Haiku Homoerotics

HAIKU HOMOEROTICS

“Today, high poetic value placed 
upon originality remains ingrained 
in the Western literary culture. This 
fear of unknowingly writing similar 
haiku or the reluctance or disuse of 
allusion proves that the poets live 
under the “fearful legacy of the 
Romantics.” Those poets & editors 
who are constantly worried about 
“not being original or fresh”
—Chen-ou Liu, “Read It Slowly,
 Repeatedly, and Communally”
______________

I don’t feel tres plagued—
With the fearful legacy
Of the Romantics

James Kirkup opened—
Up the gay haiku for me
Japan his new home
___________________

His early English—
Poetry full of the same
Old usual guilt

But there in Japan—
So much for Anglo-Saxon
Butchy Beowulf