Poetry Pea - haiku and other English Language Japanese short forms

In this episode of Poetry Pea, the leading English-language haiku podcast, Patricia asks what makes a haiku a haiku? Is there really a difference between traditional and contemporary haiku, or have we complicated something that was once quite simple?

In this episode of the Poetry Peacast, Patricia explores the essential elements of the Japanese haiku tradition, discussing the must haves of haiku.

Drawing on the work of Haruo Shirane, William J. Higginson, Michael Dylan Welch and Robert D. Wilson, she examines why seasonality matters, how the cut creates resonance, and why these techniques continue to give haiku their unique emotional power.

Along the way, Patricia analyses poems by Buson, Bashō, Den Sutejo, Katayama Yumiko, Don Baird, Neena Singh, Meera Rehm, Bruce H. Feingold and Bisshie, sharing practical insights that will help you read and write stronger haiku.

Whether you're new to haiku or a long-time practitioner, this thoughtful discussion invites you to reconsider what truly defines the genre.

In this episode:

• What kigo really contributes to a haiku
• The purpose of the kireji, or cut
• Why sensory imagery matters
• Close readings of classic and modern haiku
• Practical inspiration for your own writing

Subscribe to the Poetry Peacast for weekly episodes exploring haiku, senryū, tanka, haibun and the craft of Japanese short-form poetry.

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show notes

In this episode of the Poetry Pea Podcast, Patricia McGuire introduces the remarkable poetry of Anne McKay, an award-winning Canadian poet whose lyrical haiku and haiku-inspired poetry deserve to be much better known.

She explores a selection of Anne McKay's haiku, looking at her evocative imagery, her musical use of language, her distinctive use of white space, and the subtle techniques that make her poems linger long after they've been read. Along the way, Patricia reflects on reading haiku aloud, the role of punctuation in contemporary haiku, and white space.

Whether you're new to Anne McKay's work or already a fan, this episode offers a thoughtful exploration of a poet whose quiet observations should inspire readers around the world.

Don't forget to visit the Poetry Pea YouTube channel and take part in this month's video prompt. Guest editor Matt Snyder is looking forward to reading your haiku, senryū and haibun, and your poem could be selected for publication in the next Poetry Pea Journal and featured on a future Poetry Pea Podcast.

If you enjoy the podcast, please follow, rate and leave a review. It helps other poetry lovers discover the show.

In this episode:

• Anne McKay's haiku and poetic style

• Reading haiku aloud

• White space, sound and punctuation in haiku

• Haiku technique and close reading

• This month's Poetry Pea video prompt

Keep writing.

Rivers have always carried stories. In this episode of the Poetry Pea Podcast, we follow their winding course through a carefully curated collection of contemporary haiku and senryū, alongside classic poems that continue to inspire writers today.

These tiny poems explore rivers as places of connection and separation, memory and movement, peace and conflict. From quiet birdsong to distant sirens, from bridges that unite to waters that divide, each haiku offers a fresh perspective on one of poetry's oldest and richest images.

Featured poets:

Johnny Moran

Kim Klugh

Melissa Dennison

Mona Bedi

Rupa Anand

Jacek Margolak

Anjali Warhadpande

Paul Callus

Lakshmi Iyer

Sandip Chauhan

Vikram Kolmannskog

Arvinder Kaur

Vaishnavi Ramaswamy, India

Tony Williams

Corinne Timmer 

Minal Sarosh

Ian Richardson

Rowan Beckett Minor, PPJ 3:25

Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo

Anthony Lusardi

Robin Rich

Caroline Ridley-Duff

Janice Doppler

Okamoto Kanoko, trs Makoto Ueda 

Maya Daneva

Buson, trs RH Blyth 

Roger Ishii

David Cox

If you write haiku, senryū or Japanese short-form poetry, this episode is full of inspiration for your own writing. And don't forget to visit the Poetry Pea YouTube channel to take part in this month's video prompt, guest-edited by Lakshmi Iyer—there's still time to leave your poem in the comments.

Subscribe to the Poetry Pea Podcast for weekly episodes celebrating haiku, senryū, haibun, tanka, poetry craft, interviews with leading poets, and practical inspiration for writers at every stage of their journey.

See you next week.

This week's episode page

In the final episode of this three-part series on noun poetry, Patricia reads a wonderful collection of listener poems, inspired by the nouns. This episode examines how carefully chosen images can evoke emotion without relying on explanation or abstract language.

With practical analysis and inspiring examples, this episode offers valuable insights for anyone looking to write stronger haiku, senryū and short-form poetry.

Whether you're a seasoned poet or just beginning your haiku journey, you'll come away with a deeper appreciation of the power of images, the importance of observation and the quiet magic that happens when nouns are allowed to do the work.

There's a little bit of homework for you this week, check the show notes.

Subscribe to the Poetry Pea Podcast for weekly conversations about haiku, senryū, haibun and the craft of Japanese short-form poetry. And if you enjoy the show, please leave a review and share it with a fellow poet—it really helps the podcast grow.

Poets Featured today:

Rebecca Upjohn

Andrea Cisco

Jeannie Harkema

Ralph Matthews

Vaishnavi Ramaswamy

Steve Bahr

Cynthia Anderson

Seamus O’Connor

Lorraine Padden

Kim Klugh

Susan Andrews

Melissa Dennison

Jenny Shepherd

Rupa Anand

Mark Forrester

Tony Williams

Alicia Samson 

Katie Montagna

Christine Wenk-Harrison

Jonathan English

Emil Karla

Sangita Kalarickal

Elliot Diamond

Richard Tice

Neena Singh

Bisshie

Can a haiku be lyrical without relying on verbs? Can a handful of carefully chosen nouns carry all the emotional weight a poem needs?

In this second episode exploring the poetry of nouns, Patricia examines how concrete images create resonance, rhythm and lyricism in haiku and senryū. Drawing on poems by:

Alan Summers

Radostina Dragostinova

Hifsa Ashraf

Laura Driscoll

Sharon Lynne Yee

Mark Gilbert

Paul m

Christopher Peys

Máire Morrissey-Cummins

Lovette Carter

Katie Montagna

James Young

Eve Castle

Kikaku

Patricia explores the idea that the reader becomes a co-poet, discovering meaning in the spaces between images.

Along the way, you'll hear discussions of the arrested moment, juxtaposition, movement without verbs, and the surprising musicality that emerges from noun-heavy poetry.

Whether you're an experienced haiku poet or just beginning your journey into Japanese short-form poetry, this episode offers practical insights into writing more evocative, image-driven work.

In this episode:

• Why concrete nouns can create powerful lyricism
• Haiku without verbs and the illusion of movement
• The role of juxtaposition and reader participation
• The "arrested moment" in lyric poetry

The Poetry Pea Podcast is a weekly podcast for haiku, senryū and haibun writers, featuring poetry, craft discussions, interviews and inspiration for poets around the world.

Show notes

In this episode of the Poetry Pea Podcast, we explore why haiku has often been described as "the poetry of the noun" and ask whether removing verbs and limiting adjectives can make a poem even more powerful.

Through close readings of haiku by John Wills, Elizabeth Searle Lamb, Charles Rossiter, Noel King, Choshi, Anne Curran, and Bisshie, we discover how concrete nouns create atmosphere, emotion and meaning without explanation. We look at Edward Hirsch's idea of the "arrested moment" and Michael Dylan Welch's advice to write not about your feelings, but about what caused them.

Can a poem made almost entirely of nouns hold a reader's attention? Can omission create deeper emotional resonance than description? And how we should trust readers to make their own connections?

If you write or love haiku, senryū, Japanese poetry, imagist poetry, or minimalist writing, this episode offers practical insights and examples to inspire your own work.

Plus, there's a new writing challenge: can you create a noun-heavy, no-verb haiku that invites the reader to join the dots? If you can get it to me by the 16th June, 2026 it might make it into another podcast and the next journal.

Join us for an episode about the remarkable power of concrete imagery.

Links in the show notes

In this episode of the Poetry Pea Podcast, Patricia shares a fresh collection of haiku and senryu from Poetry Pea’s much-loved Flashku submissions — a spontaneous 24-hour poetry challenge open to poets on the Poetry Pea mailing list.

Featuring poems by Nalini Shetty, Robert Witmer, Sébastien Revon, Emil Karla, Steve Bahr, Katie Montagna, Deborah A Bennett, Samo Kreutz, Cynthia Anderson, Sara Winteridge, John Hare, Mark Forrester, Robin Rich, Tony Williams, Vaishnavi Ramaswamy and Elliot Diamond

Along the way there’s a heartfelt apology to Ralph Matthews for previously misspelling his name in the journal — now happily corrected.

The episode finishes with a delightful selection of one-line poems from the Poetry Pea archives and the Little Marvels anthologies, including work by Lev Hart, Kim Klugh, Nitu Yumnam, Sarah Paris, Srinivas S, Faye Brinsmead, Kat Lehmann, Willie R Bongcaron, Daniela Misso, Rashmi VeSa, Debbie Strange, Craig Kittner and Anjali Warhadpande.

If you enjoy small poems filled with observation, atmosphere and quiet surprise, this episode is for you.

Submissions for Poetry Pea’s current one-line poem window are open until 15th June. Visit the Poetry Pea website for details, workshops, submission opportunities and the latest Submission Agenda.

Episode webpage

In this episode of the Poetry Pea Podcast, we share the chosen poems from April’s Poetry Pea Video Prompt, beautifully curated by Lakshmi Iyer.

Inspired by pink skies, cricket song, twilight gardens, and fleeting moments of light, these poems explore the quiet beauty of the natural world through haiku and short-form poetry.

Featuring poems by Marion Clarke, Ralph Mathews, Kerry J Heckman, Melissa Dennison, Vaishnavi Ramaswamy, Anne Curran, Kendall Oei, Jonathan Blakeslee, Hifsa Ashraf, Kim Klugh, Tom Bierovic, Veronica Tucker, Jennifer L. Black, Tony Williams, and more.

We also include a special selection of bonus poems from Poetry Pea, Frogpond, Presence, and the wider haiku community.

Whether you’re a poet, a poetry lover, or simply looking for a few moments of calm, settle in and enjoy this celebration of contemporary haiku, senryu, and micropoetry.

Subscribe, share, and visit Poetry Pea to join our growing poetry community.

Episode notes

In this final episode of Poetry Pea’s series on lyricism in haiku and senryū, Patricia explores contemporary poems that sing—haiku and senryū rich in musicality, emotional resonance, and soaring beauty.

With recommendations and insights from some poetry friends, we journey through lyrical work from some of today’s finest poets, asking what makes a haiku truly resonate. Is it sound, rhythm, imagery—or something harder to define? Do we come up with the answer?

From birdsong and flowing rivers to moonlight, frost and bending grass, this episode celebrates poems that move us deeply without sentimentality, reminding us how much can be achieved with just a few carefully chosen words.

Don't forget to check the shownotes.

This episode of the Poetry Pea Podcast continues an exploration of lyrical haiku and senryū in the English language, with a focus on work written before the year 2000. What makes a haiku “lyrical”? Not overblown emotion or elaborate language, but a quieter musicality—rhythm, emotional restraint, and an image that’s allowed to resonate.

This episode offers a thoughtful introduction to earlier contemporary haiku, setting the stage for a later look at more recent voices, in the next episode, do please join us.

If you’re interested in poetry that values subtlety, attention, and the music of the spoken word, this is a good place to begin.