Embedded Files
This is a place to think. I’ve written essays on many different topics, long and short, of which the following are a majority, focusing mostly on haiku and related genres of poetry. I’ve arranged the following essays by category, with a few essays listed in more than one category. For additional essays, please visit the Interviews, Introductions, Reports, Reviews, and Speeches pages, and see my Déjà-ku Diary blog. See also Further Reading, Postscripts, and Not Previously Published. +
“The skill of writing is creating a context in which other people can think.” —Edwin Schlossberg
“I should not like my writing to spare other people the trouble of thinking. But, if possible, to stimulate someone
to thoughts of his own.” —Ludwig Wittgenstein, in Philosophical Investigations
★ = most recommended (start with these essays)
Have a question about haiku? Email Michael Dylan Welch and I’ll respond with a personal answer, or a suggested essay to read. This site has many essays to consider, so don’t hesitate to ask for reading guidance, to ask questions about haiku, or to offer your comments.
Recent Additions (with dates added)
Recent Additions (with dates added)
On Counting Syllables (15 June 2025)
In Memoriam: George Knox (15 June 2025)
First Cold Night (15 June 2025)
Summer Moon (15 June 2025)
★ Index Card Essays (29 short essays in a new section; 31 May 2025)
Tanka Appreciation Essays (4 May 2025)
★ Nadsat and Clockwork Oranges (3 May 2025)
★ A Late-Night Misadventure with AI Haiku (20 April 2025)
★ Fuyoh Observations: Seven Lessons on the Nature and Scale of Haiku in Japan (6 March 2025)
Selected Poems from Fuyoh / Rose Mallow (6 March 2025)
The Brussels Sprout Legacy (15 February 2025)
Lines from Linda Pastan (13 February 2025)
The Obligation of Democracy (4 February 2025)
★ “l(a”: A Haiku by E. E. Cummings (4 February 2025)
Mountains Are Mountains, Gardens Are Gardens (3 February 2025, on Déjà-ku Diary blog
★ Shared Autumns (31 December 2024, on Déjà-ku Diary blog)
Five Favourites: John Brandi (16 October 2024)
Habits of Haiku Scrutiny (4 May 2024)
Haiku Checklist in Swedish (translated by Marcus Liljedahl) (28 April 2024)
Learning Haiku from Anna, and Maybe Mister God (27 February 2024)
Haiku Gratitude (29 January 2024)
★ Countering Songs: Haiku Opposites (29 December 2023, on Déjà-ku Diary blog)
2023 Seabeck Haiku Getaway Invitation (24 November 2023)
On Rejection (14 August 2023)
Going to Gengorō: Senryu Dichotomies (20 June 2023)
★ Animated by Hope [about my favourite word; first publication here] (21 May 2023)
Defining Haiku: A Place to Start (30 April 2023)
Why I Take Photographs (20 April 2023)
Woodnotes Triveni Spotlight (2 February 2023)
Japan-Think, Ameri-Think, Haiku, and You (13 January 2023)
A Journal of Friends (13 January 2023)
A Short History of Woodnotes (10 January 2023)
The Haiku Life (10 January 2023)
★ Harold Henderson’s Grammar Haiku (3 January 2023)
A Note About Versions
A Note About Versions
Some of these essays may exist in multiple versions. The versions here on Graceguts may differ slightly from the original published versions, but I consider Graceguts versions to be definitive, containing sometimes slight or extensive updates as well as corrections. The versions on my computer may also not include all the changes present on Graceguts. To throw a monkey wrench into any privileging of Graceguts versions, there may be rare necessary exceptions. Likewise, writers who might quote these essays may need or prefer to cite the original publication, but I hope any such quotations will not ignore possible corrections or revisions of my opinions. Many essays also contain new postscripts, mostly not previously published, that expand upon what I’ve written, sometimes offering a changed or competing point of view.
Learning Haiku
Learning Haiku
★ The Burning Word: Getting Started with Haiku
Choosing Your Target: Process and Product in Haiku
Commentary on “Birthday Lunch at the Cubee Pub” (by Joanna Preston)
Defining Haiku: A Place to Start
Defining “Publication” on the Internet
Dipping Your Toe into the Haiku Pond
★ Even in Seattle: An Introduction to Haiku Poetry
The Frame of Haiku: Awareness of Daily Life
★ Go-Shichi-Go: How Japanese and English Syllables Differ
Haiku and the Japanese Garden [also available in Punjabi translation]
★ Haiku Checklist [also available in Swedish translation]
★ Haiku Seeds, with video
★ Haiku . . . Under the Bedsheets: Juxtaposition and Seasonal Reference
How I Came to Haiku [first publication here]
In the Eye of the Beholder: Haiku Interpretation
Japan-Think, Ameri-Think, Haiku, and You
★ A Late-Night Misadventure with AI Haiku
Museum of Haiku Literature Awards: A Retrospective Selection
★ Notes on Haiku Capitalization and Punctuation
★ Notes on Japanese Forms [definitions of haiku, senryu, haibun, haiga, rengay, renku, and tanka]
On Writing Haiku [54 comments, rules, and suggestions on the writing of haiku]
★ The Practical Poet: Be Your Own Editor
★ The Practical Poet: Creating a Haiku Checklist
★ The Practical Poet: Tracking Your Haiku Submissions
The Practical Poet: On the Art of Writing
Pronunciation Guide for Names of Haiku Poets
Sparks: Haiku Writing Exercise #1
Sparks: Haiku Writing Exercise #2
Sparks: Haiku Writing Exercise #3
★ Why I Write Haiku: Because It’s There
★ Why “No 5-7-5”? [on my NaHaiWriMo site]
“Learning From” Essays
“Learning From” Essays
A Few Don’ts by an Imagiste: Learning from Ezra Pound [first publication here]
★ Amen to Life: Learning from the Haiku Mind of Samuel Menashe
★ Anxieties of Influence: Learning Haiku from Harold Bloom
Arriving Geese: Learning from Shugyō Takaha
★ Common Wisdom: Learning Haiku from Heraclitus
Dripping Rain: Learning Haiku from Shunryu Suzuki
★ Going Nowhere: Learning Haiku from Pico Iyer
A Haiku Writer’s Time: Learning from Kenneth Atchity
The ISN’Ts of Haiku: Learning from Lorraine Ellis Harr [first publication here]
Learning Haiku from Anna, and Maybe Mister God
The Mysticism of Ordinary Experience: Learning Haiku from James P. Carse
★ Poems About Nothing: Learning Haiku from Antonio Porchia
★ Points of Growth: Learning Haiku Truth from Louise Glück
Politics and the English-Language Haiku: Learning from George Orwell
★ Private and Public Vision: Learning Haiku from Joyce Carol Oates
★ Ringing the Bell: Learning Haiku from Mary Ruefle
★ Skywriting: Learning Haiku from Annie Dillard
★ Spiritual Freedom: Learning from Wassily Kandinsky
Index Card Essays
Index Card Essays
★ Index Card Essays (short essays about poems from my index cards, in alphabetical order by poem, with some bonus essays)
Studying Haiku
Studying Haiku
Aha Moments and the Miracle of Haiku
The Anthologist and Bogus Haiku
Beat Haiku and My Discussion with Jack Foley [see latter half for my contributions] + +
Bombs or Balms: The Nonhaiku of Bob Kaufman
The Closed Door: A Correspondence on Haiku
★ A Deeper Attention: Foreword to The Haiku Apprentice (Abigail Friedman)
Defining Haiku by Iterations [first publication here]
Featured Poet [biographical sketch and six poems]
Feeling Haiku Through Thin Wood Walls (David Patneaude)
Frequently Asked Questions About Haiku Northwest [on Haiku Northwest site]
★ Fresh Seeing on the International Appalachian Trail: Foreword to Border Crossings (Ian Marshall)
Fuji Over the Clouds: The Dangers of Travel Haiku
★ Fuyoh Observations: Seven Lessons on the Nature and Scale of Haiku in Japan [first publication here]
★ Grit, Grace, and Gold (my review of a book by Kit Pancoast Nagamura)
★ Haiku and the Art of Forest Bathing
★ Haiku as History: The Ultimate Short Story
★ Haiku as Poetic Spell [by Martin Lucas; includes extensive commentary by me and the author]
★ The Haiku Gatekeeper: An Interview with Robert Spiess
★ Haiku Missionary: An Annotated Response to Alan Watts’ “Haiku” [first publication here]
Haiku Neighbours: North American Haiku Today [keynote address for 2013 Haiku International Association]
★ The Haiku Sensibilities of E. E. Cummings
★ Harold Henderson’s Grammar Haiku
Hopes for American Haiku [on The Haiku Foundation blog]
If it’s February . . . it must be NaHaiWriMo
In Response to a Poetix Book Review
Into Being: Thought About Haiku
Johnny Baranski: A Poet of Conviction
★ “l(a”: A Haiku by E. E. Cummings
Linking and Leaping: A Haiga Primer [with German translation]
Little Catastrophes: The Topological Structure of Humor and Haiku
★ A Look to the Future of Haiku in English
★ Lorine Niedecker’s Haiku Library
★ The Matsuyama Declaration: An Annotated Analysis [first publication here]
★ The Middle Way: Paul O. Williams’ Essays on Haiku (Paul O. Williams)
Missing the Moon: Haikuless Haibun
★ A Moment in the Sun: When Is a Haiku?
★ The neon buddha attends his first haikucon (short story)
Notes on Gendai Haiku (see also “Haiku 21 Reviewed”)
Objective and Subjective Assessments of Modern Haiga
On a First-Name Basis: Deepening Haiku with its “Fourth Line”
On the Art of Writing Haiku [first publication here]
Problems and Challenges of International Haiku [first publication here]
★ Quiet Souls (remembering Cid Corman)
★ Recognizing Influences: The Unswept Path
Remembering Randal Johnson [on Haiku Northwest website]
★ A Sampling of Cultural Haiku
Sandlot Haiku and the Democracy of the Internet [first publication here]
Savouring Salvage [first publication here]
Sax Riffs and the Art of Tensaku
★ The Seed of Wonder: An Antidote to Haiku Inflation
★ Seeing Into the Heart: Vulnerability in Haiku
Selected Poems from Fuyoh / Rose Mallow [first publication here]
A Short History of Haiku in California [on Haiku Society of America site]
A Short History of Haiku in Washington [on Haiku Society of America site] +
Simplicity and Obscurity: Crossing the Haiku Rubicon
Striking Gold: The American Haiku Archive [first publication here]
A Survey of Today’s English-Language Haiku Activity [first publication here]
★ A Survey of Haibun Definitions: Introduction to Wedge of Light
★ Taking a Bite: The Haiku McMoment
A Talk with the Author: Lee Gurga
★ Ten Ways to Improve Your Poetry with Haiku
The Territory of Haiku (see German translation, Das Territorium des Haiku)
Thirteen Ways of Reading Haiku
★ This Perfect Rose: The Lasting Legacy of William J. Higginson
★ Three Hokku by E. E. Cummings
Traditional and Modern Haiku: A Vibrant Dichotomy
2023 Seabeck Haiku Getaway Invitation
★ Unfolding Destiny: Harold G. Henderson’s The Bamboo Broom
The Wriggling Koi [a short story]
Zen and the Art of Direct Seeing: Cultivating the Haiku Moment
Studying Senryu
Studying Senryu
Arrows in the Quiver: An Interview on Senryu
The Difference Between Haiku and Senryu
★ Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Haiku and Senryu But Were Too Busy Writing to Ask
Going to Gengorō: Senryu Dichotomies
Japanese Haiku
Japanese Haiku
Arriving Geese: Learning from Shugyō Takaha
★ Buson or Shiki: The True Authorship of the “Two Autumns” Poem
First Snow on Daffodils: Writing Reality
★ Go-Shichi-Go: How Japanese and English Syllables Differ
★ Questioning Haiku: A Shiki Manifesto
Sōseki, not Buson: Attributing the White Chrysanthemum
★ Touching the Moon: Twenty-Four Shikishi
★ The Weather-Beaten Jizō: Shikoku Pilgrimage Haiku by Shūji Niwano
Déjà-ku Essays
Déjà-ku Essays
Selected Examples of Déjà-ku [first publication here]
Some Thoughts on Déjà-ku [first publication here]
A Spade’s a Spade: Plagiarism and Déjà-ku
The Honkadori Revisited: Have I Read this Before? Déjà vu in Haiku by Hans Jongman
★ See also my Déjà-ku Diary blog [with numerous essays, listed below] +
Mountains Are Mountains, Gardens Are Gardens
Haiku Conversations: Ben Gaa’s One Breath
★ Countering Songs: Haiku Opposites
Buson’s Butterfly and Shiki’s Firefly
The Unbroken Circle: Spontaneous Similarity
★ Honkadori, or Allusive Variation
★ Watching Haiku: Other Creatures
How Attribution Becomes Plagiarism
Do Not Resuscitate: A Case of Haiku Similarity
★ “Haikus are Easy” . . . to Plagiarize
Appreciating Haiku
Appreciating Haiku
Approaching Infinity: A Favourite Haiku (Christopher Herold)
★ Beauty in Haiku (Kaneko Tohto)
Comments on Frogpond, Summer 2003
Comments on Frogpond, Autumn 2003
Comments on Frogpond, Winter 2006
Comments on Frogpond, Winter 2011
Comments on Frogpond, Winter 2013
Dojin’s Corner, Geppo, Spring 2018
Late Fall (Francine Porad)
The Frayed Rope (Jane Reichhold)
Heat Wave (Carole MacRury)
★ Issa’s Joy (Issa)
Misreading Haiku (Roberta Beary)
Nine Joys (David Lloyd) [first publication here]
Set in Stone (John Stevenson) [first publication here]
Subjective Touches (John Stevenson)
★ Three Ironside Haiku (Hamish Ironside)
Two Favourite Haiku by Jerry Kilbride (Jerry Kilbride)
★ Breaking Through Novelty: A Survey of Invented Forms of Linked Poetry
Curing Poetic Loneliness with Rengay
How to Present a Rengay [first publication here]
How to Write a Rengay (with Italian translations)
The Place of Rengay in Tanka Journals
Rengay (Haikupedia overview, with extensive links and bibliography)
Seven Fundamentals: A Guide to Rengay for Editors [first publication here]
1995 Haiku Poets of Northern California Rengay Contest (judge’s comments)
2002 Haiku Poets of Northern California Rengay Contest (judge’s comments)
2006 Haiku Poets of Northern California Rengay Contest (judge’s comments)
Other Linked Poetry
Other Linked Poetry
An Introduction to Tan-Renga [first publication here]
★ Linked Verse Courtesies: Seven Proposed Rules of Conduct
Tanka
Tanka
Castles in the Sand Introduction
Coming Into Our Own: The Tanka Society of America’s Fifteenth Anniversary [published version]
Coming Into Our Own: The Tanka Society of America’s Fifteenth Anniversary [longer version]
Feathers and Fire: Growing into Tanka
★ From Chord to Melody: Defining Tanka in English
In Praise of Whatnots: Foreword to These Audacious Maples
Introduction to Footsteps in the Fog
Member’s Choice Tanka Commentary
President’s Message: A Poetry of Change
President’s Message: Surveying Recent Tanka Criticism
President’s Message: Tanka Elbow Room
President’s Message: The Endless Stream
(see many other Tanka Society of America president’s messages on the Reports page)
★ The Seed of the Human Heart: Writing Tanka
Tanka Monday Report (2019)
A Tanka Turning Point: The Tanka Society of America “Tanka Day” (2003)
Why Say More? The Problem of Titling Tanka
Appreciating Tanka
Appreciating Tanka
A Dish of a Tanka: Autumn Noelle Hall
Cool Afternoon: James B. Peters
Tanka Appreciation Essays (from the TSA Newsletter)
Four Favourite Tanka: Anna Holley and Aya Yuhki
E. E. Cummings
E. E. Cummings
E. E. Cummings—Not for Mostpeople [first publication here]
★ The Haiku Sensibilities of E. E. Cummings
★ “l(a”: A Haiku by E. E. Cummings +
★ Three Hokku by E. E. Cummings
The Tiny Room: The Jottings of E. E. Cummings
Trains to Moscow: A Comparison of Lewis Carroll’s Russian Journal and E. E. Cummings’ Eimi
Other Essays
Other Essays
Alice’s Chain of Thought [first publication here]
★ Animated by Hope [about my favourite word; first publication here]
Building a Suburban Poetry Community
Celebrating 20 Years of National Poetry Month
★ Cream Rises: Lana Hechtman Ayers in Service of Poetry
First Trip to Japan [first publication here]
Industrial-Strength Publishing at Aeroject and Eikon [about me]
Lines from Linda Pastan [first publication here]
The Midwest Can Claim to Be Me
★ Nadsat and Clockwork Oranges
★ Open Books: Seattle’s Thriving Bookstore for Poets
Poetential: Notes on The Virgin of Bennington [first publication here]
Sunrise Tower: A Proposal for Sammamish
Tracking Your Poetry Submissions
★ What’s In a Name? Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders of Poetry [first publication here]
Writing Love Poems [with one haiku]
Humour and Satire
Humour and Satire
★ Ku-ku: Because You Can’t Get Enough Haiku
★ Movie Studios to Decolorize Color Movie Classics
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