haiku path at all, the less likely that they‘ll go down such a path. We shouldn‘t keep the better path just to ourselves. The majority of people still won‘t care (―the poor will always be with us,‖ as they say), but improved haiku education will be worthwhile for that minority that does care but simply hadn‘t heard any better.
A key aspect of your question is whether theo nehaiku community has helped or hindered haiku. nli
The democracy of the Internet has allowed haiku fiefdoms to arise online, and there are certain publications, blogs, or websites where the editors or writers confuse their own noise with whether anyone is really listening. Oh sure, they may get thousands of hits, but that isn‘t the point. It‘s too easy on the Internet for the blind to lead the blind. For the most part, the online haiku community is making good impacts. However, because so much of the Internet is unedited, or self-edited, and too often irresponsible or half-baked, the burden of filtering has shifted strongly from publishers onto readers, and those who read and research haiku online need to be extra vigilant in their assessment of what they read. The Internet has brought about a wonderful increase in interconnection among informed and enthusiastic poets, bringing many fine writers out of the woodwork. But it has also given a louder voice to misinformation as well, and seemingly more of it than ever before. We know that misinformation always existed, but now the Internet makes it so much easier for every Tom, Dick, and Harriet to parade his or her haiku and haiku theories much more publicly all over the world, no matter how misguided. Caveat emptor!
Lest we get too far away from the aesthetics and beauty of haiku, I‘d like to quote the poem ―Mindful‖ by Mary Oliver, from her bookWh me, is the mind—and mindfulness—of the haiku poet.
y I Wae Ea k
Every day I see or I hear something that more or less
kills me with delight, that leaves me like a needle
in the haystack of light. It is what I was born for— to look, to listen,
to lose myself inside this soft world— to instruct myself over and over
in joy, and acclamation. Nor am I talking about the exceptional,
64 rly(Boston: Beacon Press, 2004). This, to
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