Chad Lee Robinson - Three Questions

Chad Lee Robinson's haiku and related poetry have appeared in over thirty journals across eight countries as well as in a variety of anthologies, including five editions of the Red Moon Anthology and Baseball Haiku (W.W. Norton, 2007). He is a member of the Haiku Society of America and the Haiku Poets of Northern California, and has been the Plains & Mountains Regional Coordinator for the HSA since 2006. His first collection of haiku and senryu, a chapbook titled Pop Bottles, is due out this summer from True Vine Press. He lives in Pierre, SD, within sight and smell of the Missouri River.

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1) Why do you write haiku?

When I first encountered haiku, Basho’s famous crow, I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. I loved it. I connected with haiku more than I ever did with free verse or any fixed form poetry. It has since become a part of my everyday life. I love that feeling I get when I know I’ve written a good haiku, when everything about it feels just right. I write haiku because it feels just right.


2) What other poetic forms do you enjoy?

I also enjoy writing senryu and an occasional tanka.


3) Of the many wonderful haiku you’ve written, which do you consider to be your top three?

It’s hard to choose when so much effort goes into each one, but these have done very well for me:


the sound of bath water
going down the drain
winter evening

Acorn 13, Fall 2004



shooting star
the span of her hand
across my chest

Snapshots 11, 2005



buffalo bones
a wind less than a whisper
in the summer grass

The Heron’s Nest IX:3, September 2007

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If you've been enjoying this weekly series and have not contributed, please consider sharing your response (whether it be for haiku or tanka) to the three little questions that Chad answered. You must be a published poet in order to participate.

William Cullen Jr. will be our guest next week.