The Significance of Senryu

A significant new addition to the Interviews page is “Arrows in the Quiver: An Interview on Senryu with Michael Dylan Welch,” conducted by Roman Lyakhovetsky for Ёrshik: Journal of Senryu and Kyoka. The interview was first published in Russian translation in October of 2013, and a longer English version appeared in April 2014. I’ve just posted the full interview, complete with numerous paragraphs that are previously unpublished. While nearly every interview I’ve given has been on haiku, this one is different for its focus on senryu. I cover, as well as I’m able, the history of senryu in English, the influence of Japanese senryu, differing senses of what senryu is (and its distinctions from haiku), my press’s publication of Fig Newtons: Senryu to Go (believed to be the first-ever English-language senryu anthology), the role of humour and seriousness in senryu, the relationship of my “neon buddha” poems to senryu, and offer comments on a call for a “ban” of senryu in haiku journals. It’s a lengthy interview, but please give it a read.