Embedded Files
Always something new at the Graceguts zoo. Here’s what I’ve posted in the month of May 2026:
Freshly added to the Commentary page is Ben Gaa’s generous May 2026 “Haiku Talk” video featuring this poem of mine:
morning fog—
the clay in my hands
begins to form
I’m grateful for Ben’s extensive comments and have also added his video to “My Poems in Wales Haiku Journal.”
Also on the Commentary page, under “Blossom Time,” the following poem of mine was selected for featured commentary in a recent issue of Geppo:
blossom time—
we talk again
of the stillbirth
Please look for “Unused Stove,” available through the Commentary page, which features Christopher Herold’s thoughts on two of my verses in the chapbook Seabeck Tan-renga, published in 2009.
For fun, I’ve also added photos to numerous poems featured on the Commentary subpages, especially for the Geppo section.
Next, on the Reports page, I’ve added the results and my commentary for the “2025 Morioka International Haiku Contest,” plus an obituary I wrote more than twenty years ago, “anne mckay, 1932–2003,” with a photo, and a postscript that presents the official obituary from Legacy.com.
Speaking of postscripts, look for new ones on these pages available through the Essays page:
About haiku jargon on the “Politics and the English-Language Haiku: Learning from George Orwell” essay
About Norman Friedman’s Alice in Wonderland metaphor on my “Trains to Moscow” essay, discussing Cummings’ perception of Stalinist Russia (my essay compares the Lewis Carroll diary of his 1867 trip to Czarist Russia with the Cummings diary of his 1931 visit to the Soviet Union under communism)
In one of my essays about syllables in haiku, “Go-Shichi-Go,” the third postscript now includes a relevant poem by Nick Virgilio
And in my essay, “The Seed of Wonder: An Antidote to Haiku Inflation,” the third postscript now includes a quotation from G. K. Chesterton
And speaking of quotations, look for the following:
In the list of quotations on the “Nothing” page, I’ve added wise words from William Stafford on the value of idleness.
The “Notes on Gendai Haiku” page now includes a Mary Oliver observation on the energy of attempts in writing.
My “Anxieties of Influence: Learning Haiku from Harold Bloom” essay now sports a quotation on imitation from Mary Oliver, plus a pearl of poetic wisdom from Brian Bilston.
And the Quotations page now also features this warning: “I think it was Confucius who once said, ‘No man is more foolish than he who wrongly attributes a quotation.’” —Brian Bilston, “Don’t Quote Me on That”
Speaking of “Poems by Others,” which I wasn’t, look for these additions:
“Reverse Rejections” by T. Clear (compare this with Francesca Bell’s “I Long to Hold the Poetry Editor’s Penis in My Hand”)
“Gratitude” by Mary Oliver
I’ve also reorganized the poems on the “Poems by Others” page into the new categories of “Poet Friends,” “Other Poets,” and “Deceased Poets.”
And now for “Poems About Haiku”—look for these two additions:
“Reading Haiku” (four short poems) by Priscilla Long
“Poem: The Morning Walk” by Mary Oliver
Now how about some of my own poems? Look for these flourishes:
toothpicks stuck
into cubes of cheese—
autumn deepens
In the Exhaling section of “From Seabeck Anthologies” (where I’ve also added the book’s cover photo):
outstretched hand—
struck by a falling leaf
in the graveyard
Three new additions to “My Poems in Wales Haiku Journal” (the first poem is also featured in an extensive commentary video by Ben Gaa, also just added to the page):
morning fog—
the clay in my hands
begins to form
frost on the ferns—
our brisk walk
in her hometown woods
high water line
marked on city hall
(in “Aftermath” rengay)
Since I usually try my best to keep up appearances, among other additions on the Appearances page, look for a 1 October 2026 listing of haiku workshops I’m giving for the Seattle Japanese Garden’s Free First Thursday program. And on the “2023 Appearances” page, for 14 October 2023, look for a photo of me at the launch event for the Western Washington Poets Network, which I cofounded and for which I run the website
Here, too, are three miscellaneous Graceguts additions:
I’ve added a photo of Robert Sund to the “Ink Bottle Poems” page that celebrates a set of his poems on this theme
Look for Dana Grover’s 2025 Seabeck video, added to the “Seabeck Haiku Getaway” digression
On the “From HNA Conference Anthologies” page, I’ve uploaded cover images for all of the biennial Haiku North America conference anthologies (I’ve edited or coedited all these books since the first conference in 1991)
My Rengay.com website also offers the following additions:
“Funereal” added to the Solo Rengay page (from Prune Juice)—with an Elton John theme
“Aftermath” added to the Six-Person Rengay page (from Wales Haiku Journal)—about natural disasters
On the “Seasonal Tales” page (featuring rengay written with my daughter), a quotation added from Mary Oliver: “The sun has a working schedule, and the snow, and the birds, and every green leaf. Perhaps you should have one too?”
And one more addition to the Rengay website: I’ve created a new page called “Seabeck Rengay,” featuring almost twenty rengay written at the annual Seabeck Haiku Getaway I direct
I’m thankful, as always, to everyone who visits Graceguts, and hopefully learns or enjoys something. If you might be able to express your gratitude for the site, please visit the Donations page to help offset time and expenses. I’d be happy to list you as a donor!
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