New to Haiku: Advice for Beginners–Charlotte Digregorio

Today at New to Haiku, let’s welcome Charlotte Digregorio. Charlotte is a prolific writer, editor, poet, and educator. The author of nine books, she has been writing Charlotte Digregorio’s Writers’ Blog, which includes “The Daily Haiku Special,” since 2010. Recently, she has joined me here at New to Haiku with her new Interviews with Haiku Educators series. Thank you for sharing your haiku journey with us, Charlotte!

In Advice for Beginners posts, we ask established haiku poets to share a bit about themselves so that you can meet them and learn more about their writing journeys. We, too, wanted to learn what advice they would give to beginning haiku poets. You can read posts from previous Advice for Beginners interviewees here.

Welcome back to New to Haiku, Charlotte! How did you come to learn about haiku?

I’ve been a published poet for about 44 years, and I write and publish 17 forms. In 1995, I ran across haiku by accident. While I always knew it was a short form of wisdom and truth, I never explored it until I came upon a listing in a Poet’s Market index of the journal Modern Haiku while seeking a publication to send one of my sonnets. Out of curiosity, I sent away for a sample issue of Modern Haiku and got hooked on the form. That same year, I subscribed to about four other haiku journals, and also purchased Robert Spiess’ haiku collections, as he was the editor of Modern Haiku at the time. I especially tried to learn from his poetry, as he was an evocative haikuist. I enjoyed his books, particularly The Bold Silverfish and Tall River Junction, some sticks and pebbles, and The Shape of Water. Above all, I knew that if I really wanted to learn to write haiku well, I’d have to do a lot of reading of it in good journals. Further, I’d read all the instructive haiku essays in Modern Haiku and Frogpond.

Did you have a haiku mentor? What advice did they give you? Did someone else’s haiku greatly influence your own?

When I got started in haiku in Oregon, there were no haiku critique groups in my immediate area. In 1995, I had no internet, so it was hard to learn about haiku firsthand, or find a mentor.

I tried to learn it largely by writing and submitting haiku to a lot of well-known journals. I learned whether I was writing it well by what got published or rejected. I knew that if I got something published in Modern Haiku or Frogpond, for example, that it must have been written effectively. The how-to haiku books back then, although good ones, didn’t help me write it, as they weren’t basic enough for me. I read Robert Spiess’ A Year’s Speculations on Haiku, and his New and Selected Speculations on Haiku, and I learned about how haiku originated. In a way, all the haiku poets and critics who wrote essays about it in journals were my mentors, not only Spiess in his journal, but Leon M. Zolbrod who wrote essays about Buson; David G. Lanoue, who writes essays about Issa; Bob Jones who wrote about Haiku Master Masaoka Shiki; and H.F. Noyes who wrote about interesting themes in haiku, such as compassion.

Jim Kacian’s annual Red Moon Anthologies, begun in 1996, were and are books that provide knowledge and inspiration for all poets including beginners, not only with their selection of significant poems, but with their essays on relevant themes in haiku. One of my favorite Red Moon Anthologies is Carving Darkness: The Red Moon Anthology of English-language Haiku, 2011. It includes uncommon essays, such as one by Canadian Poet Hans Jongman, “The Honkadori Revisited: Have I Read This Before? Déjà vu in Haiku.” Another important essay in it, is one by UK Poet Lynne Rees, “Going Organic: Line Break in Free Form Haiku.”

Many critics like Kacian, Lee Gurga, Charles Trumbull, J. P. Trammell, and Cor van den Heuvel, who regularly critiqued others’ work in journal essays helped me learn about the form.

Twenty years ago, I moved to Chicago and got involved with the Haiku Society of America’s Midwest Region. In 2010, I became Midwest Regional Coordinator. Having had the experience of being unable to learn firsthand from others in 1995, I made it my focus to start critique groups for haikuists and hold library programs for the public to educate them.

Where do you most often write? Do you have a writing process?

I write haiku late at night before bedtime when I’m able to gather my thoughts about what happened that particular day or I think about friends or relatives or my younger years. I like to write when all is quiet and peaceful with no distractions. Then, I can also catch up on reading haiku journals. I also get ideas from general poetry journals with other forms that often spur a haiku thought.

How do you approach reading haiku?

I always read a haiku journal or other poetry journals with a pencil in hand. I mark poems with themes that resonate with me, poems that I enjoy. I also put a question mark next to poems I don’t understand, so that I can reread them and solve the puzzle behind them.

For those just starting out, what advice would you give?

My best advice to those just starting out, is that it’s important to read and write other poetic forms, not just the Japanese ones, to get a feel for poetry as a whole, and what it is. It’s surprised me through the decades to find that many haikuists haven’t written poetry other than the Japanese forms. If you write other forms, you’ll obviously enrich your knowledge of poetry, thereby getting an ear for it. Then, you’ll write haiku better. (Vice-versa, those who only write longer forms, such as free verse, would write it much more effectively if they’d learn to write concisely, just as haiku demands.) I was lucky when I began writing poetry. It wasn’t hard for me to catch onto the word economy that haiku and other poetry requires, as I started out in life as a journalist where limiting word count is essential due to a shortage of space in publications.

What are some of the fun ways that you have used or experienced haiku?

There are many fun ways I’ve experienced it. For example, in the 1990s, I used to host and produce my own radio poetry program on Oregon Public Broadcasting. I interviewed a range of poets including a few haikuists. I asked them the type of questions you’re asking me now, and I also gave them time to read some of their haiku. Reading one’s poetry aloud, particularly to others, is a great learning experience. You focus on sound and rhythm, and beginning poets, in particular, need to get into the practice of doing this.

Another fun way of experiencing haiku, is that I do solo haiga exhibits year ‘round at many venues including galleries, park districts, libraries, convention centers, corporate offices, and hospitals. I have nineteen pieces that I exhibit, some designed by artists. The latter were gifted to me for winning poetry contests. Some poetry organizations I’m connected with collaborate with societies of artists to combine poetry and art to enrich the public.

The four pieces shown in this interview were gifted to me by one of my haiku-artist heroes and friends, Lidia Rozmus, whom I met 20 years ago through the Haiku Society of America. She moved back to her native Poland five years ago.

I create some of my haiga with my photography, but the best haiga I exhibit was created in collaboration with experienced visual artists. It’s so interesting to learn how non-poets interpret your poetry. Their feedback helps you write more clearly and gives you ideas for more poems.

Exhibiting haiga allows me to meet people from all walks of life in fun settings, as there is an opening night for my exhibits. I often meet visual artists who, in turn, get introduced to haiku. Some end up writing it, something they’d never considered doing until they saw my exhibit.

My single pieces of haiga have been displayed on buses in the Chicago metro area, at botanic gardens, wooded parks, banks, apparel shops, supermarkets, and wine stores. It’s fun to see your work displayed in public wherever you can place it. Writer’s groups often have connections for doing this.

Doing haiku readings and workshops is also rewarding, as it allows one to engage with the public and even make new friends, besides spreading the word about haiku and getting people interested in writing it. I’ve done Zoom workshops and readings that include much interaction with all who attend, as I encourage them to also read their own haiku during certain periods of the event. People from several foreign countries attend, too. Local libraries sponsor my Zoom workshops and readings. It’s also fun for me to query poets and inquire about what’s happening in poetry in their regions and countries.

It’s fun to teach haiku workshops, as I used to teach full-time as a professor of languages and writing and I miss it. I’ve taught several haiku workshops since 2010, holding them at many libraries in person. My sponsored workshops and readings are a good learning experience for poets, as they include a Q & A segment.

Further, my blog since 2010, has introduced thousands of people to haiku as it features “The Daily Haiku,” written by poets from 61 countries. I not only learn from other haikuists by constantly reading their poetry, but I’ve formed friendships with haikuists in foreign countries.

What are your favorite haiku that you have written? Can you share a story behind one of them?

In general, I like writing poetry that is humorous, and I often write haiku that is either hybrid (a combination of haiku and senryu) or just senryu. Below is a hybrid:

pruning
the bonsai . . .
my knotty life

As to the poem above, first I must say that I’ve never had a green thumb, and I admit with embarrassment that plants and flowers under my care don’t survive very long. A boss, whom I didn’t like, gifted me a bonsai decades ago when I was laid off from my job. I took it home and admired its twists and turns, thinking about how it symbolized my life with all the turns it had taken. The “knots” in the bonsai also symbolized that my stomach was in knots, in thinking about how I’d need to start looking for a job and go on interviews.

Therefore, it was ironic that my boss gifted me this plant. I later realized I could write a haiku about my layoff. I like wordplay, not only in haiku, but in other forms I write. With the “knotty” plant, I also thought of the homonym “naughty.” Although I wouldn’t say I’ve led a “naughty” life, the homonym that comes to readers’ minds would make them wonder about me.

I enjoyed writing this senryu:

leaving the bank
with six figures
on the odometer

This is one of my haiku:

in the red wagon
my brother and i bring home
our stiff cat

What haiku-related project are you currently working on that brings you joy? What do you like about it?

It brings me joy to judge poetry contests that involve short poems including haiku. I’m doing this more often now through libraries. When I judge a haiku contest for libraries, often the public has misconceptions about it. Some submit poems that aren’t true haiku. However, a few of the haiku are wonderful, and I often later discover that the winners had never written a haiku before. Further, I have a lot of fun judging children’s haiku contests, as it’s amazing to see how creative and thoughtful the young can be. I also enjoy interviewing poets for The Haiku Foundation’s Educators’ series. It’s informative to discover how others teach the form.

Finally, now it brings me joy to begin again writing poetry, as I just published my latest book, Wondrous Instruction and Advice from Global Poets: How to Write and Publish Moving Poems and Books and Publicize Like a Pro. I’d spent about two years writing the book while also working as a book editor and publicist. This left no time to write poems. As poets comment in my book, haiku keeps people sane, as it’s a wellness activity, not only an art that provides tranquility. It helps us heal from life’s events by just putting our weighty cares on paper. Often, our jobs get in the way of following a creative life, and after being away from writing poetry, I’ve come to appreciate it more.

You started Charlotte Digregorio’s Writer’s Blog in 2010 and it’s still going strong. Can you tell us more about your blog, how it benefits haiku poets, and describe some of your favorite posts?

My blog is a kind of haiku, senryu, and tanka “catchall.” I also run other poetic forms that are long, but on a blog, I find it’s better to publish short poems that people will actually take the time to read with their busy schedules. Through my blog, I try to motivate poets to not only write and try different forms, but to submit their work for publication. I sometimes run haibun, but less frequently. I even run longer poems by haiku poets who also write free verse and ekphrastic poems. I edit the poets’ work for clarity, particularly if someone is a haiku beginner.

Recently, I’ve run dodoitsu, another short Japanese form that has four lines with seven syllables in each of the first three lines, and five syllables in the fourth line. I must say that I seek to run the work of each active global haiku poet, and I encourage all to contact me by email with their submissions of haiku and senryu at [email protected].

In addition to running “The Daily Haiku,” I run book announcements, book reviews, and write testimonials for authors’ books. The blog includes critical essays by well-known haikuists such as Robert Epstein, a psychologist. For example, I’ve run essays such as “Haiku Poetry and The Darker Side of Drinking,” by Epstein and his essay, “Beyond the Subjective in Haiku.” My posts are often reprinted by bloggers worldwide. My own essays not only give poem-writing and publishing tips, but they instruct on how to write, publish, and promote books, how to get speaking engagements at general events, and how to obtain publicity for one’s creative work through the general media.

Poets can’t live in a vacuum. They must get out in public and promote their work, not only to reach and network with other poets, but to reach others with their creativity and spread the word about the rewards of writing haiku.

The blog is praised by authors and the global public alike, largely because I encourage people to respond to posts with their opinions. People like blogs because they are a meeting place and a forum. They especially like to respond to the many surveys I’ve run, such as those inquiring about why they like to read or write haiku, what they find difficult about writing it, or how haiku is healing.

On my blog, I thrive on reprinting “vintage” haiku and senryu, and classics by name haiku poets who’ve published them as many as 40 years ago. Some of my favorite poets that I run the work of, are: Roberta Beary, the Roving Ambassador for The Haiku Foundation, Tom Clausen, and Tom Painting. They write simply, yet elegantly. Below are samples of their work that have appeared on my blog:

winter stars without you to name them

by Roberta Beary (USA/Ireland)
tinywords, Jan. 28, 2010

 

in the dark–
through the window light
my wife and child

by Tom Clausen (USA)
Modern Haiku, Vol. XXVI,
No. 1, Winter-Spring 1995

hearing loss
the song of a warbler
from memory

by Tom Painting (USA)
bottle rockets, #41, 2019

I often reprint the senryu of Bob Lucky, as he is one of my favorite senryu poets.

retracing my steps
the bread crumbs
of her parting words

by Bob Lucky (Portugal)
Big Data, The Red Moon Anthology
of English-language Haiku, 2014

Congrats on publishing your nine books! Which one(s) would most benefit a new haiku poet and why?

My latest book, Wondrous Instruction and Advice from Global Poets: How to Write and Publish Moving Poems and Books, is a comprehensive coffee table-size book of 334 pages, that has been adopted as a text and a supplemental text for English and creative writing programs at universities. It focuses on haiku and senryu, and also includes tanka, and discusses basic elements of poetry in general, using free verse examples, too. The significance of the book is that it’s a catchall for haikuists, so when they have mastered the form, it instructs on how to publish a collection and even promote and sell one’s books. The book’s premise is that haiku is a vehicle for healing, and many poets quoted emphasize this. There is even a chapter by Robert Epstein, haiku poet and psychologist, that helps people cope with mortality.

Wondrous Instruction is for beginning and seasoned poets, authors, teachers, and professors. It has 27 essays, hundreds of quotes, anecdotes, and poems by global poets that inspire readers. There is clear analysis of individual poems. It details organizing a poetry collection or reference book with publishing options, including self-publishing. I also discuss how to write a creative title and produce an attention-grabbing cover. My book gives creative ideas on publicizing books and selling them in quantity through businesses and associations. I also instruct on obtaining print and broadcast media coverage for poetry books through press releases, publicity kits, and interviews that distinguish poets from their peers. Besides having been a journalist, I was once a public relations director for a global organization, so I have expertise on publicity. Poets will learn to publicize all their events, such as readings and workshops, even if they haven’t yet published a collection to promote. The book includes advice on seeking speaking engagements at large, creative events, how to give workshops at uncommon venues, become adept at social media including blogging, and how to partner with artists for poetry exhibits to reach broad audiences.

Another of my titles, Haiku and Senryu: A Simple Guide for All, was written because I felt other haiku books were a bit too difficult for beginners to learn from. It’s a useful book to develop an understanding of haiku, so poets can effectively write and get it published. It’s also appropriate for more experienced haiku poets. For example, there is a chapter on haiku sequences, and there is also one on how haiku has evolved with a variety of poets’ styles and perspectives. Further, it has a chapter on how to teach haiku to students at all levels and adults. Many Haiku Society of America members read the book for this purpose. The book has been adopted as a text for several university classes, and is even used as a text at private preparatory schools.

Additionally, I’ve written three poetry collections: Shadows of Seasons; Ripples of Air: Poems of Healing; and Blue Lines. Ripples of Air is the most substantial and inspiring one for haikuists. It includes introductory prose passages in each chapter that spur poets’ imaginations on what themes to write about and how to express themselves. The collection contains a great deal of haiku, senryu, and tanka, along with several other forms.

Thanks for joining me at New to Haiku by interviewing haiku educators. What are your hopes for our new Haiku Educators’ series?

I hope that both beginning and experienced haikuists will read the Educators’ series and be motivated to implement the wonderful ideas of global educators who are accomplished haikuists. Through the series, experienced haikuists who are perhaps shy about teaching haiku will gain many valuable ideas and techniques on how to teach the form. Beginning poets will improve their writing of haiku with the examples and ideas expressed by these educators. They will be motivated to persevere when they experience writer’s block. So far, I have interviewed Ce Rosenow, Regina Harris Baiocchi, John Zheng, and Philomene Kocher.

As time goes on, I plan to interview more educators from foreign countries to give poets an idea of how haiku is being taught globally. Educators of all levels will be interviewed from grade school through graduate study, and also those of Adult Continuing Education. I anticipate that the series will continue to be both informative and enjoyable, and will substantially benefit readers.

Charlotte Digregorio has authored 9 books including Wondrous Instruction and Advice from Global Poets (Subtitle: How to Write and Publish Moving Poems and Books and Publicize Like a Pro.) It’s a comprehensive guide covering all the how-to’s of writing and publishing haiku, senryu, and tanka, including organizing/publishing/promoting books, and selling them. Another classic is Haiku and Senryu: A Simple Guide for All. The Illinois Governor honored Digregorio for her lifelong literary achievements. Her daily blog, www.charlottedigregorio.wordpress.com, features writers from 61 countries. She’s won 83 poetry awards, has received 4 Pushcart Prize nominations, and translates poetry books from Italian into English. Her poetry is translated into 9 languages. Her reference books are adopted as university texts. Two were featured selections of Writer’s Digest Book Club. She’s organized national writer’s conferences; gives workshops; is a university writer-in-residence; teaches poetry in the public schools; judges international contests; and hosted/produced a radio poetry program.

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