Lee Gurga

Lee Gurga (born July 28, 1949 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American haiku poet. In 1997 he served as president of the Haiku Society of America.^[1] He was the editor of Modern Haiku magazine from 2002 to 2006, and is the current editor of the Modern Haiku Press. Gurga lives in Lincoln, Illinois, where he works as a dentist.^[2][3] Also involved in the translation of Japanese haiku into English, Gurga cites Matsuo Bashō, a Japanese poet from the Edo period, as one of his main appreciations.^[4] One of his most known haiku is about graduation day for students and is presented in his book Haiku: A Poet's Guide.^[5]

Background

Born in Chicago, Gurga attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. He first became interested in haiku during his high school years after reading a haiku translation book by Reginald Horace Blyth. He started his own haiku writing after that, focusing on Midwest imagery and scenery for his topics.^[6]

Bibliography

• The Measure of Emptiness (Press Here, 1991)
• In and Out of Fog (Press Here, 1997)
• Fresh Scent (Brooks Books, 1998)^[6]
• Haiku: A Poet's Guide (Modern Haiku Press, 2003)^[6]
• Autumn Mosquito (2005)^[6]

References

1. Matthew Mirapaul (November 12, 1998). "To a Haiku Writer, Spam Is Poetry in a Can". New York Times. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
2. "Apple Dental Center - About Us". Archived from the original on 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
3. Staff writer (September 5, 2000). "Dentist from rural Illinois writes Japanese-style poetry two years in a row, his haiku have won top American prizes". Associated Press. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
4. Diane Toroian (July 19, 2002). "In our high-stress culture, haiku emerges as popular form of expression". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
5. Toru Kiuchi (March 22, 2009). "Teaching Richard Wright's Haiku in Japan". The Black Scholar. Archived from the original on October 1, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
6. Heuvel, Cor Van Den (2007). Baseball Haiku: American and Japanese Haiku and Senryu on Baseball. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 70–73. ISBN 9780393066388. Retrieved April 15, 2012.

Further reading

• David Burke (January 27, 1999). "Contemporary haiku brings dentist to Decatur". Herald & Review. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
• Kristen Go (July 5, 1997). "Haiku headline/short, to point/please read Devotees take poetry form seriously". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved April 14, 2012.