What makes a great haiku? Is it the cleverness of an image, the beauty of its construction, or the emotions it leaves behind?

In this episode of the Poetry Pea Podcast, Patricia explores poetry of Nick Virgilio, one of the influential pioneers of English-language haiku.

From his famous Lily haiku to the playful imagery of Bass picking bugs off the moon, we look at Virgilio's distinctive approach to the short form, his use of sound, rhythm, alliteration and seasonal reference (kigo).

We explore how one poet's work can influence another, consider the relationship between Virgilio's poetry and J.W. Hackett's haiku, and discover how Virgilio used sound tand rhythm. But there is another, much more personal side to his writing. We look at the deeply moving haiku he wrote following the death of his younger brother in Vietnam, including the poem that helped change Professor Donald Keene's view of the possibilities of English-language haiku.

And, as always, Patricia has a few questions.

Is it enough for a haiku be clever without being emotionally engaging? What is the point of poetry if not to engager with us emotionally? Is alliteration a bad thing?

Join us for a closer look at Nick Virgilio, his contribution to English-language haiku, and the poetry that continues to provoke discussion.

In this episode:

• Nick Virgilio and the development of English-language haiku
• The famous Lily haiku
• Kigo, seasonality and emotional resonance
• Sound, rhythm and alliteration in haiku
• The influence of J.W. Hackett
• Haiku about loss, grief and the Vietnam War
• Cleverness versus emotional engagement in poetry

Further reading and references are included in the show notes.

If you enjoy haiku, senryu, Japanese short-form poetry and thoughtful discussions about writing, reading and appreciating poetry, subscribe to the Poetry Pea Podcast.

And if you've enjoyed this podcast, do please support us at BuymeaCoffee. Ginger tea being my tipple of choice.

Discover the inspiration of haiku, senryū and short form poetry with the Poetry Peacast, your podcast for haiku, senryu and Japanese short-form poetry.

In this episode, we share poems curated by Arvinder Kaur, with a special thank you to her daughter, Simatra Singh, for providing the video inspiration. Enjoy the creativity of our poetry community and discover how a visual prompt can spark new ideas for your own writing.

The final Poetry Pea Video Prompt of the year is now available on YouTube! Watch the video and submit your poems in the comments beneath the video to take part. Please note that submissions must be posted in the YouTube comments; emailed poems cannot be accepted.

Have a video that could inspire a haiku? Patricia would love to hear from you. Videos should be around 25 seconds long and filmed in landscape mode.

We're also planning the Poetry Pea podcast agenda for next year. Tell us which poetry forms, poets or writing techniques you'd like to explore. And if you've published a poetry book you'd like Patricia to read from and review on the podcast, get in touch and send her a copy.

Enjoy listening, find inspiration for your own writing, and join our welcoming community of haiku and short-form poetry lovers.

Support Poetry Pea through membership, a donation or by sharing the podcast with fellow poetry enthusiasts. Find links and further information in the show notes.

Keep writing, and Ciao!

Poets featured today:

September’s Video Prompt Poets

Lakshmi Iyer 

Mona Bedi

Nicholas Klacsanzky

Alicia Samson

Sanjuktaa A

Neena Singh

Melissa Dennison

Kim Klugh 

Joe McKeon

Scott D. Anderson

Joanna Ashwell 

Tony Williams

Tom Bierovic

Vaishnavi Ramaswamy

Sheikha A.

David Cox 

Rupa Anand, New Delhi, India

Paul Callus

Joshua Gage 

Bonus poets

Diane Wallihan, frogpond. volume 43:3

Chiyojo, One Hundred Famous Haiku, Daniel C. Buchanan

Ruth Happel, Little Marvels Anthology 2025

Kat Lehmann, Frogpond 47.2

Dave Lewis, Frogpond 43.1

Alvin B Cruz, Little Marvels Anthology 2025

Bob Lucky, Prune Juice #46

Jason Furtak, PPJ 3:22

Ashish Narain, Frogpond, 43:3

Sue Young, PPJ Autumn 2021

Atsujin, Japanese death poems, Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death, Yoel Hoffmann p137

Geraldine C Little, Frogpond, Volume V Number 3

Norman Silver, Frogpond Volume 45 : 3 Autumn 2022

In S9E41 of the Poetry Pea Podcast, Patricia explores the art of finding extraordinary moments in ordinary life, with haiku and senryū inspired by yellow grass, sparrows, a tiny snail, a piece of the Berlin Wall and a blackbird hunting for a worm.

Along the way, Patricia examines the craft behind the poems, including the importance of kigo (seasonal reference) in haiku, concrete imagery, observation and the power of a surprising final line. She also shares her own works in progress, discussing what works, what doesn't and why sometimes a poem needs another look.

Then it's your turn! Try three writing challenges:

• The Small Things That Save the Day — find the little moments that brighten your life.
• The Ordinary Made Extraordinary — look closely at an everyday object until you see it differently.
• The Marvels We Nearly Miss — discover the small wonders hiding in the corner of your vision.

Whether you're an experienced haiku poet or just beginning to explore this wonderful short form, join Patricia for poetry, practical inspiration and an invitation to look at the world a little more closely.

Remember your kigo when writing haiku, trust your concrete images, and don't feel you have to explain everything. Sometimes the smallest details have the most to say.

Enjoying the Poetry Pea Podcast? Support our independent poetry community through membership or a one-off contribution on Buy Me a Coffee, or help by sharing the podcast with a poetry-loving friend.

Keep your eyes open, notice the small stuff, and keep writing!

Ciao!

Episode notes

Poets featured today:

Bisshie

Bill Fay,

Jann Wright,

Curt Pawlisch

Issa trs Lanoue[i]

CX Turner

Barry Levine,

Eric Sundquist,

Ravi Kiran.

Claire Ninham,

Marian Olson,

Samo Kreutz

Join host Patricia on the Poetry Pea Podcast for a Poetry Pea Salon with award-winning haiku poet Melissa Dennison, reading from her book Caravan: A Trail of Haiku.

Discover the surprising poetic possibilities of snails, from silvery trails in the frost to the frustrations of a gardener. Melissa reads her haiku and discusses the inspiration behind her work, exploring seasonal references (kigo), juxtaposition, word associations and the art of finding poetry in the smallest details.

Patricia and Melissa take a closer look at individual poems, discussing how contrasting seasons can deepen a haiku, how a single word can open up unexpected associations, and how poets can guide readers towards new ways of seeing the world.

Melissa Dennison is a member of the Haiku Foundation’s Re:Virals team and was named among Europe’s top 100 haiku poets in 2025 and 2026.

Whether you write haiku, enjoy reading Japanese short-form poetry, or are simply curious about how everyday observations become memorable poems, this episode offers inspiration and insight into the craft of haiku.

In this episode:

• Melissa Dennison reads from Caravan: A Trail of Haiku
• Writing haiku inspired by snails and the natural world
• Kigo, seasonal contrast and juxtaposition
• Word associations and the layers of meaning in short poetry
• Exploring the poet’s intentions and the reader’s interpretation

Find Caravan: A Trail of Haiku via the link in the show notes.

Listen, enjoy, and perhaps look twice at the next snail trail you see.

The Poetry Pea Podcast celebrates haiku, senryū, tanka, haibun and other forms of short poetry, bringing poets and readers together to explore the craft and joy of writing.

Keep writing. Ciao!

Looking for tanka and kyōka inspiration? In this episode of Poetry Peacast, Patricia shares a selection of English-language tanka and kyōka to inspire your own Japanese short-form poetry writing.

We explore how tanka can capture memory, childhood, grief, renewal, humour and everyday life – and how kyōka can use wit, satire and the conventions of traditional Japanese poetry in unexpected ways.

Among the poems we hear are Yomono Akara’s satirical kyōka set in Yoshiwara, along with tanka by Reid Hepworth, Marion Clarke, Vandana Parashar, Colette Kern, Jenny Shepherd, Tim Cremin, Eve Castle, Ann Curran, Agus Maulana Sunjaya, Mona Bedi, Neena Singh, Joshua St Claire and Sara Winteridge.

Patricia looks at what makes these poems work, including concrete imagery, the movement between external observation and emotional response, juxtaposition, sensory detail and the all-important turn in a tanka.

If you’re writing tanka, kyōka, haiku or other Japanese short-form poetry, there are plenty of ideas here to get you reaching for your pen.

The Poetry Pea tanka and kyōka submission deadline is 15 October, but if you’ve missed this call-out, don’t worry – there will be more opportunities to submit your work to Poetry Pea.

The episode also points listeners towards other journals accepting English-language tanka and kyōka, check out the show notes .

Listen, read, write – and keep writing.

#tanka #kyoka #haiku #JapanesePoetry #shortformpoetry #poetrywriting #PoetryPea

Join Patricia on the Poetry Peacast for S9E38, featuring haiku and senryu inspired by paragliding in Interlaken, Switzerland, with David Cox as editor of the August Video Prompt.

Discover the poems selected by David Cox, as Patricia explores the beauty of the Swiss Alps, the history of Interlaken, the spectacular Jungfrau region, and even a few James Bond connections. From silent paragliders floating between church steeples to fleeting shadows on mountain trails, these haiku capture the many ways poets interpret a single moment.

This episode also features bonus haiku and senryu about flying, wind, kites, sky and the natural world, including work by Swiss poets Gregor Graf, Valeria Barouch and Gerard Krebs.

Whether you write haiku, senryu or simply love short-form poetry, join us for a celebration of poetic observation, imagination and the inspiration we find in the world around us.

In this episode:

• August 2026 Video Prompt, curated by David Cox
• Selected haiku and senryu inspired by paragliding
• Interlaken, the Jungfrau and the Swiss Alps
• Bonus poems about wind, sky, kites and nature
• Haiku by Swiss poets, including Gerard Krebs
• Poetry, travel, and the art of noticing

Enjoying the Poetry Peacast? You can support Poetry Pea by becoming a member, purchasing the Poetry Pea Journal, making a donation, leaving a review, or sharing the podcast with your poetry-loving friends.

Poets featured today:

• Gregor Graf
• Valeria Barouch
• Gerard Krebs
• Ryan Cohen
• Alicia Samson
• Anna Yin
• Tracy Davidson
• Shilan Amir
• Norbert Kovacs
• Paul Callus
• Rohan Buettel
• Jacek Margolak
• Joanna Ashwell
• Kim Klugh
• Tom Bierovic
• Melissa Dennison
• Denisa Hansutova
• Federico C Peralta
• Tony Williams
• Brent Partridge
• Debbie Strange
• Issa
• Taigi
• Kim Russell
• Eavonka Ettinger
• Diana Salusia
• Emil Karla
• Baisali Chatterjee Dutt

Thank you for listening, and as always, keep writing!

Visit Poetry Pea for more haiku, senryu, poetry prompts, journals and community features.

Welcome back to the Poetry Peacast! After a rather unfortunate disappearing act by my voice, I’m back behind the microphone with a special episode celebrating haibun from Tendrils, Volume 3, the Poetry Pea journal of haibun.

In this episode, I read the Editor’s Choice and Honourable Mentions from the journal, outstanding haibun by Cathryn Daley, Mark Forrester and Sara Winteridge.

I explore what makes a successful haibun, particularly the relationship between prose and haiku. I look at how the haiku can bring its own distinct “utterance” to a piece, add emotional resonance and create a dialogue with the prose rather than simply illustrating it.

I also share some thoughts on stand-alone haiku, drawing on Sean O’Connor’s discussion of contemporary haibun and his definition of haibun as a prosimetrum: a combination of prose and poetry.

Featured works include On Repeat, Largesse and Sara Winteridge’s haunting The Order of Things, which explores grief, dementia, memory and the natural world.

If you’re interested in writing haibun, haiku or short-form poetry, there’s plenty here to think about – and hopefully plenty to inspire your own writing.

You’ll find links in the show notes to Tendrils, Volume 3, Sean O’Connor’s article on contemporary haibun, and Vandana Parashar’s We, the People.

Thanks for listening, and as always, keep writing!

Welcome to the Poetry Pea July Video Prompt, featuring a wonderful collection of haiku, senryū and short poetry selected and curated by guest editor Matt Snyder. Thank you Matt.

This month’s episode comes to you from the beautiful Lauterbrunnen Valley in Switzerland — Tolkien’s Rivendell — where the July Video Prompt was filmed.

Patricia begins with a bonus poem of her own before sharing the poems chosen by Matt for this episode and the forthcoming Poetry Pea Journal 3:26.

There's a little mention of Patricia’s insistence that a kigo, or seasonal word, is essential when writing haiku. You may disagree — and that’s perfectly fine. Poetry needs a little healthy disagreement now and then!

If you enjoy the episode, please subscribe, leave a review wherever you listen, or head over to YouTube and leave a comment. And if you’d like to support Poetry Pea, you can find membership and donation links in the show notes.

Thank you for listening, and most importantly, keep writing.

Poets featured:

Sandip Chauhan

Alicia Samson

Soumya Mukherjee

Joanna Ashwell

Lakshmi Iyer

Tracy Davidson

Rohan Buettel

Valerie Green

David Cox

Kim Klugh

Vikram Kolmannskog

Editor’s Choice

Neena Singh

Yvonne Hardenbrook, Haiku in English the first hundred years, Kacian, Rowland and Burns

Jennifer Sutherland, Chrysanthemum, Issue 27 from April 2020

Dina E Cox, Full of Moonlight, Haiku Society of America 2016 Member’s Anthology.

Linda L Ludwig, Little Marvels, 2024

Sōseki trs Ueda[i]

Fred Schofield, Blithe Spirit, Vol. 9 No.2 June 1999

Bona M Santos, PPJ Autumn 2020

Ben Oliver, an Honourable mention from journal 3:24

Daniela Misso, from episode 22 of the fourth series.

Roberta Beach Jacobson, PPJ Autumn 2020

Bisshie

[i] Modern Japanese Haiku Makoto Ueda, University of Toronto Press, 1976

This week on Poetry Pea Summer Classics, we're revisiting one of the most joyful forms of Japanese linked verse: renku.

Sit back and enjoy readings of three collaborative renku created by members of the Poetry Pea community: Drinking Moonrise, Wing to Wing, and Spring Table. These beautifully crafted linked poems demonstrate how individual voices can come together to create something richer than the sum of their parts.

If today's episode inspires you, you'll find these renku, along with many more haiku, senryu, tanka and haibun, in the Poetry Pea Journal back catalogue. Links are in the show notes.

Get involved with the Poetry Pea Video Prompt

Have you written your poem yet? Every month there’s a brand-new Poetry Pea Video Prompt to spark your creativity. To submit your poem, simply leave it in the comments beneath the YouTube Video Prompt. If your poem isn't in the comments, it hasn't been entered for consideration. If our guest editor selects your poem/s they’ll be published in a future Poetry Pea Journal and featured in a podcast episode.

Support Poetry Pea

If you enjoy the Poetry Pea Podcast and would like to help keep independent poetry and podcasts thriving, please consider becoming a member, making a small donation, buying us a coffee, volunteering your time, or simply recommending the podcast to a friend. Sharing episodes on social media and leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts also helps more people discover the Poetry Pea community.

Thank you for listening and for being part of Poetry Pea. Keep writing!

Take a journey into the beautifully observed world of poet Vandana Parashar in this Poetry Pea Summer Classic. Originally recorded as part of our popular reading series, Vandana reads from her acclaimed collection Alone, I Am Not, sharing poems rich in humanity, quiet insight and the extraordinary moments hidden within everyday life.

We also celebrate the publication of her more recent collection, We, the People, a book that continues her thoughtful exploration of the lives we share. Check out the link in the show notes.

Whether you're discovering Vandana's work for the first time or returning to enjoy it again, this episode is a reminder of why her poetry resonates with readers around the world.

In this episode:

• Vandana Parashar reads from Alone, I Am Not

🎥 Join this month's Poetry Pea Video Prompt on YouTube. Watch our guest editor's short film, write a haiku, senryū or tanka inspired by it, and post your poem in the comments. Selected poems may be featured in a future Poetry Pea Journal and read on the podcast.

☕ Enjoying the podcast? Please consider supporting Poetry Pea by becoming a member, buying me a virtual coffee, or making a small PayPal donation. Your support helps keep the podcast, journals and our thriving poetry community growing.

Subscribe for weekly conversations, readings and discussions celebrating haiku, senryū, tanka and Japanese short-form poetry from poets around the world.

Join us for a special summer replay of the Poetry Pea Podcast featuring award-winning haiku poet David J Kelly reading from his acclaimed collection small hadron divider, a Touchstone Distinguished Books Honourable Mention.

In this thoughtful and engaging episode, David explores the fascinating meeting point of science and poetry. Inspired by the six flavours of quarks and the forces that bind the universe together, small hadron divider is a collection that reveals the extraordinary within the everyday. Hear David read from the book and talk about the ideas, craft and curiosity that shaped this remarkable work.

Whether you're discovering David's poetry for the first time or returning to a favourite episode, this replay offers an inspiring glimpse into contemporary English-language haiku at its finest.

While you're listening, why not visit the Poetry Pea YouTube channel and take part in this month's Video Prompt? Every month poets from around the world write haiku inspired by a short film. Simply leave your poem in the comments beneath the Video Prompt video. Selected poems may be featured in a future Poetry Pea Journal and on a forthcoming podcast.

If you enjoy what we do, please consider supporting Poetry Pea. Your membership or donation helps us continue producing free weekly podcasts, publishing the Poetry Pea Journal, hosting online readings and workshops, and celebrating the wonderful world of haiku. You can support us by becoming a member or by buying us a coffee. Every contribution, however small, helps keep Poetry Pea growing.

Thank you for listening, and happy writing!