Ohio Poetry Association Blog

The Ohio Poetry Association is excited to have Joe McKeon as a Sun & Moon Poetry Festival workshop leader! To learn more about Joe and his workshop, " Can everything that schoolchildren are taught about haiku poetry be wrong?"  please click here .  In the following interview with Sayuri Ayers, the OPA Treasurer, Joe shares his thoughts on haiku and shares some of his selected works. SA: Is your poetry influenced by the natural world? If so, please tell us how. JM: Man’s interaction with, and being a part of, nature is at the core of haiku. It is a common misconception, however, that haiku is about nature. A major element of traditional haiku is a seasonal reference called a kigo . We will discuss this at length in the workshop. Suffice it to say that seasonal references include many nature images. They appear throughout my poetry. For example: moonless sky one firefly lights the path headwinds shi