Biographical Background

Matsuo Allard (Also known as R. Clarence Matsuo - Allard) was born December 15, 1940 in New Hampshire where he still resides to this very day. He was editor of a haiku magazine, Sun-Lotus Haiku in the seventies which promoted one-lined haiku. He also published several small chapbooks of one-lined haiku.

He was very active in the world of haiku writing and his final book to be published was Bird Day Afternoon in 1978. However, Allard’s writings have stopped and there has been no others books of his published since Bird Day Afternoon.

This profile of haiku writer, R. Clarence Matsuo Allard, was researched, written and created by Sarah Knutilla. See her essay on Allard's one-lined haiku:

Matsuo Allard's
One-lined Haiku

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• biographical background
• Allard's contributions to haiku
• additional web links & resource

Allard's Contributions to English-language Haiku

He accomplished much in the world of haiku but, undoubtedly, Matsuo Allard’s most important accomplishment in the world of haiku would be his exploration into the importance of the one-line haiku. This form of haiku became his trademark. Expressing yourself in very few lines is difficult enough as it is. Allard learned how to express himself in only one line. These one-line haiku are simple and yet they are well-thought out and incredibly beautiful. Allard developed an entire scene for the reader to imagine in his mind and Allard did that while using only one line of poetry.

The importance that Allard saw in the one-line haiku is seen best when we realize how many of these one-line haiku Allard had published. The vast portion of Bird Day Afternoon was haiku of the one-line haiku. His contributions to the haiku world are not only one-line haiku. He had many haiku published that had more than one-line. However, he knew that these one-line haiku were important and that concentrating on them would be a challenge and a wonderful writing experience. His haiku of the one-line variety are simply beautiful and exciting for any lover of haiku.