There were several years in my life (when I had two or more children in diapers) that I only wrote Japanese forms. Why? Mostly because I could carry a poem around in my head and revise and rewrite it while whirling through very full days. Once I had time to actually sit down and write again, I realized that writing haiku, senyru and tanka had transformed all of my writing in whatever form I chose to write: Everything I wrote was more crystalized and clear and powerful.