Details

David Cobb

(12 March 1926 – 6 November 2020)

David Cobb was a British educator and pioneering haiku and haibun poet, as well as co-founder and past president of The British Haiku Society. Born on 12 March 1926 in Harrow, England, he had a distinguished career teaching languages and literature—English as a foreign language, English, and German—first in the U.K., then in Hamburg, Germany, and Bangkok, Thailand. With a degree in German from Bristol University, he went on to write several books on teaching English, and from 1968 worked as an adviser and author for more than 100 schoolbooks used worldwide. He died on 6 November 2020 in Braintree, Essex, England.

David wrote his first haiku in 1977 but did not begin publishing them until 1988. He particularly recalled with gratitude the guidance and encouragement he received from North American poets Joan Giroux and James W. Hackett. He began writing haibun in 1993 and first published in the genre in 1997, when “Arrival at the Saxon Shore” won second prize in the First International Haibun Contest, organised by Woodnotes in San Francisco. Along with Ken Jones and Diana Webb, he became a major trailblazer of haibun in the UK; his Spring Journey to the Saxon Shore (Equinox Press, 1997) is often recognised as one of the first long haibun by a British poet to be published. In 2013 he received second prize in the Genjuan International Haibun Contest in Kyoto.

As a poet, David developed a distinctive sub‑genre that bridges haiku and senryu by honouring both traditions. These poems combine clear natural imagery characteristic of haiku with a distinctly senryu‑like humour that does not shy away from human nature. Through the years he won many awards, judged countless contests, and published his work regularly in journals and books, and his writings have been widely anthologised.

As an editor and anthologist, David played a central role in shaping English‑language haiku. He edited The Iron Book of British Haiku (Iron Press, 1998), The British Museum Haiku (British Museum Press, 2002; 12th reprint, with a second American edition in 2003), and The Humours of Haiku (Iron Press, 2012). His book The British Museum Haiku was highly commended in the Haiku Society of America Merit Book Awards in 2003. His haiku and haibun collections include Spring Journey to the Saxon Shore (Equinox Press, 1997), Palm (Equinox Press, 2002), Forefathers (Leap Press, 2004), Business in Eden (Equinox Press, 2006), spitting pips (Equinox Press, 2009), Marching with Tulips (Alba Press, 2013), and Anchorage (Red Moon Press, 2014). His critical work What Happens in Haibun (Alba Press, 2013), written as a companion to Marching with Tulips, is a study of haibun aimed at creative writing courses.

In 1990 David, together with Dee Evetts and David Kirkup, played a key role in setting up the Haiku Interest Group, which led to the establishing of The British Haiku Society. He formally launched the Society that year and later served as its president from 1997 to 2002. Under his leadership he helped foster a diverse haiku community in the U.K., building links with Japanese companies and cultural organisations such as Japan Airlines and the Daiwa Foundation, as well as with other European haiku societies. His essay English Haiku: A Composite View continues to be issued to new BHS members through the Society’s Members’ Handbook. Through his writing, teaching, editing, and organisational work, David Cobb played a formative role in establishing English‑language haiku and haibun, and in nurturing a vibrant international haiku community.

Published haiku & haibun books:

  • A Leap in the Light, Equinox Press, 1991;
  • Mounting Shadows, Equinox Press, 1992;
  • Jumping from Kiyomizu, Iron Press, 1996;
  • The Spring Journey to the Saxon Shore, Equinox Press, 1997;
  • Iron Book of British Haiku (ed. with Martin Lucas), Iron Press, 1998;
  • A Bowl of Sloes, Snapshot Press, 2000;
  • Palm, Equinox Press, 2002;
  • The British Museum Haiku (ed.), British Museum Press, 2002;
  • Forefathers, Leap Press, 2004;
  • Im Zeichen des Janus, Hub Editions, 2006;
  • Business in Eden, Equinox Press, 2006;
  • A Shift in the Wind /Veter se Obrne, Društvo Apokalipsa, 2007;
  • Euro-Haiku (ed.), Iron Press, 2007;
  • Spitting Pips, Equinox Press, 2009;
  • Lap Stone, Equinox Press, 2011;
  • The Humours of Haiku, Iron Press, 2012;
  • Marching with Tulips, Alba Publishing, 2013;
  • What Happens in Haibun, Alba Publishing, 2013;
  • Anchorage, Red Moon Press, 2014;
  • Haiku Chiaroscuro, Equinox Press, 2015.

Selected poems:

hugging himself
the snowman eases his limbs
under the lawn

   (The Rialto, 1989-90)

*

Perseid shower
snuffs out
my need to sneeze

   (Blithe Spirit 3:4)

*

behind the coal box
a black cat licks the wind
out of its fur

   (Blithe Spirit 4.1)

*

the long winter
how short now
the robin’s song

dolga zima
kako kratka je zdaj
taščičina pesem

   (A Shift in the Wind /Veter se Obrne, Slovenia, 2007)

*

teaching the puppy
to fetch the ball
I fetch the ball

   (Spitting Pips, 2009)

*

no more than
half itself
the magpie in snow


sultry dusk
on the veranda
                 the erotic
                 rocking chair

   (The Humours of Haiku, 2012)

*

pruning the firethorn
more blossom on his head
than hair

   (Anchorage, 2014)

*

cutting the pack
the bland stare of
the Queen of Spades

   (BHS 2016 Members’ Anthology Beginning)

*

bluest of skies
some way from the loop-the-loop
a skylark sings

   (BHS 2017 Members’ Anthology Ekphrasis)

*

a misshapen apple
I end up cutting it
into five quarters

безформена ябълка
накрая я разрязвам
на пет четвъртинки

   (Palm, 2002; Beyond Words/Отвъд думите, Bulgaria, 2018)

Sources: