Pronunciation Guide for Names of Haiku Poets
First written in April of 2000 in Foster City, California, and revised multiple times since then. Previously unpublished, but originally written as part of “On a First-Name Basis: Deepening Haiku with its ‘Fourth Line.’” Please let me know if you have any additions or corrections for this list.
The following is a short pronunciation guide to names of selected English-language haiku poets and translators, past and present. Each pronunciation is based on personal experience, or on written confirmation received through the mail or via email. If you have a name and pronunciation to add to this list, please let me know. To read more about how the poet’s name after a haiku informs the poem, acting as a sort of “fourth line,” please read “On a First-Name Basis: Deepening Haiku with its ‘Fourth Line.’”
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Fay Aoyagi |
ah-oh-yah-gee (hard g; not jee) |
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Mykel Board |
michael bord | | Roberta Beary | beery | | Margaret Chula | shoo-la (not chew-la) |
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Ion Codrescu |
yon ka-DRESS-ku |
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Carlos W. Colón |
ka-LONE (as in cologne; not CO-lun; and note the acute accent on the second “o” in his last name, although he doesn’t always use it) |
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Raffael de Gruttola |
RAFF-fay-el (not RAFF-fie-el); duh GROO-tullah (not duh gruh-TOW-la) |
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Marje A. Dyck |
MAR-jee (soft g); dick (not dike) |
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Jeanne Emrich |
jean (not genie); EM-rik (not EM-rich) |
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Sandra Fuhringer |
FUR-in-jer (soft g) |
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Doris Heitmeyer |
HITE my-er |
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Gary Hotham |
HOE-thum (not HAW-thum) |
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Marshall Hryciuk |
ri-CHOOK |
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Jim Kacian |
KAY-shun (rhymes with “vacation”; not KAY-see-un) |
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Larry Kimmel |
KIM-mull (not kim-MELL) |
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David Lanoue |
la-N00 (rhymes with canoe; not la-NEW-ee or la-NO-ee) |
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Kenneth C. Leibman |
LIBE-man (not LEEB-man) |
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Laura Maffei |
maf-FAY (not MAFF-fee-aye) |
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Robert F. Mainone |
ma-NO-nee (not MAIN-won) |
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Paul David Mena |
MAY-na (not MEE-na) |
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A. C. Missias |
mi-SIGH-us (not MISS-ee-us) |
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Lenard D. Moore |
le-NARD (not LEN-urd) |
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H. F. Noyes |
noise |
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Francine Porad |
POR-ad (rhymes with FOR; not puh-RAD) |
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David Priebe |
PREE-bee (not just preeb) |
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Jane Reichhold |
RYE-cold (also, note the two h’s is her last name, often misspelled) |
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Carolyne Rohrig |
ROAR-rig (not ROW-rig) |
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Ce Rosenow |
See ROZE-now (not say ROW-zen-now) |
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John Sheirer |
SHY-er (not SHEER-er) |
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Robert Spiess |
speece (not spice) |
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Elizabeth St Jacques |
saint ZHOK (and note that “St Jacques” has no period in “St,” but she does live in Sault Ste. Marie, with a period, in Ontario) |
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Tom Tico |
TEE-ko (not TIE-ko) |
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Sue Stapleton Tkach |
tuh-CATCH |
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Makoto Ueda |
oo-way-duh (not you-aye-duh) |
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Cor van den Heuvel |
HOO-vul (not HOY-vul or huh-WAY-vul) |
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Michael Dylan Welch |
dillon (not DIE-lan); welch (as in the grape juice; not welsh) |
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Nina Wicker |
NIGH-na WICK-er (not NEE-na WHY-ker) |
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Ruth Yarrow |
yeah-row (rhymes with arrow; not YAR-row as in yard) |
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Rich Youmans |
YU-muns (not YO-muns) | | | | | | |
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