Haiku Maven

Haiku Maven: I Did It My Way

hm_logo Dear Haiku Maven, Is it ever acceptable to promote one’s work at the expense of others? Two haiku poets I know use their work as examples whenever they give a presentation. They never use haiku by other poets. I think this is crass. Shouldn’t someone tell them this looks bad? I tried once, but was told their own haiku were the best examples for the presentation. Dumbfounded

Haiku Maven suggests that you skip these kinds of presentations. And then give your own presentation which showcases the work of haiku poets you admire. As for the poets you describe, they are neither the first nor the last to be in love with their own work.

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This Post Has One Comment

  1. When I give little talks about writing haiku I use examples from Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki, confident that I will not offend them. I am reluctant to use examples from living poets without their permission and I would not use another’s poem as an example of a haiku gone wrong. I use my own haiku. Let me give an example: Fishing for complements, I showed this to a senior poet I admire–
    an old blacktop
    basketball court:
    nature winning

    He told me that the first two lines were good. Well. I revised it–
    an old blacktop
    basketball court–
    the grass

    I share this as an example of what goes wrong when we stop describing and intellectualize instead. People get the point. I would never use the poetry of another in this way.

    Beyond this, I do not agree that the use of one’s own work constitutes promotion at the expense of others. Who is diminished? Who is robbed? Who among haiku poets has a right to have their work used as an example in a particular talk?
    P.s., I like the cat. Whose work is it?

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