Michael Dylan Welch

Off the Beaten Track presents new work by twelve writers taking part in a unique collaborative project: each of them was invited to compose one haiku per day for a month, thus contributing towards the total of 365 haiku for a full calendar year. Half of the authors are widely published writers of haiku, while the other half are almost (or entirely) new to the form. This situates the collection within the tradition of English-language haiku, while also seeking to extend its boundaries through the inclusion of ‘outsiders’ with respect to that tradition. Complementing the haiku are original illustrations by twelve artists, making the volume as visually striking as it is thought-provoking and diverse.

NATIONAL HAIKU WRITING MONTH, also known as NaHaiWriMo, celebrates the world's shortest poetry. When? Every February, the year's shortest month. This book's 324 haiku and senryu represent 100 participating poets from around the world, selected by NaHaiWriMo founder Michael Dylan Welch. Ron C. Moss contributes haiga artwork for 28 featured poems. Open the jumble box "NaHaiWriMo gets me writing every day." -Johnny Baranski, Vancouver, Washington "NaHaiWriMo is an endless inspiration " -Kashinath Karmakar, Durgapur, India "Thanks, NaHaiWriMo, for being my psychotherapist for February." -Michael Nickels-Wisdom, Spring Grove, Illinois "NaHaiWriMo offers a sense of community and belonging and sharing-it is just wonderful " -Daphne Purpus, Vashon, Washington "I did it-one haiku a day throughout February And now I'm not sure if I can stop." -Tore Sverredal, G teborg, Sweden Visit NaHaiWriMo at www.nahaiwrimo.com, or on Facebook at https: //www.facebook.com/NaHaiWriMo/.

Earthsigns collects haiku and senryu by 183 attendees of the 2017 Haiku North America conference, held September 13 to 17, 2017 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Edited by Michael Dylan Welch and Scott Wiggerman, this anthology features many of the leading poets writing haiku in English, together with petroglyph-themed illustrations by Lidia Rozmus. "Renowned Santa Fe artist Georgia O'Keeffe said, 'When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else.' We find such sharing and celebration in this book's haiku and senryu. Each poem is your world for the moment, a flower of sorts, a sign of the earth." -from the introduction MICHAEL DYLAN WELCH is a poet, editor, and publisher. In 1991 he cofounded Haiku North America, and has edited all HNA conference anthologies. In 1996 he cofounded the American Haiku Archives, and in 2000 he founded the Tanka Society of America, serving as its president for five years. In 2008 he cofounded the Seabeck Haiku Getaway, which he continues to direct, and in 2010 he founded National Haiku Writing Month (www.nahaiwrimo.com). He has also served for many years as vice president of the Haiku Society of America. His poems have won first place in numerous contests (including the Henderson, Brady, Tokutomi, and Drevniok contests), and have appeared in hundreds of journals and anthologies in more than twenty languages-including a tanka translation on the back of 150,000,000 U.S. postage stamps in 2012. He has also published numerous books of haiku and related poetry, the latest being Seven Suns, Seven Moons, a collaboration with Tanya McDonald (NeoPoiesis Press, 2016). His website, which features his essays, reviews, and poems, is www.graceguts.com. SCOTT WIGGERMAN is the author of three books of poetry, Leaf and Beak: Sonnets, Presence, and Vegetables and Other Relationships, and coeditor of Wingbeats: Exercises & Practice in Poetry, Lifting the Sky: Southwestern Haiku & Haiga, and Bearing the Mask. His haiku have appeared in Frogpond, Cattails, Brass Bell, and Modern Haiku, as well as in the chapbook, A Poets Picnic. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and works for Dos Gatos Press.

Learn the key techniques and strategies for writing haiku in English from acclaimed haiku poet, teacher, and translator Michael Dylan Welch. This book emphasizes the most effective targets for haiku poetry, ones that are usually not taught in schools. There's more to haiku, and less, than you might think. This concise book provides just the information you need to learn the art of haiku and to start becoming a haiku poet. About the AuthorMichael Dylan Welch has published his essays, reviews, translations, haiku, and other poetry in hundreds of journals and anthologies, and has won numerous awards for his work. He has served for many years as vice president of the Haiku Society of America, and served two terms as poet laureate of Redmond, Washington, where he also curates two poetry reading series. Michael also cofounded the Haiku North America conference (1991) and the American Haiku Archives (1996), founded the Tanka Society of America (2000), and started National Haiku Writing Month in 2010 (www.nahaiwrimo.com and on Facebook). Visit his personal website, devoted mostly to haiku, at www.graceguts.com. Endorsements"The real secret to becoming a haiku poet is to start writing haiku."From the foreword by Aubrie Cox "For many years Michael Dylan Welch's essays on haiku have guided newcomers and seasoned poets alike. With characteristic authority and humor, Becoming a Haiku Poet is yet another of his important contributions to the study and understanding of haiku poetry."Charles Trumbull, editor emeritus of Modern Haiku "Michael Dylan Welch's knowledge and experience with haiku is recognized internationally. He always has time to assist new poets starting out on the haiku path, to engage in a conversation about poetics, or to recommend a current essay or book. He never tires of answering the question: What is a haiku, anyway? Becoming a Haiku Poet is Michael's concise and informative answer."Terry Ann Carter, president of Haiku Canada

Close to the Wind collects nearly a hundred haiku and senryu by attendees of the 2013 Haiku North America conference, held August 14 to 18, 2013 aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. Edited by Michael Dylan Welch and William Hart, this wide-ranging anthology features many of the leading poets writing haiku in the English language, together with seaside-related illustrations by Naia."Haiku is not a port in a storm." -Marlene Mountain

Here, There, and Everywhere, edited by Michael Dylan Welch, collects 120 poems by 70 poets who have been active with the Redmond Association of Spokenword (RASP) in Redmond, Washington since this literary arts organization was founded in 1997 (its website is www.raspread.com). The book's poems are divided into three sections-here, there, and everywhere. This anthology celebrates a full range of poetry from this active region of the Pacific Northwest. Editor Michael Dylan Welch has been curator for RASP readings since 2008. LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS: Kelli Russell Agodon, Elizabeth Atwood, Elizabeth Austen, Lana Hecthman Ayers, Peggy Barnett, Jan e J. Baugher, Laura Lee Bennett, Katherine Grace Bond, Leslie Brown, Terry Busch, Dennis Caswell, Ana Christensen, Mary Eliza Crane, Pamela Denchfield, Tom Flynn, Erin Fristad, Jeannine Hall Gailey, William Scott Galasso, Maya Ganesan, Richard Gold, Cora Goss-Grubbs, Shane Guthrie, Elizabeth Carroll Hayden, Bill Hayes, Michael Heavener, Esther Altshul Helfgott, Janka Hobbs, David D. Horowitz, Winifred Jaeger, Christopher J. Jarmick, Aarthi John, Donald Kentop, Jared Leising, Marjorie Manwaring, Jack McCarthy, Rebecca Meredith, Denise Calvetti Michaels, Kevin Mooneyham, Paul E. Nelson, Dawn-Marie Oliver, Ken Osborne, James Parrott, Wendelle Peoples, dan raphael, Susan Rich, Stephen Roxborough, Raul Sanchez, Michael Schein, Monica Schley, Martha Silano, Annette Spaulding-Convy, H. R. Stahl, Heather Stark, ChiChi Stewart, Barbara Stoner, Adora Svitak, Ann Teplick, Linda Thompson, Vonnie Thompson, John Tripp, Marie Helen Turner, S. A. Upton, Qiaolan Wan, Michael Dylan Welch, David Lloyd Whited, Mark K. Whittington, Carolyne Wright, Bill Yake, Maged Zaher, Jason Zions.

The problem came to a head one day as I was driving through Tokyo. While waiting for the light to change, I saw the following public service announcement on the side of a bus: Omoiyari hitonikurumani konomachini (Sympathy / toward people, toward cars / toward this town). Seventeen syllables. Five-seven-five format. It must be a haiku, I thought. But when I reached the office and repeated the announcement to my Japanese coworkers, none of them thought it was a haiku. I knew they were thinking to themselves, What kind of a lunatic is she? One tried to break the news to me gently, It's not a haiku, it's an advertising jingle. Well, I knew it was an advertising jingle, but still, wasn't it an advertising jingle haiku?-From The Haiku Apprentice Abigail Friedman was an American diplomat in Tokyo, not a writer. A chance encounter leads her to a haiku group, where she discovers poetry that anyone can enjoy writing. Her teacher and fellow haiku group members instruct her in seasonal flora and fauna, and gradually she learns to describe the world in plain words, becoming one of the millions in Japan who lead a haiku life. This is the author's story of her literary and cultural voyage, and more: it is an invitation to readers to form their own neighborhood haiku groups and, like her, learn to see the world anew. "...A deft and seamless merging of genres: at once memoir, travel literature, and an unpretentious guide onto the terrain of Japanese poetry. It will appeal not just to poetry lovers, but to all readers who are curious about the world beyond their own borders." -- Foreword Magazine "Friedman is an appealing guide through an alternate Japan where modern people make poems about teacups and temples but also about skyscrapers and kidney surgery." -- East Bay Express "The book is not designed to make the reader a poet, but it does, perhaps, help us to pay more attention to our poetical eye." -- BiblioBuffet "The Haiku Apprentice gives the reader an original, thoughtful and personal glimpse of one expat's productive encounter with Japan." -- Metropolis "...Notable for its frankness and enthusiasm...Friedman has made a lively narrative out of the things she learned..." -- The Japan Times