Dead: No longer alive

Celebrity: a famous or well-known person.

Haiku:  A Japanese poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven and five.

My life with haikus started with a Dennis Miller joke (yeah, that Dennis Miller.)  He made reference to a haiku tribute to Issac, the bartender from the TV show Loveboat in one of his HBO comedy specials.   The haiku was:  the umbrella drinks/ the master of sassy jive/ Issac rules the waves.  That’s all it took.  One haiku about a random TV bartender on a cruise ship helmed Gavin McCloud and I was hooked.  It was simple, it was random and I thought it was cool.

Dead Celebrity Haiku started with a bunch of office friends as a way to procrastinate in a corporate environment as well as dish about popular culture around the water cooler.  One day at the office, we all found out that actress Nel Carter had passed, I suggested that we all write a haiku as a homage.   It seemed like an easy way to have some fun and kill some time on the company dollar.  My suggestion was met with odd looks and head scratching, but also a “sure, why not?” attitude.  The rules were simple, write a seventeen syllable poem in three lines of 5-7-5 and sign said poem with an alias.  Some were serious, some were funny and all were creative.  Over some years, our email haiku threads made their way around to various computers and eventually to an office door.  Most of our co-workers just didn’t get it.   Those who did loved them.  Many of the older haikus on the deeper pages of this site are from that time.  (Special thanks to Packy Majors, Edgar Allen Hoe, Lloyd Christmas, Mix Master G-Spot, Pen SteFani, Al B. Sure, Waldo Pepper and Corny.  Dead Poets Society, Reebok style!)

What once started as emails then made its way to Facebook.   My Facebook haikus were a way to post something on my page that I felt had substance.   Whether they did or not is to be debated but I liked it and so did my friends.  A couple of birthdays ago my brother and sister got together and have me this site as a present.  Hands down one of the best presents ever.   So thanks to them, Dead Celebrity Haiku has a home one the internet, a logo and a way for me to keep the haikus coming.

So this site is my little contribution to the pop culture stew.  It is also an homage to some famous and infamous people from all parts of our culture:  arts, entertainment, politics, sports, etc…  Some people you will know, others you might know, and some will be new to you.  Either way, the people on this site were known for something and this my homage to them.   For better for for worse.

If you like what you see, please tell people you know to check out the site.  Feel free to leave a comment.  I always love hearing what people have to say.  I might even post it.  I hope you enjoy!


Mike Taisch

Sensei at Dead Celebrity Haiku where we say, “Because haiku can’t be wasted on regular folks.” (actually that’s my brother’s line.)


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