Why Write Haiku?

by Tom East

This book is not just about the Haiku. Nor is it only about poetry. Other questions asked include WHERE IS GRUB STREET? and WHAT IS GOTHIC? The true subject of the book is words and the World about us.

263 pages, Paperback

Published March 15, 2021

About the author

Prior to INFIDEL in June 2025, Tom East's most recent full-length publication, in January, 2025 was TOMMY'S WAR: JULY 1914. This is nothing less than an account of an attempt to shorten WW1 in that summer month.

Other books still available include the controversial novel THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO St JUDAS, the unsparing non-fiction of LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE, about recovery from two brain haemorrhages (one kind of stroke), and the three volumes in the Eldritch Collections

Earlier, Tom was the writer of many works of fiction, commercial features, essays, reviews, 'other prose' and poetry. He was the author of six (print) books. 

He was born in London, although of a Welsh family and lived in Wales for many years.

See below, or Benybont.org for details of all fifteen books available as at June 2025. These are available in both paperback and eBook form (and in a few cases also as Audiobooks):

THE ANSWER IS AN EGG SANDWICH
THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT VERSE BRIGADE
THE EVE OF ST ELIGIUS
A FIFTIES’ CHILDHOOD
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST JUDAS
THE GREENLAND PARTY
INFIDEL
THE KA OF STEPHEN CHARLES
LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE
THE LOWELL LETTERS
LYRICS, POLEMICS AND POETICS
SCENES FROM SEASONS
TOMMY’S WAR: JULY 1914
WHY WRITE HAIKU?
WISH MAN’S WOOD

Three of the four BENYBOOKS are for the moment still available. These are free or at a reduced price in eBook form only.

Reviews

[Petru Iamandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me nostalgic. It reminded me of my university years, when an Amerindian professor, who was also a poet, introduced us, sophomores, to haiku, telling us about the basics, providing examples and asking us to write at least one “for next time.” We found this Japanese kind of poetry fascinating, to say the least. I for one walked the whole week looking around and trying to find that unexpected moment in nature that I might turn into a haiku. Not being happy with what I saw, I finally gave up and went to the cinema. While watching one of the most thrilling scenes, I saw, together with the protagonist, the moon through the branches of a tree and I said to myself: There is my first haiku! The professor agreed with me.
A few years later, when I started my teaching career, I taught my pupils how to write haiku using the same steps: basics, examples (starting with my very first haiku, a classic of course), homework. Not at all surprising, most of their haiku were better than mine, which, leaving hard feelings aside, showed me that the professor’s method worked.
Now, while reading Tom East’s book, I was delighted to find the same approach, this time in writing which, obviously, is more difficult to achieve. A clear, rigorous demonstration, an elegant style with cadenced sentences, and, here and there, funny remarks, or irony, or self-irony, ingredients that always make reading more enjoyable.
The same can be said about the lexicography and the theory of literature sections of the book. From words with unexpected etymologies to fixed form poetry, Tom East proves his ability to explain convincingly, which is his didactic gift, as he often “speaks” to aspiring writers and “teaches” them how to go about a sonnet or a triolet, for instance. And he is fully entitled to do it, being a well-established author, with about twenty books to his credit (novels, short stories, essays, poems, memoirs, etc.).
I remember a handful of critics claiming that a literary work should be judged independently, apart from its author’s background. Tom East shows how wrong they are (and how well-read he is) in the literary biography section, pointing out the crucial events in some of the most famous authors’ lives that shaped their outlook and decisively influenced their writing.
So this book should not be read only by young people who dream of becoming famous writers. Students of British literature, English teachers, and those who love reading about literature and its servants will surely find in it a most valuable guide and source of inspiration. If only I had had this book fifty years ago!