and free verse styles. I think that is true of many haiku poets these day. Local poet, Sandy Eastoak, who passed away this year, is a good example.

Thanks, David, for all your work and your wonderful haiku. Rest in peace.

Suddenly aware,
leaves which lately graced our trees,
now no longer there.

A. E. Judd -- American Haiku Number Two, 1963

My daughter leaves home.
Slowly the quietness grows.
The autumn rain falls.

Gunther Klinge - Day into Night: A Haiku Journey, Translated by Ann Atwood, 1980

Gunther Klinge was a German haiku poet. I don't know his exact dates or much about him, other than he was well-known in Germany, Europe, and seems to have been admired by Americans as well. Tuttle published two of Klinge's collections. One in 1978 called "Drifting with the Moon" and one in 1980, "Day into Night" from which this haiku comes. Klinge wrote formal haiku in German using the traditional 5-7-5 shape. Ann Atwood kept that formal commitment in her translations which are also in 5-7-5. A large amount of Japanese haiku is translated into English retaining the 5-7-5 syllabics which was a likely precedent for retaining the syllabics in a translation from German. What translators are doing when they retain the formal parameters in their translation is translating the form.

There are two approaches to translating poetry. One is, as mentioned, to translate the form as much as possible. The other is to emphasize the lexical dimension of the poem and to ignore the form. It's a tradeoff; which approach is taken depends on what the translator wants to highlight. As mentioned already, a lot of translators will translate the 5-7-5 form from Japanese (or German in this case) into English. And this is also true of the older Japanese form of tanka. A good example of this is the translation of the 10th century tanka collection known as Kokinwakashu, aka Kokinshu, which contains over 1,000 tanka, by Helen McCullough. The form of tanka is 5-7-5-7-7. McCullough manages to retain the form in her superb translation into English as well as each tanka having a poetic effect.

This haiku by Klinge is unusual in that it contains three complete sentences; each line is a sentence. Together the three sentences form a collage. You could look at this haiku as a kind of list; three complete images are combined for an overall effect that I find deeply moving.

leaves turning color
I grab all the words I can
to end my novel

Leatrice Lifshitz, Haiku World: An International Poetry Almanac, edited by William J. Higginson, 1996

In Japan one aspect of teaching haiku is known as a Saijiki, or haiku almanac. Saijiki are collections of haiku that are categorized by season, subject, and topic. There are five seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter, and new year. Within each season there are seven subjects: season, heavens, earth, humanity, observances (holidays and memorials), animals, plants. Under each subject haiku are arranged by topic, the topic consisting of key words or phrases. The number of haiku under each topic varies; it can be as few as two or go into the dozens.

In Japan if someone decides to join a haiku group they will be given a Saijiki, or Haiku Almanac, as part of their study. In this way students imbibe key words and their seasonal association. This way of classifying poems by season rather than by author, goes way back in Japanese history; all the way back to the Manyoshu (8th century) and the Kokinwakashu (10th century).

In the anglosphere there is not a long history of looking at poems through a seasonal lens. 'Haiku World' was Higginson's attempt to create an English language Haiku Almanac along the lines of the Japanese Saijiki. There is a significant difference: in Japan the haiku selected for a Saijiki will cover a long history, selections will be made from haiku poets both past and present. In contrast, Higginson put out a call to contemporary English language haiku poets to submit haiku for this project. In the Japanese Saijiki a reader gets a distilled view of the whole history of Japanese haiku. In Higginson's Haiku Almanac the reader gets a snapshot of how people were writing haiku in the anglosphere in the mid-90's. I like Higginson's effort and have learned a lot from it. It is out of print, but for those interested in the way haiku is traditionally presented it is worth getting a used copy.

Ten trillion miles of
paradise permeating
all the afterglow

Yamaguchi Seishi -- A Certain State of Mind, translated by James Kirkup

Yamaguchi Seishi (1874 to 1959) was a famous haiku poet whose works are widely admired in Japan. Many of his haiku are carved into boulders and placed in public spaces for people to read as they walk by (this is an aspect of Japanese poetic culture). Yamaguchi Seishi was a committed traditionalist in the sense that he regarded a season word as an essential part of any haiku; it is said that if a student submitted a haiku to him without a season word he wouldn't even look at it. (The season word in the above haiku is 'afterglow', a summer season word.) On the other hand, Yamaguchi Seishi was among the first haiku poets to include in his haiku contemporary industrial objects such as trains, cars, etc. Though this may seem non-controversial to us, at the time he first used them in his haiku it was considered almost avant-garde. And structurally, he seemed at ease with structures other than the two-part classical form, using 'single thought' haiku fairly often.

James Kirkup (1918 to 2009) was a British poet, translator, and essayist. He was one of the founders of the British Haiku Society. He lived in Japan for many years, but ultimately he settled down in Andorra, a microstate found between France and Spain. From there Kirkup worked on his own haiku, other poetry, and translations for various universities in Europe and Britain. Kirkup's own haiku, as well as his translations, retain a commitment to the 5-7-5 syllabic shape of traditional Japanese haiku. Kirkup also wrote theoretical works supporting this approach.

'A Certain State of Mind' is Kirkup's anthology of Japanese haiku, both classical and contemporary. All the translations are Kirkup's. His selection process was based simply on the haiku that Kirkup personally liked; so in a sense you could say that the 'certain state of mind' in the anthology is a certain state of Kirkup's mind. In other words, it is a highly personal anthology. Having said that, I find the anthology accessible and offering a broad range of approaches to Japanese haiku. In addition, scattered through the anthology are essays on various topics related to haiku; some are biographies of significant haiku poets, and some have to do with haiku theory.

I find Kirkup's work both as a haiku poet and as a translator to be exceptional. It is only last year that I began reading his work thoroughly and it has really grown on me as I have become more familiar with it.

On the willow hangs
like a spider on its thread
the moon's low lantern

James Kirkup - Formulas for Chaos, 1994

I thought I would post one of Kirkup's haiku since yesterday I posted one of his translations. Kirkup was a skilled poet. Here Kirkup uses both metaphor and simile effectively. Metaphor and simile are significant tools for both Japanese and English language haiku. In this haiku Kirkup uses simile in line 2, 'like a spider on its thread', and in line 3 the metaphor of a lantern is used to signify the moon. This kind of complex texture is often found in English language haiku (see, for example, Hayden Carruth above). A haiku is a very brief poem and it surprises me how often poets are able to weave a complex fabric of meaning in such a short form.

Wind, water, and stone
Listening for Ancient ones
Blackbird steps forward

Brian R. Martens -- Three Raven Gate: Haiku & Other Poems, 2019

Martens is a local poet. When 'Three Raven Gate' was published in 2019 he gave a reading at Many Rivers Book & Tea that I enjoyed. This is his first book of poetry. Martens used a local editor and print-on-demand technology. I am very enthusiastic about how new technologies have opened up publishing possibilities for so many poets. This has hugely enriched what is available for English Language Haiku. I see ELH as primarily located in popular culture where most of the creativity, insight, and craftsmanship in the form is taking place.

The door of the shed
open-shuts with the clangor
of red against red.

Paul Muldoon -- Hay, Hopewell Haiku, 1998

Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet, born in 1951. He has published over 30 volumes of poetry, taught in numerous universities, won the Pulitzer Prize, and is internationally respected. His poems are typically metrical and rhyming and he brings that focus to his haiku. As far as I know Muldoon has written three collections of haiku; these collections are part of larger books of poetry, forming a small, but influential, part of his poetic output. Hopewell Haiku is found in his poetry book 'Hay' and consists of a series of 90 haiku. All the haiku have 1st and 3rd line end-rhyme; often very clever and unexpected rhymes. Because of Muldoon's skill with metrics, his haiku also have a compelling rhythmic quality that draws the reader in. An example of his metrical skill is found in this haiku where the scan reveals identical rhythm for both lines 1 & 3: the DOOR of the SHED / of RED against RED. The pattern is an iamb followed by an anapest for both lines. The rhythm of line 2 deviates from this pattern; for example line 2 ends with a trochee: CLANGor, or a unstressed syllable, whereas both lines 1 & 3 end with a stressed syllable. The result of this kind of construction is that line 3 feels like a return to the opening rhythm of line 1, which is a satisfying feeling for the reader. This kind of attention to metrical rhythm makes Muldoon's haiku a pleasure to read and reread.

A thousand petals
Drift gently onto the ground
Like beautiful thoughts.

Jinna Johnson - A Thousand Petals, 1971

'A Thousand Petals' is one of the haiku books published by Tuttle in the 60's and 70's. Johnson was an Illinois poet who discovered haiku while reading about Japan. She found the form very attractive and began to write them based on her reading and studies. This is the pattern I have observed for English Language Haiku poets; usually the introduction to haiku occurs when we read well-written haiku. A lot of people are introduced to haiku in grade school because it is such a simple form and assists kids in learning to count syllables. But I haven't noticed that this is enough to get people to actually writing haiku or becoming dedicated to haiku. Usually that takes finding an example of well-crafted haiku by another poet. That was the case for me. My introduction to haiku was through the book 'Alaska in Haiku' (another one of those Tuttle titles).

I think this is the way any poetic form gets transmitted. For example, I have written a lot of sestinas and though I knew about the form for many years it was encountering sestinas written by Donald Justice that made me think that this was a form I wanted to write myself. The sestinas by Justice showed me not only how the form worked, but how they might work for me.

In a similar way, well-written books of haiku not only show a reader how haiku works, but also how haiku might work for the reader; they open a door to the reader. Not all readers will respond that way, but some will. This is why I think that the books of haiku published by Tuttle in the 60's and 70's are of significance for ELH history; a lot of people found the door to haiku opened by reading these books.

I like this particular haiku. It is an excellent example of how simile can be used in ELH (English Language Haiku). In this case the simile compares an interior experience of 'beautiful thoughts' to a sensory experience of petals drifting. This kind of usage teaches us that the world of our interior experience, and the world of our sensory experience, are the same world of great nature, that the interior realm of thoughts and the world of sensory experience are, in a deep sense, the same world.

Sitting in the dark
With the garden bells tinkling,
I feel less alone.

Jinna Johnson - A Thousand Petals, 1971

I felt like posting a second haiku by Jinna Johnson because I particularly enjoy this one. What I admire about this haiku is the seamless way that Johnson merges sensory experience with interior experience. She does this effortlessly. I also admire how Johnson has used a single-sentence approach to the overall construction. The single sentence acts as a frame for the haiku and a lens of focus. In a collection of my favorite English Language Haiku, this would definitely be included.

On the barren cliff
The fir for her roots finds room --
Love on less may bloom.

Sadakichi Hartmann -- November 8, 1867 to November 22, 1944
Japanese Rhythms, 1933

Sadakichi Hartmann was born in Nagasaki of a German father and a Japanese mother. Sadakichi was the second child, preceded by another son. Sadakichi's mother died soon after he was born. His father was an international trader. He decided to take his two sons to Germany to raise them. As Sadakichi grew into his teens it became clear that he didn't fit in. Partly this was due to a lack of parental guidance as the elder Hartmann continued with his international trade which meant that he was away most of the time. The elder Hartmann had relatives in Philadelphia and arrangements were made for Sadakichi to be raised in the U.S.

Sadakichi took an early interest in poetry and sought out other poets. Sadakichi had an uncanny ability to connect with artists, poets, and intellectuals. He visited Walt Whitman and took notes on their conversations which he later published. He also travelled widely, visiting Ezra Pound, T. S. Elliott, and the poet laureate George Bridges in England. He also visited the Rossetti's in Belgium. In the U.S. he was equally present among artistic and intellectual circles; for example he was involved with Emma Goldman and her anarchist circle. He even had a stint in Hollywood working on scripts and appearing in bit parts.

Sadakichi wrote many books, mostly about art history, as well as publishing poetry. He was married several times and had many children. He became a naturalized citizen in 1894.

Covering all of his creative endeavors, including poetry, painting, sculpture, art theory, requires a book length review. For the purposes of this post, Sadakichi published a collection of poetry in Japanese forms in 1933 called 'Japanese Rhythms'. It was a small collection that included tanka (5-7-5-7-7 syllable structure), haiku (5-7-5 structure), and a few dodoitsu (7-7-7-5), an obscure form that had a brief period of popularity in Japan during, I think, the Muromachi period. Sadakichi referred to his haiku as 'haikai' as the word 'haiku' had not yet become standard in the anglosphere. 'Haikai' is a type of linked verse with 36 verses overall. It is the type of linked verse that Basho made a living teaching. The opening verse of a haikai was called the 'hokku'; eventually the opening verse, which was considered the most important verse of a haikai, took on a life of its own and evolved into what we call haiku today. I think Sadakichi referring to 'haikai' was based on this history.

Most of the haikai/haiku in 'Japanese Rhythms' rhyme and they all retain the 5-7-5 traditional syllabic shape of the Japanese. The collection, though small, introduced many people in the anglosphere to several important Japanese poetic forms.

When WW II broke out Sadakichi Hartmann was investigated. However, he was not interred due to his many connections who testified to his loyalty. But he was closely monitored. He died in 1944 while visiting his daughter's family and grandchildren in Florida.

With the wind of all
in the red hawk's wings, his heart
how smoothly he flies

Brendan Mobert, Age 8 - The Land of Six Seasons, 1983

'The Land of Six Seasons' was an anthology of locally written haiku published by the Gualala Arts Council. It includes a variety of approaches to haiku with a few of them using the traditional syllabic approach. The one here is by an 8-year old. One of the things I enjoy about haiku is that as a traditional form it is easy to access; for this reason it has become a useful tool for introducing children to the concept of syllable and at the same time some of the basics of poetry.

I often think of haiku as resembling the recorder, the wind instrument often used to introduce children to music. The recorder is basically a big whistle and most children get the hang of it fairly quickly; soon they can play a simple tune. In a similar way, most children can get the basics of haiku down fairly quickly and write a well constructed haiku. In both cases this is an encouraging experience.

In both cases, that of the recorder and haiku, someone who is interested and dedicated can go further with these means of expression, building on the basics (such as the 5-7-5 syllabics) as they explore additional methods and meanings. In the case of the recorder, someone can go on to become a virtuoso performer.

Haiku is a hearty growth and I think part of that strength is due to its ability to grow in diverse hearts and minds at an early age. Haiku is agreeable to all ages and backgrounds.

Moon moves down the sky
westward as tree-shadows flow
eastward and vanish.

Buson - Translated by Harry Behn, More Cricket Songs, 1971

Harry Behn (1898 - 1973) was a translator of haiku in the 60's and early 70's. Behn was a poet, children's books author, and Hollywood screenwriter, as well as a translator. His haiku translations were published by Harcourt Brace and widely read. A lot of people learned about Japanese haiku from Behn's translations.

Buson (1716 to 1784) was a haiku poet and painter. During his lifetime he was known more for his painting than as a poet. In fact, he had faded into obscurity as a haiku poet soon after his death. It was Masaoka Shiki (1867 - 1902) who rediscovered Buson and praised Buson's skill as a haiku poet in his weekly newspaper column. Since then Buson is recognized for his skill, in particular his strongly visual presentations within the haiku form.

This haiku is an example of what I call an 'extended moment' haiku. Buson is depicting a process that takes place during an entire evening; if Buson is referring to a full moon the process of the interaction between moonlight and shadows on the earth takes the entire night. In contemporary English Language Haiku discourse the idea is often put forward of the 'haiku moment', but which is meant the 'haiku instant'. I think of this approach as turning a haiku into a snapshot. But some haiku are what I think of as videos rather than photographs of a moment; these 'video' haiku encompass a process; in fact the process is primary in this type of haiku. Both Buson and Basho wrote haiku of this extended moment type and I think we should be open to that approach in the anglosphere as well.

What can I say to
The butterfly that just flew
Past me, changing hue?

MA. Milagros T. Dumdum - Falling on Quiet Water

Milagros T. Dumdum is a contemporary haiku poet from Cebu, Philippines. She writes in several languages, including English. I find her work to be superbly constructed and a joy to read. Many of her poems reflect her strong Catholic tradition and that she lives in an extended-family household. There is also an emphasis on communing with nature as in this haiku.

I decided to post this haiku because it is an example of a triple-end-rhyme haiku: to / flew/ hue. That's unusual, though I have seen a haiku by James Hackett that uses triple end-rhyme. The author uses rhyme now and then; like most English Language Haiku poets she considers rhyme and option, but does not demand it. What I find in this haiku is how the cheerfulness of the end-rhyme merges with the picture that the haiku presents; it is an overall cheerful scene and it feels to me that the triple end-rhyme is a good vehicle for expressing that cheerfulness.

White chrysanthemum . . .
Before that perfect flower
Scissors hesitate

Buson - Translated by Peter Beilenson, A Haiku Garland, 1968

Peter Beilenson founded Peter Pauper Press with his wife Edna. The Press was founded in 1931, Peter died in 1962 and Edna continued running the Press until her death in 1981. Peter Pauper Press is still a successful publishing company. The Press specialized in gift books, journals, and games.

Peter Beilenson published four volumes of translations of haiku in small gift book format. The last of the four was finished by Harry Behn after Beilenson died. There was a long friendship between Behn and Beilenson as they both shared an interest in haiku at a time when haiku was not widespread. After Beilenson died the Press gathered the translations from the four gift books and published 'A Haiku Garland' in 1968 that contains all the haiku from the previous four volumes. I think there are about 700 haiku in total. They are arranged seasonally in 'A Haiku Garland.' Beilenson translated haiku from many different Japanese haiku poets, not just the big three of Basho, Buson, and Issa. Beilenson's gift books introduced to many Americans a wide range of Japanese haiku poets, giving readers a sense of the many different ways there are of approaching haiku. As an anthology of Japanese haiku in English I think it still is worth reading and, in some ways, surpasses some of the newer anthologies of Japanese haiku translated into English. If you can find a used copy it is worth spending time with it.

Merciful autumn
Tones down the shabby curtains
Of my rented room.

Richard Wright -- September 4, 1908 – November 28, 1960 - Haiku 174

Today is the anniversary of the death of Richard Wright. Each year I take time to think about Wright's contribution to English Language Haiku and to read some haiku from his collection. In my first post on this thread, Haiku Habitat, I posted a haiku from Wright and suggested that if your read only one book of English Language Haiku, this is the one to read. Over the years I have found that Wright's collection bears rereading and a door to contemplation.

The great gift of Wright's haiku is that he merges the traditional parameters of Japanese haiku with the heritage of English language poetry in a way that looks effortless. I see this approach as the way forward for English Language Haiku.

If you have a moment today, take a few moments to read some of his haiku. Let them settle into your mind and heart. It is definitely worth the time.

In an autumn wind,
looking through a box of books
left on the corner

Tom Tico - Spring Morning Sun

Tom Tico was a San Francisco haiku poet. His haiku appear in early English language haiku journals. Many of his haiku see the world from the perspective of homelessness; he was homeless for a number of years. As far as I know he published only one collection of his haiku, Spring Morning Sun, which is a wonderful and heartfelt collection.

Rusty car body
All that remains of a hope
Once so dearly held

Charles Walker - Haiku and High Timber, 2010

Charles Walker learned about haiku when he was part of the U.S. occupation of Japan right after WW II. Walker became acquainted with a local haiku poet who introduced Walker to how haiku is written and the focus of haiku. Walker took to haiku and wrote it for the rest of his adult life. But it was only in 2009 that a friend suggested that Walker publish a collection. The result was 'Haiku and High Timber'. The collection has a local focus; meaning that they reflect the area where Walker lives, Eastern Oregon. I like that local focus. And you can see the influence of his Japanese haiku teacher in the seasonal arrangement of the haiku, which is the standard pattern in which Japanese haiku are presented.

Walker is skillful at using phrases that are repeated, sometimes with slight modification, throughout the collection. This kind of repetition gives the collection a sense of unity, almost like the phrase is a refrain. It weaves the haiku together so that the haiku in the collection feel like they are part of a larger whole, even though any single haiku can stand on its own.

Dark in the cabin.
No lamp but the blue moon of
the computer screen.

Mary Jo Salter -- Open Shutters, 2003

Mary Jo Salter is a contemporary poet, editor, and teacher. Her work is widely admired. She was one of the three editors for the 5th edition of the Norton Anthology of English poetry; the great big book of English language poetry, an anthology that begins with Anglo-Saxon poetry and concludes with near contemporaries. This is the first edition of the Norton Anthology that includes English language haiku; specifically selections from the haiku of Richard Wright. It was Mary Jo Salter who advocated for the inclusion of Wright's haiku. In an interview I read she spoke of how much she admired Wright's haiku and how pervasively influential they have been, how they set the standard for English language haiku. It was a nice feeling for me to see English language haiku included right along with sonnets, etc., and to see Wright's haiku find a place in the canon.

Salter does not write a lot of haiku. Usually she writes a short series of haiku, about six of them, and includes the haiku in a book of poems. This is often the approach that poets take; it resembles including a villanelle in a book of poetry.

This haiku is packed with meaning. Structurally, it consists of two phrases; notice the lack of a verb in either phrase. The haiku presents an intriguing intersection of the natural and human worlds by using a natural metaphor (blue moon) for a technological experience (the light at night from the computer screen). I think you could spend a lot of time commenting on the implications of a haiku like this.

Dark and light, sweet sounds
from crickets and soaring hawks.
A hundred eons?

Edith Shiffert -- The Unswept Path: Contemporary American Haiku, Edited by John Brandi and Dennis Maloney, 2005

I'm posting another Shiffert haiku because I enjoy her approach. This is another example of Shiffert's 'time shift haiku'. In this case line 3 places the events of lines 1 & 2 into a much grander temporal context.

Line 1 introduces two abstractions; dark and light. Line 2 offers two sounds; crickets and soaring hawks, presumably the cry of the hawk is heard.

Line 3 offers a temporal context that embraces both pairs of things. Sounds naturally appear together, but the pair dark and light are experienced as negating each other. We even have spiritually sayings that rely on their mutual exclusion such as 'one candle disperses the darkness'.

Seen from the perspective of eons, though, if an eon is taken to be a moment in time, then light and dark occupy the same temporal field in the same way that the sound of the crickets and the cry of the hawk occupy the same temporal field. In Daoism this is the circle that encompasses the field of dark and light. This kind of understanding can be experienced through some kind of contemplative discipline that leads to the unity of eternity.

Pulsing lights, low hum,
Granny prays, hunting dogs whine:
Spaceship lands in swamp.

Mary K. Witte -- Redneck Haiku: Double-Wide Edition, 2005

This is an example of popular haiku. Haiku has become a popular art form, like poker or gospel music or genre films like sci-fi. Popular haiku sells very well and I suspect that a large number of people are introduced to haiku through collections of popular haiku. The two best-sellers of popular haiku are 'Haikus for Jews' by Bader (I'll post later), and this collection, 'Redneck Haiku'.

Popular haiku has several characteristics. It is local, often concerned with a sub-culture (e.g. Jewish culture in New York for 'Haikus for Jews', or trailer trash for 'Redneck Haiku'), often incorporates local dialect, usually humorous but can also be poignant, deliberately low brow, often connected with popular culture tropes like this haiku with its cultural reference to a type of sci-fi adventure.

Also, popular haiku is disconnected from haiku journals or haiku societies; these journals and societies tend to be consciously literary and use a type of English that I think of as 'University English' as opposed to the local dialect of a sub-culture often used in popular haiku. The two approaches to haiku almost never cross paths. Literary haiku tends to look down on popular haiku, just as University culture in general tends to look down on popular culture. And popular haiku authors seem to be addressing a different audience; for example, often popular haiku collections are placed in the humor section of bookstores rather than the poetry section.

It is fascinating to me how the 5-7-5 form has permeated the anglosphere so that we find it used by professional poets such as Paul Muldoon and Mary Jo Salter, literary haiku poets dedicated to the haiku form, and also in popular culture as a means for expressing the experience of a specific sub-culture, its concerns and views. I think this is remarkable; I'm not sure I can come up with another poetic form that spread so widely so quickly.

Personally, I enjoy popular haiku, its humor, its ability to open a window on cultural experiences I am not familiar with. And I am grateful for its ability to popularize haiku and make it accessible to ordinary people.

chrysanthemums bloom
in a mason's yard between
all the blocks of stone

Basho - translated by John White and Kemmyo Taira Sato, The Haiku of Basho, 2019

Last year John White and Kemmyo Taira Sato published three volumes of haiku translations from the Japanese: one volume for Basho, one for Buson, and one for Issa. The books are beautifully put together with thick pages and a layout that includes the original Japanese in a vertical line (the standard way for writing Japanese haiku), a romaji transliteration, followed by an English translation. The Basho and Buson volumes also include examples of their painting and calligraphy.

The translations are syllabic and the translators also attempt to mimic sonic effects found in the original when that is possible. The translators are both Pure Land Buddhist practitioners who belong to the Buddhist Society in the UK. This personal involvement in Pure Land Buddhism informs their translation and is especially helpful in their translation of Issa who was a Pure Land Buddhist practitioner.

The translators are particularly attentive to rhythm, both in the original Japanese and how rhythm works in English. There is a tendency in haiku translations from Japanese haiku to not take rhythm into account; especially when the translation is into free verse, and doubly so when the translator has minimalist inclinations.

This new set of translations from the Japanese is a welcome addition to the treasure-trove of translated Japanese haiku that retain the formal characteristics of the original.

Autumn waterfall --
as if a horse's tail kept
shaking and shaking

Ishizaki Rokufu -- Translated by James Kirkup, A Certain State of Mind, 1995

Concord visitors
drink the wine of morning air,
break the bread of words.

Raymond Roseliep - August 11, 1917 to December 6, 1983
Flute Over Walden, 1976
Thoreau Journal Quarterly, 1973
Quoted in 'Raymond Roseliep: Man of Art Who Loves the Rose' by Donna Bauerly

Raymond Roseliep was a poet and Catholic Priest in rural Iowa where he lived his entire life. Early in his poetry writing he wrote long form poems. Many of these poems were syllabic, meaning they had the same number of syllables per line but did not share a metrical structure. I feel that this syllabic approach, and his skill with it, made it easier for him to approach haiku which is a syllabic form in its traditional structure. Roseliep turned to haiku gradually, eventually becoming his primary means of poetic expression. His early haiku are syllabic and traditional. I find them very compelling and introspective. Unfortunately, from my perspective, Roseliep became enamored of a minimalist approach to haiku and I think this limited his range of expression; more than a few critics also share this observation. Minimalism became a prominent movement in North American Haiku in the 70's and advocated for a short count, along with a huge number of linguistic restrictions. It's interesting, though, that Roseliep did not sign on to all the minimalist limitations of that decade. For example, Roseliep argued strongly that metaphor and simile should be an important part of haiku poetry, a position the minimalists opposed.

Roseliep's journey through English Language Haiku is an intriguing one. His shifts in style reflect the changing tastes of that time, and at the same time his commitment to the art of poetry shaped his haiku into a mode of expression that stands out and still speaks to us decades later.

from these scattered shards
the young archeologist
describes the clay pot

Evelyn Tooley Hunt - Wind Chimes Haiku Journal, 13, 1984

Evelyn Tooley Hunt (1904 to 1997) is best known as a poet who wrote the poem 'Taught Me Purple', which lead to the novel 'The Color Purple' by Alice Walker. But Hunt was also a haiku poet who sometimes published haiku under the pen name Tao-Li.

This haiku is a single sentence haiku. I see it as a contemplation on time and how the past leaves its mark on the present, though that mark is often hidden and needs to be decoded.

Smell of the river
casting a line of daydreams
into my window.

Michael Moore - Haiku Landscapes, 2004

Michael Moore (no relationship to the famous film maker) published this collection, marking a turn in his creative output. Moore writes that this collection marks a 'departure' from his previous published collections which took a more free form, or free verse, approach. This interests me because it replicates my own haiku journey. I started out writing free verse haiku because that was the approach taken by people around me and it is also the approach advocated by official haiku organizations and journals. Later, when I became more acquainted with the rich treasure trove of formal haiku, haiku in 5-7-5, I found the approach more expressive and more in touch with the original Japanese. I began writing formal haiku, gradually finding satisfaction within its formal parameters. There are a lot of formal haiku poets who have made the same journey. There is something innately attractive about the 5-7-5 rhythm, the framing of haiku within traditional parameters, that encourages creativity and individual expression. When I think of this journey I am reminded of a verse from Bob Dylan's song, 'Shelter from the Storm': I came in from the wilderness / A creature void of form / Come in, she said, I'll give you / Shelter from the storm.

Small bird, forgive me.
I'll hear the end of your song
in some other world.

Anonymous -- Translated by Harry Behn, More Cricket Songs, 1971

Anonymous haiku, and tanka, are numerous in Japanese poetic culture. The 9th century collection of over 1100 tanka, Kokinwakashu, contains hundreds of anonymous tanka. And collections of seasonal haiku, saijiki, in Japan also contain anonymous haiku. I think this is an indication of how pervasive poetic culture is in Japan. Anonymous haiku emerge from popular, or folk, culture. I see them as spontaneous poetic expression; perhaps the haiku was first given voice at a party, or in this case a funeral or a celebration for the deceased, or perhaps at a bar with a gathering of friends; we don't know. But others who heard it recalled it and passed it on to others. Something like, 'Hey Tony, last night I heard this haiku, some guy at the other end of the bar . . . '

There is also in Japan a tradition of a 'death poem'. This isn't necessarily a poem written at death (though there are such poems, Basho, for example, wrote a beautiful death poem just before passing). More often it is a poem written to be read at one's funeral, a kind of farewell or last word to one's friends and loved ones. I think this poem may have served that function.

When a thing is said,
The lips become very cold
Like the autumn wind.

Basho - Translated by Daniel C. Buchanan, One Hundred Famous Haiku, 1973

Buchanan's 100 translations of famous haiku was published in 1973. Buchanan's approach to translation was more scholarly than that of Beilensen or Behn. Each haiku contains the Japanese original, than a transliteration, followed by a translation, and finally each haiku contains a brief, one paragraph, commentary by Buchanan. The translations are syllabic, in the 5-7-5 form, which replicates the 5-7-5 structure of the Japanese. This collection was a good introduction to haiku for many in the U.S. who wanted to go a bit deeper than what is offered in the Behn and Beilensen translations. It's too bad that this collection is out of print; the translations remain excellent and the commentary is helpful. It remains a good introduction to Japanese haiku.

The falling snow flakes
Cannot blunt the hard aches nor
Match the steel stillness.

Etheridge Knight -- The Essential Etheridge Knight, 1991

Etheridge Knight (1931 to 1991) was an African American poet who used his poetic skills to communicate the African American prison experience. His first collection of poetry was 'Poems from Prison' in 1968. Knight had lifelong drug problems which devolved to him being arrested for armed robbery in the early sixties. When he was released he married Sonia Sanchez, but because of ongoing drug difficulties their relationship ended after two years. Sanchez writes about this in some of her poetry.

I'm not sure when Knight encountered haiku. It was either in prison when he became serious about poetry, or possibly from Sonia Sanchez who also was attracted to haiku. It is worth pointing out that Black involvement with English language haiku goes way back to the early decades of the 20th century. Black magazines like The Crisis published haiku and also articles about haiku prosody. And poets in the Harlem Renaissance were involved with both haiku and tanka. In some ways I think of these explorations and influences as pivotal for the development of English language haiku. In the case of both Knight and Sanchez it may have been this general background of black involvement in haiku that connected them to the form. (I don't think they were aware of Richard Wright's haiku because Wright was in France when he wrote his haiku; but a few of Wright's haiku were published in Ebony, so they might have been aware of those specific examples.)

Knight's haiku are, at one and the same time, objective and passionate. His uses metaphor and simile like a sharp blade. The images stay with the reader as they speak of uneasy things.

Dew catches the sun
and floods the windshield with light.
Two-car accident.

Jim Jones -- Police Blotter Haiku, 2014

'Police Blotter Haiku' is a good example of the popular haiku genre. The 'police blotter' is a daily record of police activity. The blotter includes the foibles of ordinary people such as behavior when drunk or drugged, arguments that get out of hand or too noisy for the neighbors, nasty break-ups, etc. The haiku in this collection are grouped by the type of difficulty such as 'Men, Women and Wretched Exes, Bad Behavior, Questionable Judgment, Much Outrage About Nothing, etc. These scenes, captured in 5-7-5, reveal human beings when they are lacking in good judgment and/or common sense. We have all seen this kind of behavior and I suspect all of us have participated in it at moments in our lives.

Many of the haiku are humorous, but more than a few are poignant. The author clearly has sympathy for human beings in their imperfection.

Jones self-published this collection and used kickstarter to finance it. These new ways of getting into print are a boon to English language haiku; they have given access to both publishing and circulation for many haiku poets who otherwise would not have had such access.

I like the way this particular haiku is constructed. It starts with a setup for a nature haiku. Line 3 is an unexpected twist. I hope the accident wasn't too serious.

Through autumnal dusk
the smoke of leaves curls itself
in a question mark.

Charles Shaw -- American Haiku, Vol. II, No. 1, 1964

I don't know much about Charles Shaw. His haiku appear in early haiku journals fairly frequently.

I discovered some years ago that there is a huge treasure trove of well-written formal haiku from the 60's and 70's that has been dropped down the memory whole. Very few people writing English language haiku today are aware of this. This has led to a distorted understanding of the brief history of ELH (English language haiku). I like to bring into the present this unmined trove of formal haiku both because it is excellently crafted and because I think we today can build on the approach of these many poets.

I try to track down information about the poets I find in the pages of American Haiku, the first English language haiku journal and sometimes I do find out some interesting information. But a surprising number have vanished, known only by their name. In some cases their gender is not even know because they used an initial for their first name, or their first name is used by more than one gender; e.g. 'Pat'. In some instances they contributed only one or two well-crafted haiku to American Haiku, never to be in print again as far as I have been able to discover. In a way, they are like the 'anonymous' haiku found in Japanese collections.

I find his haiku well-crafted, with a simple syntax. In this haiku Shaw concludes with a metaphor that expands the meaning of the simple scene depicted in lines 1 & 2.

The peasant hoes on.
The person who asked the way
Is now out of sight.

Buson - Translated by Patrick C. Buchanan, 100 Famous Haiku, 1973

She rubs her cold hands
a thousand times, even ten
thousand times over.

Seishi Yamaguchi -- The Essence of Modern Haiku, Translated by Takashi Kodaira and Alfred H. Marks

I posted a haiku by Yamaguchi before that was translated by James Kirkup, from an anthology of translations from the Japanese. This translation is entirely haiku written by Yamaguchi. It was published by Tuttle in 1993. Each haiku contains the Japanese original with romanization below the Japanese. Then there is an English translation. In the notes to each haiku Yamaguchi gives the reader a brief commentary. Finally, each haiku has some footnotes that point out the season word for the haiku and discuss some vocabulary and its associations in the original Japanese. That makes this volume a great introduction to how Japanese understand the art of haiku; for the dedicated English language haiku poet this is a good way to enter into the Japanese context and background.

This haiku is a single sentence haiku (that's true even in the original Japanese) with a focus on a single moment; a common response to cold weather. Haiku like this might, at first reading, seem insignificant. But what I think is being shown in this type of haiku is how human life is shaped by the natural world both in small and large ways, a truth that human beings often forget.

i have died and dreamed
myself back to your arms where
what i died for sleeps.

Sonia Sanchez -- Wounded in the House of a Friend, 1995

This cold winter night
no bird sings; just the old moon
in a songless sky.

Peter Britell -- The 700 Haiku of the Carpenter, 2014

I like that haiku has become part of blue collar culture. I can see this in popular haiku. But there are also people who have taken up haiku more for the poetry itself; that is to say they have found poetry as a means of expression and a field of interest later in life. Peter Britell is a carpenter in New York State who took up haiku because he was inspired by it and found it to be a means of expression.

Most poets in the U.S. are poet 'hobbyists' or poet 'amateurs'; by that I mean that they do not earn their living through poetry. When I say 'most' poets I mean over 80%, easily. Most people are poets in the way that most people who love cooking are cooks; very few cooks make their living by cooking, but it is often a means of creativity that people find satisfying. Or poets are like gardeners; gardeners cultivate the plant realm and poets cultivate the word realm.

I often compare poetry to the craft of carpentry; carpenters shape wood and poets shape words. Britell first published a collection of 400 haiku; then over the years he published 500, 600, and finally the 700 haiku collection. Britell has a keen awareness of rhythm and uses it to shape his lines, particularly the second line which he likes to divide into two parts as in the quoted haiku. He explores these possible divisions of line two; sometimes breaking it up into 3 + 4, or 2 + 5, or 4 + 3, etc. His haiku lean towards what I call a 'plain style'; though now and then he will use devices like metaphor, simile, and personification. It's a collection that I've read several times and enjoyed each time I have opened it.

Grandma knits a sock,
grandpa's chair rocks, yet he sleeps;
snow blocks the roadway.

Jerri Spinelli - Borrowed Water, 1964

I love the way end-rhyme is combined with internal rhyme in this haiku.

Looking through Grandma's
old photographs the children
find only strangers.

Elsie Jachowski - American Haiku, Vol. II, No. 2, 1964

The light of dawn called --
I heard the angels singing
"Peace on Earth to all."

Jim Wilson - December 2020

Leaning on the sill
And watching the bright moonlight
Whiten the new snow.

David Hoopes -- A Whisper of Snipe, 2015

David Hoopes published a collection of haiku in the 70's, 'Alaska in Haiku'. He was a member of the Alaska Poetry Foundation that published an anthology of haiku also in the early 70's, 'Drops from the Great Dipper'. This anthology was entirely of Alaska haiku poets.

Since then Hoopes has moved to Washington state. I have a special fondness for 'Alaska in Haiku' because it was the first collection of English Language Haiku I read when I was attending the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. So I was happy to see this second collection of haiku appear more than 30 years later.

Hoopes has a knack for effortless rhyme, often internal rhyme. He doesn't use rhyme in most of his haiku, but when he does use rhyme it does with skill. The series bright / moonlight / whiten gives the haiku an attractive sonic dimension. I have a fondness for haiku that use techniques like rhyme, alliteration, and assonance to good effect.

Inside there is tea
to relieve the aching bones
of old winter's chill

Odin Hartshorn Halvorson -- Hart Haiku: Pieces of a Changing World, 2017

Odin Halvorson is a local, Sebastopol, poet and writer. He published this collection of 103 haiku in 2017. Halvorson's haiku are skillfully constructed. He is adept at single sentence haiku (like this one), at two-part haiku, and at list haiku. He is also adept at the use of metaphor and then unpacking the metaphor in the rest of the haiku, like the following:

All knowledge is snow
upon the child's tongue, melting
into the great whole.

This haiku is one that has a lot of dimensions; sensual, philosophical, and metaphysical. Metaphor is a particularly good vehicle for condensing meanings and then having those meanings overflow beyond the haiku itself.

It's a wonderful collection.

on folded paper
found in this volume of Blake --
a single haiku

Denis M. Garrison - Haiku Harvest 2001 - 2006, edited by Denis Garrison

Denis Garrison, in the early 2000's, was active in publishing a number of haiku magazines, as well as a journal for English language tanka. (As an aside he was also involved with a magazine devoted to the Cinquain called 'Amaze'.) 'Haiku Harvest' is a complete anthology of all the haiku magazines published at that time. It's a big collection with numerous authors using a variety of techniques. Garrison, as an editor, had a spacious view of how to construct haiku in English; he took a neutral stance regarding the formal (5-7-5) vs. free verse approaches and published both. Unfortunately, he took a lot of flack for that, particularly from those advocating a free verse approach. Garrison speaks about this in several essays. For this, and other more personal reasons, Garrison dropped out of the English language haiku scene as well as having a public presence in poetry in general.

I am grateful for all the work he did and his publishing of so many haiku poets; a lot of these poets were published for the first time in one of Garrison's journals.

The least of breezes
blows and the dry sky is filled
with the voice of pines . . .

Onitsura -- Translated by Harry Behn, Cricket Songs, 1964

Onitsura is one of my favorite Japanese haiku poets. Onitsura was a disciple of Basho. From the little I have been able to find out about him, Onitsura was a Shinto Priest and that influence is apparent in many of his haiku. In general I have discovered that Shinto has a strong influence on Japanese haiku, but that influence tends to be overlooked in the West. Instead, Westerners tend to interpret Japanese haiku through a Buddhist lens, usually Zen Buddhism, sometimes Pure Land Buddhism.

I can understand that. It is easier for Westerners to understand Buddhism than it is for them to understand Shinto. Buddhism has a founder, a clearly defined doctrine, a conversion ceremony (taking refuge), a vast corpus of holy scriptures; all of these things map easily onto what the West expects from a religion. In contrast, Shinto has no founder, no holy scriptures, no conversion ceremony, and no clearly defined set of ethical proscriptions (which is not to say it has no ethics). This makes it difficult for Westerners to spot the Shinto presence in Japanese haiku because the marks of Shinto presence are usually missed.

Partly they are missed because translators tend to abstract Shinto terminology. For example, in a recent translation of a haiku by Buson, the translator used 'altar' for 'kamidana'. A kamidana is a specifically Shinto home altar; a Buddhist home altar is called a 'Butsudan'. 'Kami' is the Japanese word for what are venerated at Shinto Shrines (Jinja); it is a word difficult to translate and covers natural forces, awe inspiring presences like waterfalls and mountains, historical people who have become Kami (like the very popular Tenjin), ancestors, etc. A 'Kamidana' means 'place of the Kami' and is where Shinto practitioners hold home-centered ceremonies. It is true that a Kamidana is an 'altar', but by using that abstract term, instead of 'Shinto alter' or 'Kami altar', the reader remains unaware that Buson is specifically referring to Shinto spirituality. I am not well-versed in Japanese (certainly not fluent), so it takes a lot of time and work for me to tease out these kinds of linguistic translation difficulties. And I am not criticizing translators for using a more abstract noun for specifically Shinto terms. I think the logic of the translator is that very few western readers will understand the Shinto reference, so instead they choose a word that is abstractly spiritual to give a rough feeling to the reader in English.

But the result is that the Shinto dimension of Japanese haiku is occluded. The Buson example I mentioned is not the only one; I have found others by Shiki, Basho, and many others. It is my hope that at some point in the future a scholar will focus on translating the haiku of Onitsura and draw out, perhaps in brief comments, or footnotes, the Shinto dimension.

Seven Seraphim
Sat at the top of the dune
To watch the sun set

James Moore - The Haiku Companion, 2012

James Moore writes in the 'Introduction' to this collection: "I first learned about haiku in a high school creative writing class in the late 1960's. Although I experienced many different styles of writing in that class, haiku quickly became my first love. It requires a great deal of the writer -- the ability to create in the reader a complete sense of an entire scene -- in only three short lines and 17 syllables."

The collection of 830 haiku is divided into two sections. The first part tend to be more traditional in the sense that most of them are seasonal and/or naturescapes. In the second part the haiku tend to be more introspective and/or philosophical. The first part is called 'The World We See' and the second part us called 'The Lives We Live'.

Moore's haiku sometimes use literary allusion, which is rare in English language haiku, but very common in Japanese haiku. The reference to Seraphim in line 1 is an example; it automatically brings up a biblical feeling. Moore is also skillful at using literary techniques to shape and frame his haiku. An example of this is Moore's use of alliteration in this haiku. The haiku begins with three words starting with the 's' sound (Seven Seraphim Sat) and concludes with two 's' sound words (sun set). No words between these two sets use the 's' sound. The result is that the alliterative 's' sound frames the haiku, giving the haiku a secure sense of setting. This kind of thing makes 'The Haiku Companion' a valuable resource for the budding haiku poet.

I won't miss this year --
Perhaps its gifts will appear
A decade from now.

Jim Wilson -- December 2020

All of us sitting
At the foot of the world-tree:
First day of the year.

Shirao -- Translated by Robin Gill, 'The Fifth Season', edited by Jim Wilson

Such a fine first dream . . .
But they laughed at me . . . they said
I had made it up.

Takuchi -- Translated by Peter Beilenson, A Haiku Garland, 1968

In traditional Japan the first dream of the New Year was thought of as especially significant and people would share these dreams. The poet Takuchi shared his dream, but his companions thought his fine dream was contrived.

A brief word about the New Year period in traditional Japan. There were two calendars in use. One was the lunar-solar Chinese calendar that many in the West are familiar with. The timing of this New Year is the second new moon (lunar) after the winter solstice (solar). This can range from January 22nd to about February 19th. The second calendar is known as the 24 Solar Terms (here the word 'terms' means 'durations', as in 'term of office'). The 24 Solar Terms is a solar calendar with 24 months of 15, or sometimes 16, days. The New Year for the 24 Solar Terms is February 4th. February 4th is mid-way between the December Solstice and the March Equinox.

In East Asia the equinoxes and solstices mark the mid-point of the seasons. The December Solstice is the mid-point of winter, considered to be winter's strongest day. February 4th was considered to be the beginning of Spring and the March Equinox was the mid-point of Spring, whereas in the West we think of the March Equinox as the beginning of Spring.

Japanese haiku poets before the modern period, marked by the Meiji Restoration, tended to use the 24 Solar Terms as the basis for their seasonal haiku. What that means is that when we come across a haiku for the New Year, from a pre-modern Japanese poet, they consider these haiku to be Spring haiku, rather than Winter haiku. It takes some time to adjust. In many cases, like the one above, it doesn't matter. On the other hand, when coming across a phrase in Japanese haiku like 'Spring begins', it is likely they mean February 4th, the New Year of the 24 Solar Terms.

After the crickets
have left for winter quarters
the clock ticks louder

Joyce W. Webb -- American Haiku, Vol. II, No. 2, 1964

Thick clouds lowering . . .
brown eyes of horses blinking
through the whirling snow

Rebecca Lilly - Shadwell Hills, 2002

Waccobb is closing; I'm sure you have all read Barry's post. I want to thank Barry for all the work he put into this site. It was a great contribution to the Sebastopol community.

For those who might be interested in formal haiku, the art of 5-7-5, I have a group on Facebook called 'Formal Haiku'. Come on over and take a look.

I started this thread with a haiku by Richard Wright. It seems fitting that it's last post should also be one by Richard Wright:

The scent of an orange
By an ice-coated window
In a rocking train.

Thanks again, Barry, and best wishes for 2021.