Poems About Haiku

Reading and Writing Haiku

These poems speak of haiku aesthetics or techniques, or simply reading and writing this poetry.

• if there is — Stephen Addiss

• Stopping by Wakan’s on a Sunny Day — Winona Baker

• When I Write a Haiku — Terry Ann Carter

• How to Write Haiku — Kyle D. Craig

• [untitled] — Mariel Herbert

• Presence — Jim Kacian

• [untitled] — Charles F. Kennedy

• [untitled] — Michael Ketchek

• On Reading Haiku — Elizabeth Searle Lamb

• Releasing the Animals (the anti-haiku) — Marsh Muirhead

• On What Is Haiku — Sydell Rosenberg

• The Haiku for Me Is — Sonia Sanchez

• Just as They Are — Sonojo

• How to write a haiku — Jessica Tremblay

• How to Write a Haiku — Naomi Beth Wakan

• How to Respond to a Haiku — Michael Dylan Welch

• Naming Haiku — Michael Dylan Welch

• Seventeen Ways of Looking at a Haiku — Michael Dylan Welch

• Haiku Is — Sheila Windsor

• Bashō (2013) — David Young     +

Bashō

• [untitled] — Robert Aitken

• A Notebook Is Not a Foreign Country — Meena Alexander

• Emojiku — Aaron Barry

• Frogments — Gary Barwin and derek beaulieu

• Bashō’s Frog — Marvin Bell

• About the Contributors — Tony Beyer

• The Characters — Tony Beyer

• Aging Well — Robert Lee Brewer

• While Reading Bashō [excerpts] — Hayden Carruth

• Rock Hunting with Bashō on Dallas Road — Terry Ann Carter

• untitled — Thomas A. Clark

• Bashō in Ireland — Billy Collins

• The Bashō Story — Cid Corman

• Kyoto — Mike Dillon

• Great and Small — Milan Djordjevic

• After Bashō — Margaret Dornaus     +

• In the Footsteps of Bashō — Beverley George, ML Grace, Michael Thorley, David Terelinck, Catherine Smith, Robert Miller, Carmel Summers, and Lynette Arden

• Old Pond — Allen Ginsberg

• Were I a Flower — Ok-Koo Kang Grosjean

• Along the Way — Judy Halebsky

• A Breaking Word — Judy Halebsky

• Bristlecone Pine — Judy Halebsky

• The Kite Maker [excerpt] — Judy Halebsky

• A Left-Branching Language — Judy Halebsky

• Motel 6 — Judy Halebsky

• Walk the Line — Judy Halebsky

• Zen Monks Talking Big — Judy Halebsky

• Conversation with Bashō — Peggy Heinrich

• Days of 1975 — Edward Hirsch

• Engraving: World-Tree with an Empty Beehive on One Branch — Jane Hirshfield

• Poem Starter #1644 — Chris Jarmick

• Note to Bashō — Mark Kaplon

• [untitled] — M. Kei

• At the Grave of Bashō — James Kirkup

• After Bashō — Carolyn Kizer

• Bash (fourteen versions of furuike ya) — Bill Knott

• Mizu No Oto — Bill Knott

• Edge of the Poem — Alfred K. LaMotte

• Homage to Bashō — David Lehman

• Poem in the Manner of Bashō — David Lehman

• [untitled] (“after Bashō”) — John Levy

• The Snow Party — Derek Mahon

• Bashō — Alfred H. Marks

• Old Pond — Alfred H. Marks

• Reading Bashō in Our Valley — Terry Martin

• Bashō Variations — Steve McCaffery (three poems)

• Sylvan Pool — Dave McFadden

• Bashō — Campbell McGrath

• February 3 — Campbell McGrath

• Bashō’s Child — W. S. Merwin

• Poor Bashō — Marlene Mountain

• Frightening Things — David Mura

• Alliance — Lorine Niedecker

• Bashō — Lorine Niedecker

• [untitled] — Lorine Niedecker

• The Noetic Frog — Noetica

• Bashō’s Smile — James Norton

• Advertising translation — Ron Padgett

• John Cage’s Mushroom Haiku . . . Mesosticized — Stefano Pocci

• And the Gauchos Sing — Mike Puican

• Empty Mirror — Kenneth Rexroth

• Narrow Road to the North — Mary Ruefle

• “Living the Cretive Life” [excerpt] — Philip Salom

• On Bashō’s Frog — Sengai

• Bashō, the Hokku Poet — Nyogen Senzaki

• To Bashō [I] — Nyogen Senzaki

• To Bashō [II] — Nyogen Senzaki

• Thinking About Bashō — Bracha K. Sharp

• [untitled] — John Sheirer

• Basic Maneuvers — Clemens Starck

• Yokohama — Clemens Starck

• Considering Poverty and Homelessness — Robert Sund

• 33 Translations of One Bashō — Chad Sweeney

• Sleeping with Bashō [excerpts] — David Trinidad

• What is a haiku? — Nicholas Virgilio

• On Reading Diane Ackerman — Naomi Beth Wakan

• After Bashō — Ronald Wallace

• And Yet — Ronald Wallace

• Bellwether — Ronald Wallace

• [untitled] — Karma Tenzing Wangchuk

• Bashō updates his haiku — Michael Dylan Welch

• Bashō Updates His Facebook Page — Michael Dylan Welch

• Bashō, Glimpsed — Mike White

• Thyme Flowering Among Rocks — Richard Wilbur

• Passing Scenes (While Reading Bashō) — Franz Wright

• Three Bashō Haibun — Franz Wright

• Bashō (1986) — David Young     +

• [untitled] — Mark Young

• A Letter to Matsuo Bashō — Mark Young

• With Bashō on the Front Porch — Mark Young

Chiyo-ni, Buson, Shiki, and Ryōkan

We clearly need more poems written about these poets.

• A Doing Nothing Poem — Robert Bly

• After the Haiku of Yosa Buson — David Budbill

• Japan — Billy Collins

• Ryōkan Reimagined — Timothy Daly

• [untitled] — Michael L. Evans

• [untitled] — Robert Sund

• Homage to Ryōkan — Robert Sund

• Flow — Michael Dylan Welch

Issa

• With Issa — Nelson Ball

• Haiku and Tanka for Shrike — David Budbill

• Making a Poem by Quoting Issa — David Budbill

• What Issa Heard — David Budbill

• O Snail — Jane Hirshfield

• Out of the Gate — Judy Halebsky

• A Month in Summer — Carolyn Kizer

• Something Small — David G. Lanoue

• Issa’s Child — Joan Logghe

• Taking a Walk with Issa — Hannah Mahoney

• Reading the Japanese Poet Issa (1762–1826) — Czesław Miłosz

• [untitled] — Gregory Orr (“Could it all be said”)

• [untitled] — Dale Pendell

• Poem Written with Issa [“The kids fighting”] — Matthew Rohrer

• Nammu, Nammu — Hiroaki Sato

• Issa on the Pequod — Ron Starr

• Sushi Dreams — Mark Tulin

• On Reading Issa Each Morning — Naomi Beth Wakan

• And Yet — Ronald Wallace

• Song of Myself — Ronald Wallace

• Dear Issa — Michael Dylan Welch

• Flowers on the Roof of Hell — Michael Dylan Welch

• Haiku Written on the Verge of Death — Franz Wright

• Issa’s Last Poem — Franz Wright

• Imitated from the Japanese — W. B. Yeats

• Day Five — Mark Young

About Haiku

These poems typically do not mention haiku at all, but may be considered to be about haiku to the extent that they present values and perspectives in keeping with a haiku spirit and practice.

• Lately — Laure-Anne Bosselaar

• [untitled] — David Budbill

• As the Poems Go — Charles Bukowski

• Little Things — Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney

• Beauty Only — Ok-Koo Kang Grosjean

• Hokusai Says — Roger S. Keyes

• Gentle — Alfred K. LaMotte       +

• Can You Hear It? — Paula Gordon Lepp

• Ordinary Lives — William Martin (translator)

• Forms of Attention — Campbell McGrath

• To Look at Any Thing — John Moffitt

• To the Poet — Marianne Monaco

• Instructions for Living a Life — Mary Oliver

• Mindful — Mary Oliver

• Praying — Mary Oliver

• Three Things to Remember — Mary Oliver

• When Death Comes — Mary Oliver

• Now You See It — Ron Padgett

• Whatever It Is — Ron Padgett

• The Patience of Ordinary Things — Pat Schneider

• Yes — William Stafford

• [untitled] — Margaret Stawowy

• In a Landscape — Robert Sund

• What to Do — Joyce Sutphen

• Priceless Gifts — Anna Swir

• No Title Required — Wisława Szymborska

• [untitled] — John Vieira

• Lacking Duende — Naomi Beth Wakan

• The Uses of Tanka (really a poem about haiku) — Naomi Beth Wakan

• Writing a Tanka (also a poem about haiku) — Naomi Beth Wakan

• Drinking Wine — Tao Yuanming (Tao Qian)

• Auto Mirror — Adam Zagajewski