My Haiku Journey

Looking back through Instagram posts, I came across one from March 10, 2022, in which I wrote, “I’ve been learning about haiku this year.” 

Most of my poems have been written like this – read lots of my favorite poets to become immersed in the craft, come up with a story; make it rhyme. I began writing poetry when I taught high school English, and I knew I wanted my next project to be an exercise in poetic form. I considered the sonnet, then chickened out, and I landed on the haiku. Admittedly, I liked the idea of haiku because, well, they are short and seemingly simple. Also, I didn’t know much about them aside from the 5-7-5 we were all taught in grammar school. So, I started reading collections of haiku, both modern and traditional, and a great handbook on haiku. I picked up some techniques and insights from all of these books, but more importantly, I quickly learned that writing haiku was fun. Not only was it fun, it was therapeutic. If I could close my office door for 15 minutes with a PB&J in one hand and a pencil in another, and if I could scratch out just two poems, that was a win! I was creating little poems. Beginnings, middles, and ends. I was experiencing little victories. A sense of accomplishment.  And for over a year or so, I just went with it. 

It was also in 2022 that I became involved with a group of poets in Hawaii called the Surf Poets Society. Their founder, Manny Pangilinan (a.k.a Manny Aloha) is a visual artist, poet, and environmental advocate in Honolulu. Manny claims that my first book, Monster Surf Tales & Other Poems, just appeared in his studio one day, and we have been in touch ever since. I have contributed some poems to the zines he frequently publishes for the Surf Poets Society, and my poems have been read at events in Hawaii. Manny and other members of the Surf Poets Society, also write haiku, and the kinship we share across the country, across the ocean, and across a few times zones, no doubt inspired me to write more surf poetry… 3 lines at a time. I am grateful to Manny and the Surf Poets Society for their inspiration and Aloha spirit. 

I hope you enjoy my book. It was a joy to write, and more personal than some of my other poems. I hope this book will transport you to the surf, the beach, and send good waves your way. 

Mark

COMING SOON!