Poems About Haiku
The following selected poems explore nuances of haiku aesthetics or haiku history, and provide an alternate way into haiku as a genre of literature. They are all about haiku in one way or another, or connected to haiku. A few are not much more than jokes (and sometimes even misunderstand haiku), but most of them are serious, and mostly written by poets other than me (for other favourite poems, see also Poems by Others). I’ve arranged these poems by category, and then alphabetically by each poet’s last name. You can also read selections of my own haiku and senryu as well as longer poems. Enjoy, and please let me know if you know of other poems about haiku!
Haiku ambigram by John Langdon.
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 — 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
[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
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
[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
[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
Can You Hear It? — Paula Gordon Lepp
Ordinary Lives — William Martin (translator)
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
[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)
Miscellaneous
Most of these poems talk about haiku and haiku-related subjects, doing more than merely mentioning haiku.
It Is Not Much — Frank Ankenbrand, Jr.
In Haiku — R. D. Armstrong
Classic Haiku: A New Zealand Perspective — Nola Borrell
Three Brautigans — Richard Brautigan
Banteay Srei — Terry Ann Carter
Interior — Terry Ann Carter
Way of Haikai — Terry Ann Carter
Haiku — Henri Cole
Reading the Biographical Notes in a Haiku Anthology — Billy Collins
Orfordville — Lisa Fishman
Distressed Haiku — Donald Hall
Poem to Be Entitled Five Haiku — William J. Higginson
Samurai Angels — Judyth Hill
5 & 7 & 5 — Anselm Hollo
Poems for G. H. — David Jaffin
Haiku Ambigram — John Langdon
In Har-Poen Tea Garden — Linda Pastan
japanese lesson — Robert Lax
The Haiku Masters of Japan Drop In for a Visit — David Lehman
Haiku in Amsterdam — Glenn Lyvers
Haiku, Hacky Sack and Fluxus Synesthesia — Taylor Mignon
Falling Apart, or New Delhi Haiku Blues — Kevin Murphy
I Wrote a Little Haiku — Les Murray
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Haiku — Ron Padgett
After the Snow — Linda Pastan
Lilliputian — Steven Ratiner
Haiku — James Shea
The Haiku Master — Elizabeth Spires
Luther’s Narrow Road — Ron Starr
Evening Snow (for Kaji Aso) — Wally Swist
Haiku 1–4 — Rob Taylor
Unfinished Haiku — Jessica Tremblay
The Haiku Master — Naomi Beth Wakan
Processing the News — Naomi Beth Wakan
Seven Tanka on Haiku — Naomi Beth Wakan
Sex After 70 — Naomi Beth Wakan
Summer Haiku Meet — Naomi Beth Wakan
Mentioning Haiku
These poems typically just mention or quote haiku (or hokku), which may be seen as an act of respect and appreciation.
Holding Radium [excerpt] — Diane Ackerman
[untitled] — Richard Aldington
Spring Semester — Amy M. Alvarez
I Found a Geophysicist — Christopher Arigo
Haiku Journey — Kimberly Blaeser
[Rain that Imitates Anne Waldman] — John Burgess [poem starts at 6:00-minute mark in video]
The Library of T-shirts — joanne burns
More Than a Moment Ago — John Bigler Crow
Figures — John Elsberg and Eric Greinke
A Haiku for Mars — Nikki Giovanni
With Only a Vague Outline [excerpt] — Jeff Hardin
Songs to Survive the Summer [excerpt] — Robert Hass
Near Miss Haiku — Anselm Hollo
Upgrades — Troy Jollimore
Haiku Corner: On Charlie Rose — Garrison Keillor
Haiku — Elizabeth Kirschner
Confectionery Text — J. I. Kleinberg
The Meaning of a Sign — J. I. Kleinberg
To Paint the Written — J. I. Kleinberg
Putative Poem from Samurai Era — Bill Knott
Japan — Rudi Krausmann
As Crickets Chip Away the Light — Michael Kriesel
The ABZs of Poetry — Noelle Levy
Rentrement of Compulsion — L. W. Lindquist
Poems into Guns — Rick Lupert
Rules for Poetry — Rick Lupert
Rock Climbing with Snyder — Billy Marshall-Stoneking
Not an Ode to Haiku — Marlene Mountain
Being Born, Then Dying — Elizabeth Oakes
Haiku — Ron Padgett
Letter to Toyota — Geoff Page
Impossible to Tell — Robert Pinsky
The Perfect Haiku — William M. Ramsey
Negation — Philip Salom
Poem In Search of a Horse — Hayden Saunier
[untitled] — Nick Smith
On the Circuit — Vivian Smith
John Berryman Used to Sway — Donna Spector
Fourteen Weeks — Rob Taylor
Asterisks — Martin Vest
Amorphous Me — Naomi Beth Wakan
An Organised Life — Naomi Beth Wakan
Brevity — Judith Wright
Changing Genres — Dean Young
Three Poems — Andrea Zanzotto
For Fun
These poems offer jokes or humour relating to haiku, or about haiku, sometimes based on misperceptions of haiku. Bad puns may occur.
A Japanese Pigeon Poem — Anonymous
Limerick — Anonymous
Limericku — Anonymous
Subversive Haiku — Anonymous
Knock, Knock — Attributed
[untitled] — Tapan Avasthi
Letters to the Editor [limerick] — Elaine Chan
Captain Haiku vs. the Arch-Villanelle — Ed Gaillard
Three Acts in the Form of Bashō’s Famous Haiku — Martin Ingerson
This Thought, Too Many Syllables for Haiku — Rick Lupert
[untitled] — Cameron Malcher
Limerick — Alfred H. Marks
Haiku Degree — Marlene Mountain
Limerick — Picakezdi
Five Haiku Masters (limericks) — Michael Dylan Welch
Limerick — Michael Dylan Welch
[untitled] — Michael Dylan Welch
The Versifier’s Syllabic Lament — Bruce Wodhams
Metaku
These poems seek to define haiku by trying to be haiku about haiku, all too often with misunderstandings of haiku. The Ron Padgett poem, however, is intentionally ironic. +
[untitled] — Anonymous
[untitled] — John Cooper Clarke
[untitled] — Ayo Edebiri
[untitled] — Dave
[untitled] — Ellen DeGeneres
Not a Haiku — Gerald England
Fun-ku — Seren Fargo
The Problem with Haiku — Michael S. Glaser
[untitled] — Fredric Hamber
[untitled] — Julie Bloss Kelsey
[untitled] — James Kirkup
Palindrome Haiku — Alice Lam
The Only Problem with Haiku — Roger McGough
Haiku on Haiku — Marlene Mountain
Three Ku — Marlene Mountain
[untitled] — Rolf Nelson
Haiku — Ron Padgett
[untitled] — Christopher Provost
[untitled] — Tom Raworth
A Long Haiku — Rob Shore
Knock, Knock — Hoi Sta
Why Do Haiku? — Steve
Too in Love with 5-7-5 — Michael Dylan Welch
[untitled] — Zach Woods
Parodies
These poems offer haiku-related parodies of songs or other existing texts, for a bit of fun.
Ku Contemplator — Terri L. French and Raymond French
Psalm for Haiku Poets — Tombō / Lorraine Ellis Harr
The Haiku Chicken — Richard Tice
Do You Want to Write a Haiku? — Michael Dylan Welch
Haikuna Matata — Michael Dylan Welch
If You’re Haikuing and You Know It — Michael Dylan Welch
Note: If you know of other poems about haiku, please contact Michael Dylan Welch—thanks!