Trash Panda Haiku Journal I'm delighted that one of my haiku has been accepted for the first edition of " Trash Panda, " a biannual print journal for the poetic expression of life in the Anthropocene. This is the home for English haiku and short form poetry of 17 syllables or less that doesn't shy away from the reality of nature in the present. Please consider subscribing. September 2019, NYC, Climate March
What's the Point of Season Words? Can You Write Haiku Without Them? After almost a year of writing (mostly bad) haiku, I began to understand the point of season words. There are conflicting rules about season words (also known as kigo ), and those rules can be confusing. Some haiku poets pay no attention to season words. I find them useful, providing a kind of shortcut, not just as a reference to nature, but for setting a tone, emotion, and social commonality. I invite you to play with them. As my teacher, Clark Strand , likes to say, "Haiku is anything you can get away with in seventeen syllables." What I like about season words : they force me to think, to consider the world in ways I may usually avoid. A season word provides a jumping off place. It's especially fun to use season words when writing in a group, to see how others use the word--a process that's often inspiring. What I don't like about season words : They can be a trap. Many have been overused