Michael McClintock

Michael McClintock (b. 1950) a Los Angeles native, McClintock was a major haiku and tanka poet, editor, and lead librarian of the Los Angeles Public Library. McClintock’s seminal essay about Nick Virgilio resulted in a lengthy correspondence between the two, which oscillated between adoration and acrimony. Virgilio viewed McClintock as an upstart youth who was trying to make a name for himself, while McClintock greatly admired Virgilio, publishing him often as Assistant Editor of both Haiku Highlights and Modern Haiku, later criticizing Virgilio of not being a haiku poet at all but rather an elegist.