1 July 2026

In June of 2026 I added the following content to Graceguts. Mostly small additions this month but still part of life’s ebbs and flows, and hopefully still of benefit or interest to readers.

• My largest recent addition is on the Essays page: “The Epistemology of the Moment: Michael Dylan Welch and the Doctrine of Knowability in Haiku.” If that sounds like a mouthful, it’s an AI mouthful. This is an essay that Elliott Simon sent to me after asking Gemini AI, “What does Michael Dylan Welch say about knowability in haiku.” I’ve added commentary to the essay in the form of 86 footnotes (longer in total than the essay) basically taking AI to task, despite the occasional good bits. A postscript at the end addresses the core issue of objectivity in haiku. The essay itself seeks to summarize my attitude to what I call “knowability” and the problems of employing a third-person omniscient viewpoint in haiku.

• On the Contests page, look for results and commentary (and related photographs) for the “2026 Japan Fair Haiku Contest” that I judged recently. The contest received 403 entries from around the world. I also announced these winners from the Japan Fair main stage at Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, Washington on 28 June 2026.

• Speaking of contests, on the Appearances page, I’ve added the graphic for the 2026 Morioka Haiku Contest I’m judging this fall for the seventh time. I’ve made numerous other tweaks to my event listings on this page.

• The latest issue of Japan’s Kō haiku magazine includes observations by Nina Kovačić on the following poem of mine, on “Dying Summer,” just added to the Commentary page:

dying summer—

the end of the lake

lost in haze

• On the Collaborations page, I’ve added “Carved on a Beech,” a renku I contributed to in 2001 (time flies, eh?). One of my verses had an amusing typo, which I’d previously written about on my “Typos Happen!” page.

• On the Poems About Haiku page, look for the following four additions:

  • • “Unmarked Boxes” (excerpt) by Rumi

    • “Poetry Festival: Advice for Residents” by Brian Bilston

    • An untitled poem by Grant Caldwell (“old pot”)

    • “Looking East” by John K. Kruschke

• On the Essays page, my “Going Nowhere: Learning Haiku from Pico Iyer” essay now includes a poem by Dan Curtis in the collection of “going nowhere” poems at the end.

• On “My Poems in Modern Haiku” and “My Poems in The Heron’s Nest,” both available through Haiku and Senryu, look for the following poems:

the answering machine

we no longer use

first winter rain

leaves falling—

I finally accept

your friend request

• The “Memorial Haiku” page, also available through Haiku and Senryu, includes the following poem in memory of Susan Constable:

remembering her . . .

a pair of ospreys

over Nanoose Bay

• On the Digressions page, look for a postscript added to “First Haiku Slam at the National Poetry Slam” page.

• Speaking of digressions, I’ve recently added the names of the three 2026 judges to “Haiku Invitational.”

• Just added to my “Gratitude in a Pandemic” poem, available through Poems, is a photo showing how the poem is now available in a decorative fabric box through the Urban Ganges website run by Rochak Agarwal in Allahabad, India.

• My growing “Your Thoughts” page now includes the following complement from Paula Sears: “I’ve learned so much from the many wonderful articles on Graceguts that you should be proud of how it can help shape a haiku poet. Thanks for all you do for the haiku community.”

• I’ve added the following Walt Whitman quotation to my Bio page: “I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.” Perhaps Graceguts is my own “Leaves of Grass,” a lifelong project that will never be finished.

Meanwhile, on my Rengay website, on the Two-Person Rengay page, look for “Bolero,” written with Terri Thorfinnson (recently published in Mariposa) and “Bookends,” written with Garry Gay (from Wales Haiku Journal).

Thanks for lending your eyes and ears to Graceguts.