by Robert Epstein
Introduction
In the beginning was the haiku poem. This first poem was written in a particular place and time (as is always the case). It was probably followed by more haiku, senryu or other related haiku forms if the poet was inspired to continue composing. Eventually, with ongoing learning and constructive feedback by more experienced poets and/or editors, the budding haijin undertook to submit poems to various print and/or online journals for publication. Most likely, many were declined until one was accepted. With any luck, more poetry was accepted, and outstanding poems found their way into the poet’s own book of haiku or even reprinted in edited collections of haiku. At this point – several years down the road – the now-seasoned poet could be said to have established a poetic body of work.
I share this brief, generic overview for the purpose of highlighting key elements of a haiku poet’s writing which might call for organising or cataloguing, and we could characterise the whole of this as record keeping. The latter is, first and foremost, valuable to the individual poet during his/her lifetime. In addition, a highly accomplished or master poet may wish to preserve his/her body of work in a personal or institutional literary estate that lives on after his/her passing. In this instance, record keeping is of practical benefit to the executor or team who is responsible for overseeing the late poet’s archives, particularly when approached for permission to reprint poem(s).
I will pause at this point to acknowledge that I personally have not been all that diligent with record keeping over the past 35 years of haiku writing. I wondered why this was so without wanting to engage in self-criticism or reproach. If I am being honest with myself, I can say without hesitation that I am passionate about haiku poetry writing itself and less so about preserving what I have written, as odd as this may sound. (For more on the latter, see the Postscript, below.)
That said, when I first began to be published, I did photocopy on a home machine the pages in journals where my poems first appeared: For example, Woodnotes, Spring 1993, 16, p.16. But I did not take any additional steps to organise these pages; they simply remained in the journals themselves, and I never made practical use of these copies in tracking down poems, if I needed to. Aside from transferring haiku I had written from my note pads to the computer, where I typed up poems and stored them in files according to the years they were written, e.g., 2001, 2002, 2019, etc., I have engaged in no other record keeping. I confess that this has made responding to occasional requests to reprint poems with accompanying first citations challenging; it calls for relying on my memory, which has become increasingly sketchy over time.
The truth is, on a practical level, cataloguing poems is both tedious and time-consuming, at least for me. Others, more energetic and meticulous than I am, may not find record keeping quite so arduous, though award-winning haiku poet, Carolyn Hall, acknowledged that it is, which I appreciated: “My haiku record-keeping is very detailed (and time-consuming).”
For longtime poet, blogger and author of the new tome, Wondrous Instruction and Advice from Global Poets, Charlotte Digregorio, record keeping is not at all onerous mainly because, as she points out, “I send very few things [poems] out at a time”. Haiku master poet/artist and author of Cloud Hands, Ron C. Moss, asserts that record keeping is “relatively easy”, especially “if you keep track and make updates as soon as they are known”.
As someone who has grappled with chronic health problems for the past 25 years, I have limited energy so I suppose I have wittingly or unwittingly reserved this primarily for reading and writing, rather than cataloguing poems. That said, I certainly do respect those who dedicate time to create order in their poetic collections, and this is precisely why I turned to several haiku friends and colleagues for their reflections, methods, and advice on record keeping. I will be drawing heavily on their varied approaches in what follows.1
On Order and Chaos
At the outset, I would like to suggest that the world we live in contains elements of both order and chaos. Chaos is not synonymous with disorder. Within limits, it can stimulate curiosity, exploration, problem-solving and creative thinking/action. Chaos is simply what is and, as such, is neither good nor bad; the world as it is does not need to be maligned or stigmatised in any way.
Based on my self-reflections and therapeutic observations, order appears to foster conditions that promote grounding, stability, equanimity, clarity and ease. Generally speaking, most (though not all) humans tend to function more effectively with more, rather than less, structure and organisation in their lives, both internally and externally.
Sometimes order and chaos can be synthesised. For example, I lived in the same house for more than 30 years. Although my home was not arranged with impeccable Zen simplicity, still I knew where everything was. This is orderly chaos – a term coined by Tibetan Zen teacher, Chögyam Trungpa. As he observes in Orderly Chaos:
Mandala is a way of looking at situations in terms of relativity: if that exists, this exists; if this exists, that exists. Things exist interdependently, and that interdependent existence of things happens in the fashion of orderly chaos. We have domestic orderly chaos, and we have the emotional orderly chaos of a love affair. We have spiritual orderly chaos, and even the attainment of enlightenment has an orderly chaos of its own. So mandala principle is a question of relating with different types of orderly chaos.2
After I was forced to move out of the house I considered home for decades, I no longer knew where everything was and, consequently, I had great trouble finding things, including books, kitchen utensils, clothes, even important documents. I still do, and this has made life notably more difficult and frustrating, at times.
Not long before moving, I summoned the energy to alphabetise my collection of haiku books, which had previously been arranged on my bookcase haphazardly. The order created by alphabetising the books made it much easier to find a particular book I was wanting to reread. Being overwhelmed after the stress of moving, I simply put the books back on the bookcase willy-nilly, and once again it has been harder to locate volumes I wish to consult for one reason or another.
Thus, record keeping may be regarded as a way of bringing order to one’s poetry collection, and I want to suggest that gently created and held order is conducive to physical, psychological, even spiritual well-being. The human mind appears to value, if not prefer, order, as noted above. But, a qualification is in order here (no pun intended): Imposing order on one’s world in a rigid, excessive or obsessive way can be problematic; equanimity and ease elude one who is preoccupied with order. Order in moderation strikes a healthy balance which is more conducive to overall well-being, I believe.
Simple or Elaborate
At the risk of boring those already adept at record keeping, let’s begin at the beginning. Depending on one’s temperament, ambition and/or personal predilection, a poet with a haiku collection – whether big or small – needs to decide whether to go simple or comprehensive. A simple approach could involve handwritten or typed index cards though there is, in actuality, no limit to the level of detail that a simple approach could include. A more elaborate approach would involve the computer and colour-coded spreadsheets.3 As someone with modest computer skills, I have no experience creating or using spreadsheets; in truth, I would not even know where to begin. (Well, this is not entirely true; I could begin by requesting a tutorial from one of my haiku friends who knows his/her way around spreadsheets.)
In terms of content, a relevant consideration centres on how much detail a poet wishes to include: Those more inclined toward a simple or streamlined approach will likely prefer to keep information to a minimum. For example, on an index card, a poet could legibly write or type the following:
- Poem (and date of composition)
- Submission date; submission acceptance/rejection date
- Publication date: journal/issue/page.
Longtime poet, editor and publisher, Michael Dylan Welch, writing on his website Graceguts about the usefulness of tracking poetry submissions on 4x6in index cards, points out the following advantages:
- You avoid repeating a submission – or control or prevent simultaneous submissions
- You keep from submitting previously published work (the more you publish, the more often this is likely to happen)
- You can collect publication data for résumé or bibliographical purposes. The data will be helpful if an anthologist requests it, or you may want to list publication credits in books of your own poems.4
I wondered if reliance on computer-based record-keeping would be the first choice of younger poets but, to my surprise, older poets have readily utilised the computer to track their poems. I imagine that this is so for older poets because they are already comfortable around, and adept at, creating spreadsheets. Computer-based software programs for record keeping certainly offer greater efficiency in tracking details.
Although Digregorio knows her way around computers, she considers herself “old-fashioned [and] still living in the 19th century” when it comes to record keeping. And yet, instead of limiting herself to small index cards, Digregorio grants herself more space by using 8x11in (US ‘letter size’ paper) binders in which she designates “one paper for each poem” which contains the following information:
- In progress: the title or first line
- Sent out, awaiting reply; date sent; publication name
- Published: Journal name, issue number, issue date (in my notebook binder, I have a section for each year; i.e., poems published in the 2024. Each poem is on a different sheet of paper for that particular year.)5
A more elaborate approach such as a computer spreadsheet with multiple columns provides for many more details, including the season or the general theme of the poem – birdsong, summer, war, rivers – though I did not see any examples like this in the replies I received. Ben Gaa, another award-winning poet and author of Wishbones, relies on digital record keeping. He notes in his “Publication Tracking” overview: I use a spreadsheet: Apple’s Numbers program to be precise, but Google Sheets or old school Excel would [all] work equally well. I use Numbers because I am a Mac guy and opt to keep my spreadsheet in The Cloud [storage program] so I can access it anywhere. I find this is very convenient.
He adds that his spreadsheet has the following columns:
A: Y/N [whether poem has been accepted/rejected]
B: Haiku [the poem in full]
C: Journal [list of places where submitted, until accepted]
D: Date[s] Submitted
E: Date[s] Responded
F: Date Withdrawn [used when a poem will no longer be submitted]
G: Other [an extra column for miscellaneous notes, rarely used]6
Ron C. Moss also uses a computer-based filing system. Since, as an artist, Moss also frequently incorporates haiku in his artwork to create exquisite haiga, he states in his response to my query: I keep a [Microsoft] Word file, one haiku to a landscape orientation page. I write the haiku in full and at the bottom of the page I add the publication details.
Interestingly, Moss takes extra precaution to preserve his thorough cataloguing. As he notes: “I do back up all my folders to an external file drive that is duplicated on to two hard drives.”7
Record keeping can remain stable over time; that is, once a system has been put in place – whether simple or elaborate – one may continue with it indefinitely. Or, one’s approach may evolve over time as the poet discovers categories which can be added or omitted, as needed. I appreciated Gaa’s candour with respect to the genesis of his record-keeping approach: “It is humbling to admit that my process began from making mistakes, but it did. And what follows has been working since June of 2014.”
Conclusion
If one asks, as I did early on, what is record keeping for?, the response would appear to be both simple and straightforward: It is to make life easier for the poet who wishes to keep track of his or her poetry. This is true enough but, as I have approached the subject with fresh eyes, I see now that there is more to record keeping than the individual poet’s personal investment in his or her body of work (though naturally there is that).
I vividly recall what the late haiku scholar, William J. Higginson, said haiku was for: “it’s for sharing.”8 If, indeed, haiku is for sharing, then it appears evident to me upon reflection that record keeping, by extension, is also for sharing. Poets maintain records, not only for their own interest or convenience, but to be able to share their poems with others.
This realisation goes to the heart of haiku poetry, as Basho, Buson and Issa believed, which has to do with self-transcendence in the service of fostering unity or harmony with the Whole. I did not recognise this when I started out pondering this topic, but it is what I have apprehended through the process of reflecting and writing. If I can summon the energy and get out of my own way (late in the day though it is, maybe) I will pay a visit to my local office supplies store and buy some index cards with the time remaining.
Record-keeping is also a way of saving ourselves embarrassment – scrambling to alert an editor or contest organiser when we’ve made the dreaded simultaneous submission, or when we’ve realised that the poem we’ve sent has, in fact, already been published.
Postscript
This may come as a surprise to some: Notwithstanding the foregoing but speaking only for myself, the more in touch I am with my own mortality, the less interested I am in preserving a haiku poetry legacy. Naturally, I would like a handful of poems I have written to be remembered but even this is tinged with ego. Certainly, there is no need for every poem I have written or published to be preserved for posterity. This no longer makes any sense to me and what I am saying here has nothing to do with a pretence of humility. Realistically, my contribution to English-language haiku (if it can even be called “a contribution”) is modest. More and more, the poems strike me as birds in flight across the sunlit sky; we behold them overhead but they leave no trace. Moreover, after the last fledgling has left the nest, not a single one lingers or looks back. Why, then, should I?
gone now
agates on his dresser
tossed in a bag
Robert Epstein
Footnotes:
1. A. Do you have a system or method for cataloguing, organising and/or tracking your published and unpublished haiku/senryu? If so, could you briefly outline or describe your record keeping system?
B. Is your record-keeping system computer-based that utilises a software program or something of your own creation? If you use a typed or handwritten system, how does this work?
C. In general, how tedious or time consuming is this record keeping system to maintain?
D. If an author contacted you for permission to reprint a poem of yours in an essay or book he/she was writing, how would you track down the full citation from your poem’s original publication?
E. Are there any details about your record-keeping system that readers would find helpful to know?
2. Chögyam Trungpa. Orderly Chaos. (Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 1991; pp. 15-16.) For a discussion on the relation between order and disorder, see also the dialogue between J. Krishnamurti and Allan W. Anderson, professor of religious studies at San Diego State University, online.
3. See Carolyn Hall index cards and spreadsheet examples below. Personal communication 19 March 2025.
4. See Michael Dylan Welch, “Tracking Your Poetry Submissions”. Graceguts.
5. Personal communication e-mail, 17 March 2025.
6. Personal communication e-mail, 25 March 2025. Ben Gaa graciously sent me via e-mail a summary overview called “Publication Tracking”, which is drawn from a presentation he gave to the Haiku Society of America some years ago. The talk is titled, “How I Haiku” and is accessible on YouTube. The section on record keeping begins at 30 minutes, 58 seconds. See How I Haiku: A Writing Process Walk Through.
7. Personal communication e-mail, 16 March 2025.
8. William J. Higginson in Kazuo Yamaguchi. Haiku: The Art of the Short Form. (Decatur, IL: Brooks Books, 2008, p. 96.)
Author’s note: I wish to express my gratitude to the following poets and editors for responding to a brief questionnaire on the subject of record keeping, which I e-mailed to them with the option of sharing their replies in any format they preferred: Fay Aoyagi, Charlotte DiGregorio, Ben Gaa, Carolyn Hall, and Ron C. Moss. Ron noted that Michael Dylan Welch has an essay on the index card method he uses to track submissions, “Tracking Your Poetry Submissions,” which is accessible on his Graceguts website, see Footnote 4 above. For the original set of questions I emailed to poets, see Footnote 1, above.
Editor’s note: Robert Epstein has written this essay especially for Haiku NewZ. Robert is a licensed psychologist and published haiku poet who lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has edited many anthologies of haiku with his latest publications being Sincerely Yours:: Haiku in Honor of Onitsura (2025), Memo to Warhol:: Art & Haiku in Color (2023), A Hummingbird Still: Haiku & Senryu in the Spirit of J. Krishnamurti (2021), and The Signature Haiku Anthology (2020). All are available on Amazon.