HAIKU DIALOGUE – Allusion – Communing with the Contemporary

Allusion with Guest Editor Allyson Whipple

Though the writing of haiku is often a solitary act, each individual effort is part of a centuries-old tradition that is bound up in a larger collective impulse. Allusion allows us to be in dialogue with both the past and present, focused within the world of literature or expanding out to broader cultural memory. Using allusion also reminds us that nobody creates in a vacuum; our poetic selves are comprised of all we have written, studied, and experienced. Over the next several weeks, we will focus on writing allusive haiku that foster our sense of a global haiku collective.

prompt: Communing with the Contemporary

One of my favorite things about being a poet is that I get to be friends with other poets. Not only do I love reading their work, but I appreciate the ways in which a solo collection or anthology inspires my own process.

When we write haiku that alludes to the work of our peers, we are affirming our connections to the broader haiku community. Alluding to contemporary work shows the ways in which we learn from and are inspired by the writers of the present who continue to challenge and evolve the form. In building upon the work of the present day, we lay the groundwork for the future of haiku.

This week, we will focus on creating contemporary allusions in our haiku. As with the previous prompt, this week we’ll once again be working with a source text. I’ve selected M. R. Defibaugh’s paperwhite narcissus, which is available as a PDF in the Haiku Foundation Digital Library. You may pick any of the haiku or senryu from this collection as your source text. Remember that one of the hallmarks of a quality allusive haiku is that it is able to stand on its own even if the reader doesn’t know the referent text.

Please remember to include your seed poem along with your submission. Doing so ensures that I have a full understanding of your haiku when making selections and writing my commentary. I look forward to seeing the ways in which you connect to this contemporary haiku collection!

In the Poem box on the Submission form, please follow this format with the seed poem first followed by your original haiku.

this seed poem
by M. R. Defibaugh
is an inspiration

this is
my poem
in response

my name
my place of residence

The deadline is midnight Eastern Daylight Time, Saturday May 10, 2025

Please use the Haiku Dialogue submission form below to enter one or two original unpublished haiku inspired by the week’s theme, and then press Submit to send your entry. (The Submit button will not be available until the Name, Email, and Place of Residence fields are filled in.) In the Poem box, with your poem(s), please include any special formatting requirements & your name & residence as you would like it to appear in the column. Please note that by submitting, you agree that your work may appear in the column – neither acknowledgment nor acceptance emails will be sent. All communication about the poems that are posted in the column will be added as blog comments.

Join us next week for Allyson’s selection of poems on the topic of Communing with the Contemporary…

Bios:

Guest Editor Allyson Whipple is the author of the haiku chapbook Postcards from Texas (Cuttlefish Books), as well as two free-verse chapbooks. She is the founding editor of Haiku Girl Summer and currently serves as the managing editor of Frogpond, and is at work on her reference work The Culinary Saijiki.

Assistant Editor Lafcadio, a former teacher, now works from home writing, editing and proofreading study guides for nursing textbooks. She lives in Tennessee. She has written poetry for a long time but a couple of years ago fell in love with Japanese micropoetry and hasn’t looked back. Lafcadio has been published in a number of journals and anthologies. She writes under the nom de plume of Lafcadio because nom de plume is so fun to say. You can read her poems on Twitter (X) @lafcadiopoetry or BlueSky @lafcadiobsky.

Assistant Editor Vandana Parashar is an associate editor of haikuKATHA and one of the editors of Poetry Pea and #FemkuMag. Her debut e-chapbook, I Am, was published by Title IX Press (now Moth Orchid Press) in 2019 and her second chapbook Alone, I Am Not, was published by Velvet Dusk Publishing in April 2022.

Lori Zajkowski is the Post Manager for Haiku Dialogue. She lives in New York City and enjoys reading and writing haiku.

Managing Editor Katherine Munro lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and publishes under the name kjmunro. She served as Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada for ten years, and her debut poetry collection is contractions (Red Moon Press, 2019). Find her at: kjmunro1560.wordpress.com.

Portrait by Laurel Parry

The Haiku Foundation reminds you that participation in our offerings assumes respectful and appropriate behavior from all parties. Please see our Code of Conduct policy.

Please note that all poems & images appearing in Haiku Dialogue may not be used elsewhere without express permission – copyright is retained by the creators. Please see our Copyright Policies.

Photo Credit:

Banner photo credit: “Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals”, mid 1700s. Attributed to Tatebayashi Kagei (Japanese, active mid-1700s). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1960.183.

Haiku Dialogue offers a triweekly prompt for practicing your haiku. Posts appear each Wednesday with a prompt or a selection of poems from a previous week.