The winner of The Shiki Internet Haiku Contest(1996)

Yu Chang

After we told him that he had won, and asked him to tell us a bit about himself,

Yu Chang sent us the following message:

                  Dear Shiki-team:

                  I'm very pleased and deeply honored to know that I won. There were so many
                  excellent poems in the contest. I feel very lucky indeed. What a wonderful
                  surprise!  Completely unexpected. It's scary.

                  I was born in mainland China; grew up in Taiwan; and went to graduate
                  schools in England and in the US. Since 1974 I've been a faculty member in
                  the electrical engineering department at Union College in Schenectady, NY.

                  I have been interested in poetry for a long time but never really did any
                  writing. One night last January, after seeing "of ee i sing" on campus, I
                  was so inspired by the poems of e.e. cummings that I went straight to my
                  office to search for his poems on the Internet. I discovered the Shiki
                  list instead, and have been in love with haiku ever since. I have been
                  impressed and nurtured by the creative and friendly atmosphere on the
                  list. I find the poems, the discussions, and the comments inspirational.
                  Since then I have made many wonderful friends and with their help I'm
                  beginning to appreciate the delicate art of balancing concreteness and
                  evocativeness in haiku. It has been an extraordinarily exciting and
                  enjoyable year on the Shiki list.

                  I very much look forward to meeting you in Japan.

                  Sincerely,

                  Yu Chang

                 We, Shiki Team, are looking forward to meeting him in Matsuyama. :))