WINTER FEATURED POET
- Dec 31, 2025
- 5 min read
Welcome to the 16th Wolf Twin Review!
Introducing John Hawkhead: an award-winning haiku, senryu, haibun, haiga, micropoet, natator, and master of tom foolery.
rain at night
leaves outside the window
whispering dreams
needlepoint wind
a row of icicles rings
all seven sharps
this year’s virus
an s falls from death
into deaths
pushing the boat out
into the darkening lake
the prow bumping stars
Featured Poet Interview:
1. You’ve been writing haiku since the 90s. How much has the haiku form changed since then?
I think there’s a lot more experimental work now with journals such as Password, Heliosparrow, Five Fleas Itchy Poetry, and Post-ku out there. When I first started writing haiku and senryu most of the material I had access to was in the three-line form. There seem to be many more single-line monoku being written and published now, particularly with journals such as Whiptail championing the form and the mainstream mags taking a lot more single-line haiku for publication.
2. Aside from writing, what are your other interests?
I love swimming and hit the pool three or four times a week. It really helps to clear my head, as all I do is concentrate on stroke shape and counting lengths. I also like walking, particularly if the walk ends in a country pub with some good beer to be sampled at the end of it. You probably won’t be surprised to hear I’m a big fan of words, art and music, all of which inspire my writing and art.
3. When did you start creating haiga?
Funnily enough, one of the first short-form works I had published back in the 1990’s, was a haiga in a small magazine called Bare Bones based in Frome, England. That was instrumental in my haiku/haiga journey. Haiga can start from a haiku or from an image—it depends on what the spark is. I’ll look at haiku and senryu I have written and some will strike me as good fits for a graphic image. I like to draw, paint, and experiment with imagery; so I’ll usually set images aside and then come back to them when I have a poem that seems to fit. It’s rare for me to make an image and then write something straight away to fit that image—there’s usually a delay before the two come together.
4. What three poets—throughout time—would you like to have dinner with?
Seamus Heaney, Masaoka Shiki and Mary Oliver.
I do have dinner daily with another haiku poet—my wife Patricia. 😊
5. Are you more productive at home or while traveling?
I’m most productive at about 5 in the morning when I wake up with my brain rattling with ideas. I have to have pen and paper or my phone nearby so I can capture ideas, unusual word connections, juxtapositions and sometimes fully-formed haiku. I was lucky enough to spend some time in Japan in 2019 and found myself writing many haiku a day—so maybe there’s something in that?
6. Could you tell us a story about writing with others?
On International Haiku Day this year I ran a haiku writing exercise for a group of residents in a retirement home. I thought it went pretty well until one elderly lady came up to tell me it was all a load of nonsense (humbling)! However, some of the other residents produced pretty good haiku. I have written collaboratively, mostly with Hifsa Ashraf, but less so these days.
7. Most of us feel there’s always room for improvement. But, how do you personally know when to stop re-working a poem?
That’s difficult. I have a large file of unfinished or rejected haiku and senryu that will probably stay filed forever. There could be some that can be resurrected but I don’t really go back to them as I write every day.
Some haiku just feel ready and finished. Others are more of a challenge. It’s one of the reasons I never challenge editors in their decisions—even a short rejection is useful feedback. Also, what doesn’t work for one journal might still be accepted by another. One of my Touchstone shortlisted poems last year was rejected by three editors before it was published by another—don’t give up on work if you think it’s ready, but be prepared to try adjustments or edits too.
8. What inspires you the most?
Nature, the news, reading, art, music, the universe! There’s no end of possibilities and no subject you can’t write about.
9. You’re out in public and a poem strikes you. Do you reach for a pen and napkin, or type on your phone?
Usually my phone—it’s full of notes. I also use my phone to photograph close-ups of materials such as wood grain or rusted metal as they are often good as haiga imagery. It’s amazing what you can do with filters and abstraction these days.
10. What projects are you currently working on?
I’m thinking about a fourth book of haiku and senryu. I’m not fully committed to it yet but have a plan on how I would structure it and the type of material that would fit separate sections. It’s in its infancy though.
I’m also writing a few longer poems in the style I used before I came to haiku. I may send a couple of these out to see how they sit with small press editors, but no rush . . .
11. No matter how much you publish and succeed as a writer, how important is it to still have fun, maintain a sense of wonder, and not take yourself too seriously?
A sense of wonder is essential – all the best haiku come from this. And I’ll have you know that I take myself very, very, very, very seriously at all times. See this haiga:
(John's leopardskin haiga was Highly Commended in the Jane Reichhold 2019 Haiga Contest.)
12. If you were a tree, which would you be?
A willow - I don’t weep enough.
To John:
Thank you very much for submitting your wonderful poetry and being our Winter Featured Poet. Your sage advice and down-to-earth kindness are treasures to the haikai community. We are honored to join your poetic journey and say, "Welcome to the Wolf Pack!"
Dearest Readers:
Greetings, fellow poetry lovers. Thank you for your continued support of the literary arts! Subscribe and return to experience all our moonstruck poets. Owwwoooooo!
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