Interview with Mark Gilbert

Mark Gilbert was one of the finalists with the following one-line haiku. Here are some questions he answered about his poem and process:



​cherry please help me blossom I’m being held captive haiku

• What inspired the poem?

There was a small news story in the UK about a man who was coerced to work in a factory making greetings cards, although he was basically being used as forced labour (it could have been in many countries but happened to be in China). So he wrote an SOS in one of the cards, which was read by the person in Britain who bought the card and led eventually to the factory being closed down.

• What was your process for writing it?

This story made me think about haiku (which are sometimes unkindly referred to as being suitable for a Hallmark Greeting card). I too wanted to smuggle a message inside something else, and wondered if I could do that in a piece of writing as tiny as a haiku. I am a fan of techniques such as found poetry and cut-up, so I tried to splice two ideas into each other, which the reader could disentangle.

• What other forms, formats, or iterations did you consider, and why do you think the poem had to be written this way?

I suppose I wanted it to be something that might be an unsettling read initially, that might need to be unpicked. A monoku can be a good way to do that. This version is close to my original conception. I didn't want it to be a parody of a haiku, I wanted the reader to think about who might be writing it and what their circumstance might be, so I didn't want it to be too clever. It's written in character, or at least has an element of that within it, so I wanted it to be believable, something that someone might have written in a state of desperation.

• How do you think the poem helps to push the boundaries of, or contributes to, the genre?

I hope that it will remind younger readers of Marlene Mountain, who has had a strong influence on my haiku. Where I hope it is different is in the area of parody, irony, trying to be a piece of writing but simultaneously stepping out of itself to look back from a different perspective. And I hope it mainly achieves this through its structure, which is not an easy thing to do in 10 words.

•  Is there anything else you want to share about the poem or writing practice?

is not essential to know the actual inspiration because I hope there are lots of potential meanings in there. I wanted it to be simultaneously both specific and open, but not directing the reader how to interpret it. I hope it resonates with some readers.​