JB

Punk poet. Noisemaker. Grandpa.

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A History of Poetry Comics

More Book Reviews

The more I look, the more I find! Here are some books of poetry comics worth checking out. (They’re in descending order of publishing date.)


Poetry Comics by Grant Snider (Chronicle Books, 2024). Fun introduction to poetry comics for a YA audience, Grant’s colorful comics provide both inspiration (e.g., “Becoming” and “A Moment”) and instruction (e.g., “How to Write a Poem” series) for budding poets and their teachers. Organized by season, the shorter poems especially feel like haiku, and in fact there are haiku comics included. More of his work can be seen on Instagram @grantdraws.


Lucky 13 + Summer Haiku by David Lasky (DIY, 2023). My teacher and friend David Lasky continues to be an inventive creator of poetry comics and haiku comics. As he says in his “Mix Tape” comic in “Lucky 13:” Every good teacher is also a student. Indeed. His 2023 DIY zines are both filled with poetic moments seamlessly integrated into his accompanying art. His collection of 12 haiku comics in “Summer Haiku” shows his increasingly deep (deep in the sincereset sense) understanding of haiku. He’s an artist-poet who’s fast becoming a poet-artist! Check his Etsy site for availability–his zines always go fast!


Cloud on a Mountain – Comics Poems from Greylock by Franklin Einspruch (New Modern Press, 2018). Franklin Einspruch has a painterly approach to poetry comics. His art is dense and deeply colored. The haiku-like poems are hand-lettered and often fully incorporated into the artwork. The poems in “Cloud on a Mountain” (currently out of print, with the promise of a second edition) each spill across two panels, creating space and giving time for the meaning to form and land. See his art and poetry at https://franklin.art.


unfinished … 3 poems by Tom Neely (DIY, 2017). Man, these are heart-wrenching poetry comics about the loss of a friend. Tom Neely brings his comic artistry, a very punk, comix-influenced style, to tackle this painful experence — taking three years to complete and another four years before publishing it. Each page is a single panel, with the last poem fading over several pages to an empty panel that becomes a poignant eulogy to “an unfinished life…” See more of Tom’s work on Instagram @iwilldestroytom


The Door Opens and Out Comes In by Sutter Marin (Underlying Press, 1979). Not sure these qualify as poetry comics, perhaps definitely in kindred spirit with picture poems. Many of the 113 poems by Sutter Marin in this collection are illustrated with diagrams, simple figures – human and otherwise – and/or animated everyday objects. Humor abounds. Sutter was an atist (he died in 1985) associated with the North Beach Beats and notably illuminated poetry by Beat poet ruth weiss.

Happy Poetry Month!

Timeline: 1979-2024 (but new to me!)

Warning: This incomplete history maps my journey as a poet learning about comics and doesn’t follow a strict chronological order.

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Curated by David Lasky and J.B., this exhibition features 22 poet-artists with 69 haiku comics.

Artist statement

“A Whistling Kettle: An Exhibition of Haiku Comics,” that I co-curated with David Lasky, provokes a mixed bag of feelings. It’s like when I heard the punk band Ramones broadcast on radio for the first time. And when I saw 1970s street art and graffiti were taken inside to be exhibited and sold in art galleries (RIP Keith Haring). And when I discovered I wasn’t the only angst-riddled teenager that read MAD magazine (thanks to my dentist’s office).

It’s feelings of disbelief that the things I identified with were now being mass marketed. Disappointment at losing another counter-culture fixture to the mainstream. But also pride that things I admire and worship were deemed worthy and valuable. In the end, this validation increased my hip credentials — I knew about an art movement, a music scene, a zine before a lot of others caught on.

We are all students and explorers. The haiku comics here are the direct result of classes taught by Lasky, a comics artist learning about haiku. I’m seeing first-hand, as a poet learning about comics (and trying some myself), the transformative power that pictures and words have together. (See the note on “Illumination” in A History of Poetry Comics #05, part of my attempt to define poetry comics.) I believe the best poetry comics create a third meaning that words or pictures can’t do on their own.

This show collects works that transcend what’s hung on the gallery wall. There are underscores and counterpoints. There are kireji (the “cut” in Japanese haiku) and kigo (the season word in Japanese haiku). There’s context, witnessing, confessions. There’s complexity and simplicity sometimes in the same work. And there’s illumination — that “third meaning” that happens when your mind jumps beyond the words and pictures.

For me, this show is validation of the exploration we poet-artists have been doing on the fringes of both comics and poetry. It expands the audience for our work. And it makes us feel (perhaps) a little less like outsiders.

Enjoy the hip credentials!

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A History of Poetry Comics

here’s the first use of term ‘poetry comics’

The first use of the term “poetry comics” was quite literal. In 1979 poet Dave Morice created “Poetry Comics,” a 22-page comic book of comic-ized poems from the (then) English canon. He drew comics that illustrated poems by Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath, Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsberg and others we elders know from high school English class. Each poem got a different treatment, covering many comics styles, that uniquely illuminated that particular poem.

Morice created 17 comic books of poetry comics between 1979 and 1982, which he photocopied and mailed to other poets. His poetry comics werre collected in “Poetry Comics: A Cartooniverse of Poems” (Simon and Schuster, 1985). The same year, he published “How to Make Poetry Comics (Teachers & Writers, 1985), a guide for teachers.

At the time, a review by Bruce Brooks professed: “By the time Ebenezer Cooke was snapping off wry hudibrastics in the early 1700s, the Greek had been chuckling over Aristophanes for twenty-one centuries. But now America has initiated another tradition equally amusing, if not equally honorabler: poetry comics.”

In an essay “Poetry Comics: Taking Poems Out of Church” for Teachers and Writers magazine in 2008, Morice tells about the birth of his poetry comics:

One autumn night in 1977, I went over to the apartment of a friend who was in the Iowa Writers Workshop. She had hundreds of poems stuffed into twelve black binders on her writing desk and I had about as many of those same binders filled with poetry at home, so what else could we begin the evening with but a discussion of poetry? At one point she said in a serious tone, “Great poems should paint pictures in the mind.” And I said, partly to tease her, “Great poems would make great cartoons.” After a short pause, she smiled and said, “Hey, you know you’re right. You should draw some.”

Here’s one example of Morice’s poetry comics:

from Poetry Comics: A Cartooniverse of Poems by Dave Morice (Simon and Schuster, 1985)

Timeline: 1979 – so far, first documented use of the term “poetry comics”

Warning: This incomplete history maps my journey as a poet learning about comics and doesn’t follow a strict chronological order.

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A History of Poetry Comics

first-known, published haiku comic!

Among the many genres of poetry, haiku (the short poem that originated in Japan) is well suited to comics. Generally (and perhaps stereotypically), haiku speak to one moment, use just a few words to communicate an idea, and often make a (meta) leap between lines (or after grammatical marker). These traits lend themselves to techniques often used in comics — short dialogue (often contained in speech bubbles), a shift between panels (a different perspective or point of view, for example), and the punchline (prevalent in daily comic strips).

Definitely one of the earliest haiku comics was by Seth, the Canadian cartoonist known for his series Palookaville. He used a well-known comic strip character to recite a haiku by the Japanese master Bashō, expressing it in the popular four-panel strip format:

by Seth, published in Drawn and Quarterly, Vol. 2, Issue 4 (1995)

Comics artist and poet David Lasky, who creates and teaches haiku comics as part of his repertoire, suggests this is probably the first haiku comic, writing:

My first experience of a haiku comic was probably Seth’s short comic of Linus, from ‘Peanuts,’ illegally but respectfully reciting a poem by Bashō in four panels. The poem appeared as a ‘topper’ above Seth’s one-page comic, ‘Good Grief,’ in the Drawn and Quarterly anthology, Volume 2, Issue 4, in 1995. When I first saw that tiny, fake ‘Peanuts’ strip, a small electrical charge went off in my brain and I knew I needed to learn who this Bashō person was.

Source: David Lasky in his Introduction to Less Desolate by Shin Yu Pai and Justin Rueff

In a 2006 interview with Marc Ngui in Carousel 19, Seth says :

“I have felt, for some time, a connection between comics and poetry. It’s an obvious connection to anyone who has ever sat down and tried to write a comic strip. I think the idea first occurred to me way back in the late 80’s when I was studying Charles Schulz’s Peanuts strips. It seemed so clear that his four-panel setup was just like reading a haiku; it had a specific rhythm to how he set up the panels and the dialogue. Three beats: doot doot doot— followed by an infinitesimal pause, and then the final beat: doot. Anyone can recognize this when reading a Peanuts strip. These strips have that sameness of rhythm that haikus have— the haikus mostly ending with a nature reference separated off in the final line.

Source:  “Poetry, Design and Comics: An Interview with Seth” by Marc Ngui in Carousel 19 (Spring-Summer 2006) [archived PDF]

Accompanying that interview was this example by Seth:

*Full disclosure: My teacher and friend David Lasky continues to be instrumental in shaping this “A History of Poetry Comics” blog with tips, insights, and suggestions. In this case, his research has led to Seth as the creator of the first haiku comic. This poet hasn’t found any earler examples of haiku comics. So be it.

Timeline: 1995 (the first haiku comic)

Warning: This incomplete history maps my journey as a poet learning about comics and doesn’t follow a strict chronological order.

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A History of Poetry Comics

book reviewS – recent collaborations

Collaboration has a long history in American comics. Until the underground comix movement in the 1960s and 1970s, a team of writers and illustrators was the norm (the team also often included support from an editor, penciler, inker, colorist, and letterer). Perhaps the most (in)famous duo is Stan Lee (writer/editor) and Jack Kirby (comics artist) and their work at Marvel Comics. The tradition continues today but with a more equitable and transparent sharing of credit.

Collaborations between poets and artists have shown up in poetry comics since at least the early 1960s. Just three examples: Poet/artist Joe Brainard creating comics collaborations (often featuring Nancy) with poets Ted Berrigan and Ron Padgett (see History of Poetry Comics #08). KAPOW! zine pairing spokenword poets with cartoonist in the late 1990s (see History of Poetry Comics #16.) And poetry comics creator Bianca Stone illustrating Anne Carson’s translation of Antigonick by Sophokles in 2012 (see History of Poetry Comics #04.)

Here are two recent noteworthy collaborations between poet and comics artist.

THE STONEWARE JUG

The Stoneware Jug by Stefan Lorenzutti (words) and John Porcellino (pictures) (Nieves, Bored Wolves, and Spit and a Half, 2022). In this collection of poems illustrated with 1- to 6-panel, 1-page comics, Stefan Lorenzutti provides simple, direct poems about being cold, the end of winter, and memories of (seemingly) empty places. Titles include “The Iceberg,” “When I Lived in Krakow,” and “On a Night of Cruel Frost.” The 13 poems in the collection are perfectly illuminated by John Porcellino in the simple, direct line drawings that he’s known for. Here’s the title poem from the collection:

from The Stoneware Jug by Stefan Lorenzutti and John Porcellino.

LESS DESOLATE

Less Desolate by Shin Yu Pai (haiku) and Justin Rueff (illustrator) (Blue Cactus Press, 2023). Poet/artist/podcaster Shin Yu Pai collects haiku she wrote during the pandemic, including the concurrent social unrest and her personal search for being present. Her haiku flow from rituals to yoga, from social distancing to social justice, and from being at home to being part of a wider community and world. The haiku are minimal yet pack a lot of meaning in a few words (12 words or fewer in most cases). Justin Rueff provides comics-inspired illustrations ranging fron 1 to 4 frames for the 1-page haiku comics, giving us just the right amount of context — and occasionally a touch of color. Here’s the title haiku comic from the collection:

from Less Desolate by Shin Yu Pai and Justin Rueff

Timeline: Current (2022-2023)

Warning: This incomplete history maps my journey as a poet learning about comics and doesn’t follow a strict chronological order.

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A History of Poetry Comics

the haiku comics of matt madden

Comics artist Matt Madden, known for his  99 Ways to Tell a Story (Penguin, 2005), has created haiku comics that capture the simplicity of both pictures and words.

His use of color perfectly underscores the haiku and illuminates it in a way that adds to its meaning. He mostly uses thirds for his layout which aligns with the 3-linw break of what’s become English-language haiku style. While the image may follow the three-lines “rule” his text breaks into smaller lines (while maintaning the 5-7-5 syllable count across the lines).

In the examples below, he foregoes frames, using white space and color to beautifully define the haiku count.

There’s so much to admire about these – their simplicity foremost. Also, they’re unique in their approach. (For compare/contrast, see the haiku comics of Susanne Reece, featured in AHOPC #11.) The implied panels as the haiku moves down the page work really well. They’re humorous and current. And they’re a direct reflection of the poet’s mind. For me, they’re the perfect examples of what poetry comics can and should do.

Timeline: Current  

Warning: This incomplete history maps my journey as a poet learning about comics and doesn’t follow a strict chronological order.

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A History of Poetry Comics

musings on words + pictures by R.H. Blyth

Here’s some found text that provides additional thoughts on words and pictures from R.H. Blyth in the classic Haiku Vol. 1 Eastern Culture published in 1949.

Although Blyth is discussing painting and poetry in context in terms of Japanese haiga – brush paintings that illuminate a poem, often times a haiku (first discussed in AHOPC #03) – I think it’s relevant to poetry comics. His comments support my belief that drawing and writing together can illuminate and transcend what they can’t always accomplish singularly. (See also “What are poetry comics” in AHOPC #05.)

Haiku Volume 1 Eastern Culture by R.H. Blyth (Hokuseido, 1959)

The qualities of haiga are rather vague and negative. The lines and masses are reduced to a minimum. The subjects are usually small things, or large things seen in a small way. The simplicity of the mind of the artist is perceived in the simplicity of the object. Technical skill is rather avoided, and the picture gives an impression of a certain awkwardness of treatment that reveals the inner meaning of the thing painted.

pp. 89-90

Applied to poetry comics: The simplicity and directness of comics and line drawings are perfectly aligned with poetry, even more so with the “small” haiku. Comics – underground comics especially – often celebrate the honest, the real, the creative over the technical skills of the artist/poet. Words and drawing together can transcend inherent limitations of each.

The combination of haiku and haiga is perhaps the most important practical question. One may spoil the other; but in the case of a complete success, how does one help the other? There seem to be two main ways of doing this. The haiga may be an illustration of the haiku, and say the same thing in line and form; or it may have a more independent existence, and yet an even deeper connection with the poem.

p. 90

Applied to poetry comics: This aligns with what Scott McCloud lists in his classic Understanding Comics (William Morrow, 1993) as categories for “the different ways in which words and pictures can combine in comics:” Word specific (illustrative); picture specific (words add a soundtrack); duo specific (words and pictures say the same thing); additive; parallel (words and pictures follow very different courses); montage; and interdependent (“words and pictures go hand-in-hand to convey an idea that neither could convey alone”). (See pp. 152-155.) The last three are closest to what Blyth calls independent existence and can express something neither could do on their own.

Art comes down to earth; we are not transported into some fairy, unreal world of pure aesthetic please. The roughness gives it that peculiar quality of sabi without age; unfinished pictures, half-built houses, broken statuary tell the same story. It corresponds in poetry to the fact that what we wish to say is just that which escapes the words. Haiku and haiga therefore do not try to express it, and succeed in doing what they have not attempted.

p. 104

Applied to poetry comics: Comics are down-to-earth and can make even the most difficult topics accessible. Comics span decades and can still hold an audience (e.g., Peanuts). Poetry can convey difficult or sublime concepts in just a few words. Poetry too can move through generations. Words and pictures together, as in poetry comics, open up the possibility for “yet an even deeper connection.”

Timeline: Prehistory

Warning: This incomplete history maps my journey as a poet learning about comics and doesn’t follow a strict chronological order.

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book reviews – notley, field guide, Damm, bp

End of summer means the end of summer reading! Here are some of the poetry comics (and books on poetry comics) I read this summer.

>Runes and Chords by Alice Notley (Archway Editions, 2023). Poet Alice Notley started posting these “poem/drawings” on Instagram in 2019 during the pandemic. As she writes in the introduction, “They seemed to portray my state of mind better than a selfie, they wasted more time than a selfie, and were generally fun.” Done in her own handwriting, her words are interlaced with pictures of masked faces, portraits, flowers, and doodles; and the lettering piles on top of each other, becomes crosswords, and/or change colors in each panel, sometimes obscuring the drawings and vice versa. They comment on current affairs both political and personal. Most importantly, they directly reveal what the artist is thinking in her own voice. Here’s one example:

From Runes and Chords by Alice Notley (Archway Editions, 2023)

>Field Guide to Graphic Literature edited by Kelcey Ervick and Tom Hart (Rose Metal Press, 2023). Wow! A book for instructors, students, and writers who are looking to create “graphic narratives, poetry comics, and literary collage.” Each of the 28 essays/lessons is by a poet/writer/artist working in a specific aspect of combining pictures and words; each comes with an example of their work; and each comes with an exercise to guide your own creation. In total, these comprise a great survey of current state of affairs. I couldn’t put it down! My favorite aspect of the book is the “Alternate Table of Contents by Form,” which makes it easy to navigate to the form you want to explore, such as “Poetry Comics & Comics Poetry.”

>The Stoneware Jug, by Stefan Lorenzutti and John Porcellino (Nieves, Bored Wolves, and Spit and a Half, 2022). Stefan Lorenzutti, poet and publisher (with Joanna Osiewicz-Lorenzutti) of Bored Wolves in Krakow and the Polish Highlands, provided the words. John Porcellino, poet and comics artist of King Cat fame, provided the drawings. The collaboration works on a number of levels. The haiku-esque poetry is perfectly illumninated by elegantly simple pictures in comic-book panels settings. This work encapsulates my sensibilities of poetry comics. (More on collaborations in a future post.) Get your copy now!

>Riot Comics & “I’m a Cop” No. 2 by Johnny Damm (2023). Johnny Damm continues his hybrid-comics-collages using found text with two new works this year. Riot Comics combines cut-up classic cops comics and Depression-era photos with quotes from those who participated or witnessed the Tompkins Square Park riot in 1988. “I’m a Cop” No. 2 directly quotes “actual statements of police union leaders.” Both resonate with current events.

By placing these “law and order” comics in the context of a real-world police, Riot Comics seeks to challenge the carceral logic that dominates the vast majority of U.S. comic books and to question if this medium might also serve as a space of abolitionist possibility.

Johnny Damm in Notes to Riot Comics

For more on Johnny Damm’s work, see AHOPC #9.

>Team Photograph by Lauren Haldeman (Sarabande Books, 2022). Graphic novelist/poet Lauren Haldeman interleaves poems between chapters of this graphic memoir and ghost story. While not fully integrated visually, the poems serve as a soundtrack to the narrative she’s telling in graphic novel format, providing context, depth and space for the story to unfold. Or perhaps it’s the other way around — the graphic novel provides context for the poems. Either way, this work made me realize there are different ways to think about the relationship between poetry and comics; a welcomed reminder to keep an eye on the overall.

>St. Art: The Visual Poetry of bpNichol curated by Gil McElroy (Confederation Centre Art Gallery and Museum, 2000). This catalog to an exhibit of bp Nichol‘s visual poetry features three insightful essays, his “mech sheet for pome objects,” and a detailed list of his works. Here are three insights I gleened from the essays and bp Nichol in his own words:

  1. My earliest visual poems I called “ideopomes” because I had read Fenellosa on the Chinese written character as a medium for poetry, because I was very interested in Chinese, Japanese, Haida & Kwakiutl poetic modes, & because I saw myself as consciously working with the ideogrammatic potential of the arabic alphabet … This interest in the ideogrammatic & (as I later saw) runic capacity of the alphabet, ran parallel to an interest in the comic strip & its narrative & syntactic convention. (bp Nichol)
  2. Within the realm of the literary arts, visual poetry, a poetic form with a history that arguably stretches back to at least 1700 B.C.E., truly came of age in the century with the work of the French poet (and first major theoretician of Cubism) Guillaume Apollinaire, his Dadaist contemporary, Tristan Tzara, and the Italian Futurist, F.T. Marinetti. (Gil McElroy)
  3. While painter Roy Lichtenstein moved into the comics frame to work at a kind of molecular level of technique, Nichol pushed out against the frame and other comic conventions to a more panoramic approach. The simply drawn, minimally detailed figures of the characters and scenes in Nichol’s comics contrast with the sophisticated play occurring with the panels themselves. (Paul Dutton)

Timeline: 2000, 2022, 2023

Warning: This incomplete history maps my journey as a poet learning about comics and doesn’t follow a strict chronological order.

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A History of Poetry Comics

kapow! paired poets with cartoon artists

I admire zinesters on many fronts. Their DIY attitude. Their willingness to work outside traditional publishing and distribution channels. Their strong sense of community. Their courageous sharing of what catches their attention or what they’re obsessing on. And always, their ideas.

So it was soul-affirming to be led to Juliette Torrez and her idea to match slam poets’ work with comic artists’ drawings. She published these match-ups originally in her hand-stapled zine (are there any others?) Kapow! in the late 1990s. Eventually these collaborations (or actually illuminated poems) were collected in Kapow! Poetry & Comix (Manic D Press, 2017).

Kapow! Poetry & Comix, edited by Juliette Torrez (Manic D Press, 2017)

Here are a couple of examples from the anthology. (Both are facing pages.)

From Kapow! Poetry & Comix (Manic D Press, 2017)
From Kapow! Poetry & Comix (Manic D Press, 2017)

The matches made here are right on thanks to Torrez’s knack for pairing the right comics artist with the right spoken word poet. These pairings showcase the edginess/ directness/ openness of the work in a way that goes beyond illustration. The comics provide context, a moment in time, new ways to consider the text, and a willingness to accept outside influence.

Collaboration between artists and writers has been a part of the comics canon almost since the beginning of comic books (e.g., perhaps most famously, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby). Zine culture – and Kapow! specifically – gave it an updated twist. More on collaboration in a future AHOPC.

Timeline: 1990s

Warning: This incomplete history maps my journey as a poet learning about comics and doesn’t follow a strict chronological order.