Haiku in English popular in English-language schools as a way to encourage the appreciation and writing of poetry. "Haiku" is a term sometimes loosely applied to any short, impressionistic poem, but there are certain characteristics that are commonly associated with the genre: Some additional traits are especially associated with English-language haiku (as opposed to Japanese-language haiku): Arguably, the first successful haiku in English was "In a Station of the Metro" by Ezra Pound, published in 1913. During the Imagist period, a number of mainstream poets, including Pound, wrote what they called "hokku", usually in a five-six-four syllable pattern. American poet Amy Lowell published
Haiku in English and Paul Muldoon in Ireland and Britain) and others have tried their hand at haiku. In 1963 the journal "American Haiku" was founded in Platteville, Wisconsin, edited by the European-Americans James Bull and Donald Eulert. Among contributors to the first issue were poets James W. Hackett, O Mabson Southard (1911–2000), and Nick Virgilio. In the second issue of "American Haiku" Virgilio published his "lily" and "bass" haiku, which became models of brevity, breaking down the traditional 5-7-5 syllabic form, and pointing toward the leaner conception of haiku that would take hold in subsequent decades. "American Haiku" ended publication in 1968