 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 Deja-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 ★ = 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 comments about any of this content.
Recent Additions (with dates added)Home for Christmas (7 June 2020) Going Nowhere: Learning Haiku from Pico Iyer (21 May 2020) The Heart of Haiku (12 May 2020) Jump Into Haiku (27 April 2020) Haiku That Changed My Life (25 January 2020) Touching the Moon: Twenty-Four Shikishi (10 January 2020) Poems About Nothing: Learning Haiku from Antonio Porchia (31 December 2019) Sōseki, Not Buson: Attributing the White Chrysanthemum (30 December 2019) Questioning Haiku: A Shiki Manifesto (29 December 2019) How Graceguts Got Started (21 November 2019) Learning Haiku Commentary on “Birthday Lunch at the Cubee Pub” (by Joanna Preston) Defining Haiku: A Place to Start (on the Living Haiku Anthology)
★ 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 “Learning From” Essays A Few Don’ts by an Imagiste: Learning from Ezra Pound [first publication here] Studying Haiku★ A Deeper Attention: Foreword to The Haiku Apprentice (Abigail Friedman) Defining Haiku by Iterations [first publication here] Feeling Haiku Through Thin Wood Walls (David Patneaude)
★ 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]
Linking and Leaping: A Haiga Primer [with German translation]
★ The Middle Way: Paul O. Williams’ Essays on Haiku (Paul O. Williams) On the Art of Writing Haiku [first publication here]
★ A Sampling of Cultural Haiku
Sandlot Haiku and the Democracy of the Internet [first publication here] Savouring Salvage [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] +
A Survey of Today’s English-Language Haiku Activity [first publication here]
★ A Survey of Haibun Definitions: Introduction to Wedge of Light The Territory of Haiku (see German translation, Das Territorium des Haiku) ★ Three Hokku by E. E. Cummings The Wriggling Koi [a short story]
Studying SenryuJapanese HaikuDéjà-ku Essays Selected Examples of Déjà-ku [first publication here] Some Thoughts on Déjà-ku [first publication here] Déjà-ku Diary (blog essays)E. E. CummingsOther Essays Alice’s Chain of Thought [first publication here]
Poetential: Notes on The Virgin of Bennington [first publication here] What’s In a Name? Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders of Poetry [first publication here]
Writing Love Poems [with one haiku]
Appreciating Haiku Late Fall (Francine Porad)
Heat Wave (Carole MacRury)
★ Issa’s Joy (Issa)
Misreading Haiku (Roberta Beary) Nine Joys (David Lloyd) [first publication here]
Subjective Touches (John Stevenson)
★ Three Ironside Haiku (Hamish Ironside)
Two Favourite Haiku by Jerry Kilbride (Jerry Kilbride)
Linked Poetry How to Present a Rengay [first publication here] An Introduction to Tan-Renga [first publication here] Seven Fundamentals: A Guide to Rengay for Editors [first publication here]
Tanka Coming Into Our Own: The Tanka Society of America’s Fifteenth Anniversary [published version] Tanka Monday Report (2019)
Appreciating TankaHumour and Satire |