Miriam’s Well will be interviewing Gary Gach on haiku and more during the end of December. Expect the answers to five questions as well as some poetry!

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1 How does your writing of haiku connect to your Buddhist practice?

They are as interconnected as a dragon and a cloud. Without creativity, my za-zen (sitting zen) could be likened to polishing a brick hoping it will eventually become a mirror. Just because a frog sits all day doesn’t necessarily mean it will realize Buddhahood. Haiku is a model of zen creativity applicable to zen practice itself.

Haiku is also a continual process, not an on-again / off-again intermittency. Haiku are everyday: no day lacks ample haiku (singular and plural). Writing haiku is my formal engagement with haiku; being aware of haiku throughout the day, is my informal engagement. What’s called for is my continually being present to haiku (and showing…