Testimonials

Many thanks to our course participants for the generous feedback we've received. This has been enormously heartening and has encouraged our ambitions to offer even more through Call of the Page.

We update this page as we receive new testimonials, so please do come back soon to see more of the things people have said from the most recent course.  You can also see some of the course-specific feedback on the course description pages which you can get to by clicking on the course titles below. And at the bottom of this page you'll find our 'Blast from the Past' feedback where we feature some of the feedback we've received in earlier years.

General Feedback

You get great in-depth feedback. The courses are well-designed. Alan is very encouraging. My confidence and skills have grown.

One-to-one Tuition

You have exceeded yourself with this email and my thank you is huge. It turned everything around for me.

JB (2024)

Thank you for the feedback, Alan. Fantastic, and fantastically helpful.

Sara (2023)

Haibun 2x2

I have been learning and practicing haiku and senryu writing for two years with Call of the Page, and this is my third course this semester - and I am having a ball.

Ella (2022)

I began writing haibun by doing this course a little over a year ago. All four pieces (with some revision) that I wrote for these assignments have been accepted, so obviously the course was very helpful for me.

Susan (2022)

Haiku Summer School 2024

“That was an intense (in the best way) and memorable week. The organization and content of this course was fantastic! I learned so much and had a wonderful and inspiring time meeting you all, as well as getting to know your writing.”
Ellen, USA

"Thank you... for putting on such a brilliant week!!"

Colette, USA

"9 poets from 3 different continents meet online to discuss how words can paint pictures...
Every haiku that I read or wrote gave me a unique kind of goosebumps.
I’m so grateful to Alan, Alison, and Karen for their mentorship!"
Abhisha, India

Intermediate Haiku (Longer)

Thank you for another amazing class. It was so enjoyable and informative to read everyone's work, and Alan always imparts his terrific insights--this is invaluable information! I hope to see you all in another course!
Ellen (2025)

Alan's detailed feedback is so valuable! I feel encouraged to observe, discover, and reflect to make poems. I am happy to learn more about alternative forms like the two-line haiku, the monoku, or the five line tanka-like ku. Alan showed us how to find haiku in free-written prose and how much fun it is to rewrite, remove words, and attend closely to prepositions, verbs, and adjectives. Thank you to my peers in class for joining me on the journey and sharing your work. Thank you, Alison, Alan, and Karen for making the class possible.
Peggy (2025)

As always, when I complete a course with COTP I feel so much richer. It makes me work with more depth and attention to details - structuring and deconstructing. And the feedback for us all is so valuable. I love the encouragement to go for it and still watching the form.
I savoured the reading of everyone's wonderful work and Alan's feedback. Alan your capacity to create gorgeous poems out of the prose explode is infuriating!...
Ella (2024)

I would like to thank Alan, Karen & Alison. I have enjoyed the course material and enjoyed doing the assignments very much. Alan, your encouragement to newer voices across the globe is exemplary and extremely generous.
Rupa (2024)

Many thanks to all - I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and feel as if I have made some progress. I am looking forward to returning to the my next course in August and will be doing my homework.

Sheila (2024)

Thank you - it's been a helpful and interesting course.
Sue (2024)

As always, a great course I take regularly that's my key framework for writing haiku, and without which I would be less active and engaged. Thank you Call of the Page team for facilitating my growing skills and learning as a writer. And it's wonderful to read everyone elses poems and creative process, makes a real difference

Intermediate Haiku (Shorter)

Wonderful course as always!

Ella (2022)

Introducing... Haiku

Dear my fellow classmates!  Please know what a pleasure it has been to read through all your work.  I have learned a great deal and also been very inspired at the same time.
Alan & Karen, thank you for just a wonderful class, including all your feedback. It has been so helpful and motivating.  I am already looking forward to my next class with you. 
Frank (2024)

I am enjoying the class and your sage and insightful feedback.

Kerry (2024)

Thank you Karen and Alan for a wonderful course and for all the generous and thoughtful feedback. 
Cindy (2024)

I've enjoyed reading your work, which has inspired new ideas and poems for me. I esp. loved when I read things which made me pause and appreciate what I had just read....Karen and Alan, thank you for your guidance and wisdom and all of the fine writing exercises.
David (2024)

Thank you, Alan, Karen, and Alison, for a thoughtful, well-curated, beautifully explained and organized introduction to haiku! Your comments, guidance, and instruction have been motivating, supportive, and inspiring. And thank you to my classmates--your prose and poetry have been a joy to read. I hope to see you in more Call of the Page classes in the future; if not, happy trails!

Ellen (2024)

Thank you to the teachers and my fellow students for sharing your haiku explorations and ideas! As with many Introductory classes, I have have made some strides, and I have discovered how much I have not learned yet, or what I still need to practice.
Kevin (2024)

Alan and Karen, thank you for your thoughtful exercises and useful feedback.  I definitely feel like I’ve gotten some new tools to bring to my writing (haiku and otherwise). Thanks to all of you for this infusion of creativity, and for reminding me how much a little observation can bring to my life.

Sarah (2024)

I have enjoyed the course and am looking forward to moving onto the intermediate level in April.

Sheila (2024)

And examples of earlier feedback....

Thanks to all of the participants for this refreshing approach to haiku! The teachers' positive comments have been outstanding and sharing one another's work very interesting. I especially liked how Alan and Karen found something teachable within each student's submission. The format of this online writing class is innovative and conducive to long term learning. I feel like I got to Mediterranean Avenue on the haiku Monopoly board.

Joan (2023)

Thank you to everyone for being willing to share this journey. I feel that it is the start of something new for me and I know that there is still plenty to learn.

I have appreciated everyone's willingness to share their own feedback and as a result I have been able to learn far more than if I had just had my own work reviewed.

Ian (2022)

One-line Haiku

I so enjoyed this class with you all -- I can't get enough of the one-liners!! :=)...I hope to see you all in another CotP course soon! And of course, I can never express enough my gratitude to Alan, Karen, and Alison, for your fabulous prompts and invaluable feedback!
Ellen (2025)

This has been a terrific journey. Thank you all for sharing your wonderful monoku. I enjoyed reading and learning from everyone’s work.Thank you, Alan, for your expansive commentaries. So much to think about! A shout out to Karen and Alison, too!

Thanks to all for making this course fascinating, enlightening and entertaining! I have enjoyed everyone's work. This is such an interesting genre, to me. So much said in so few words - it really is an art form, isn't it? You have all submitted excellent monokus and I have learned from everyone. Thanks again, Alan, for a wonderful course. Your assignment material is fabulous (Articulation of the Single Line Haiku). I learned so much.  And thanks Karen, for the inspiring prompts - I always love your prompts!!!

Thank You Alan for another amazing course. Your in-depth and extensive review of our work was phenomenal (as usual) and I really enjoyed this course. Monoku is such an interesting genre. I will continue writing these one-liners in the future.

Leslie (2024)

I have really enjoyed sharing this journey of discovery with you all.

Thank you, Alan, Karen, and Alison! I’ve learned so much in this course and appreciate its design and content. Alan’s comments are transformative and motivating, and I’ll continue to ponder them as well as the many examples and links he's provided.  This is my second Call of the Page experience, and its influence on my writing and knowledge of haiku (and its possibilities) has been enormous. I'm really grateful to have taken part.

Dear fellow writers:
I have learned so much from this class. Not just from commentary on my writing but also from reading your poems and Alan's comments. Congratulations to everyone! I think I still need a lot of practice but at least I don't cringe as much as I try to write a monoku. Best to all of you!

Alan, Karen and Alison....thank you for providing such a wonderful class. I will refer back to the lessons and fly with what I've heard here. I am on the waiting list for the haibun class and look forward to it.

Lafcadio (2023)

This has been a splendid course. To my classmates, I say "thank you" for sharing your amazing writing. I loved every one of your monokus and learned a great deal from each of you! I find that I love this genre, which is a surprise to me, as I thought it wouldn't be for me. Now I know that it is. I hope to take another  monoku course from you in future, Alan. Thank you for your brilliant suggestions and in-depth attention to all our work. You are an amazing poet and teacher. Thanks, Karen, for the fabulous prompts, and Alan for your "Travelling the single line of haiku" handouts, and Alison, for keeping it all going for us all.

Leslie (2023)

I am thankful to have been privileged to read everyone's work and to also to peek in and see some of your process. It is helpful to see how others go about creating their poems. Thanks to Alison for reminding me about a missed due date, to Karen for the wonderful prompts, and Alan for all the helpful comments he has made regarding my poems. This has been a wonderful experience and I intend in the future to take the shahai course.

Anette (2023)

I have enjoyed being in this class with so many talented poets.
Not only is it fun to see so many styles and read Alan's feedback but also I learn much as I try to to look at each poem from various perspectives. The true joy of reading and re-reading.​

Margaret (2023)

I have really enjoyed this class and I loved the work, and learned a lot from each participant ! ( As well as from you, Alan!) I definitely have a better grasp on reading and writing one line haiku.  Thank you all and much luck in your writing endeavors!!!

Colette (2023)

This has been an amazing opportunity to learn from all of you and to share and enjoy your poems; always a different perspective which I seriously value. Thank you! Alan your essays are marvels which I have kept to reread!

Lynne (2023)

Thank you Alan, Karen and Alison for running an absolutely fascinating course. I have frequently been outside my comfort zone, but it has all been worthwhile thanks to Alan’s incisive and encouraging feedback. I have also really enjoyed reading all the excellent contributions from my fellow poets. Many thanks for sharing your poems and life experiences.

Perhaps most of all, I have learnt to appreciate how difficult it is to compose a good one-line haiku which has increased my admiration and respect for those very talented poets who regularly produce monoku of a high standard. I am so looking forward to reading the inaugural issue of the Pan Haiku Review!

Nick (2023)

Passion of Haibun

This has been an eye opening class for me and I have really been riveted by your work.  Thank you for sharing this experience!  And of course thank you Alan and Karen for your amazing presence, even so far away across the pond!  I have learned a great deal in a short time.

Colette (2023)

I've enjoyed reading everyone's haibun and seeing the different approaches we've taken. I look forward to re-reading them in print!

Debbie (2023)

Loved this course! I already want to get to the next one, feeling like I just started to get somewhere. The prompts were wonderful, made me think about different situations. It was great reading everyone's stories and tasting different styles, and Alan's feedback is priceless as usual.

Ella (2023)

My poetry has improved immensely with your assistance.

Jim (2023)

Thank you all for reading. It is truly one of the most memorable days of my life, because I finally started to comprehend.

Kati (2023)

You all write so well. I have learnt a great deal from your work.,,,.,I've loved this course and the one line haiku one too Thanks!

Tim (2023)

Senryu
 

I have really enjoyed reading and rereading your comments and analysis of all the senryu. I love the way you do so much research.....Thank you for a great course. I do love the way we can read the comments on everyone else's work as you are stepping into someone's mind which is always fascinating. Looking forward to the next stage of the senryu journey.

Christine (2024)

Thanks for this course and all your fine feedback, Alan. I love Senryu. Thanks to my fellow poets for sharing your work. I learned something from everyone!

Leslie (2022)

Thanks for another wonderful course, Alan. Great prompts followed by indepth and educational feedback. I enjoyed it all very much

Leslie (2024)

Shahai - Words in a Landscape

Dear Karen, Alison and Alan,
Wonderful to see the gallery - thank you for the effort of creating an 'exhibition space' for each of the artists, it makes a difference.
And special thanks to Alan, your poem crafting mentoring for us all really stayed with me. Looking at the gallery, the reworked poems bring much more meaning to the shahai as a whole.
Ella (2023)

Thanks for a wonderful course, as usual, it was stimulating and enlightening. 

Leslie (2022)

I enjoyed the course very much!...Thanks to both Alans and everyone else for a great course!  

Eve (2022)

Shape of Haibun

I’ve much enjoyed the course, particularly being able to read work by my fellow haibunistas plus Alan’s comments on all our efforts, from which I’ve learned a great deal.
Roger (2025)

Thank you all for sharing such intimate and beautiful haibun.  I have truly enjoyed reading everyone's work, and the comments....Thank you, Call of the Page, Alan, and Karen, for the feedback and prompts (really spot on, as always!) and Alison for putting up with a few lapses I had in remembering deadlines!!

Colette (2025)
 

I don't think I would have approached this as I have without doing the course. So thank you!

Alice (2025)

It's been a privilege to read your haibun and I appreciate your openness and honesty. That and Alan's generosity have made it a safe place for me to experiment.
Fokkina (2024)

I have thoroughly enjoyed this class. I think it's my favorite but I say that every time we are at the end. Reading all of your haibun and feedback has strengthened my work as well.... Thanks again to Alan, Karen, and Alison for the opportunity to learn here. I am always sad when it's the last assignment and keep hoping for just one more...one more...one more! :) I would like to be a full-time haibun author and become rich and famous and give the credit to Call of the Page.
Lafcadio (2024)

This has been a fascinating course, the most challenging course I ever took from you. Each assignment merited many hours of work and careful attention. The prompts were splendid. I started off wondering why I was taking Haibun/Tanka Story when I find the genre so difficult. What was I thinking? Now I see the power of this genre. When done well, it is a deep pool of visuals, emotions, sounds, mysteries and food for endless thought. Thank you for this amazing course, and thanks to my fellow students for sharing your compelling work along the way.
Leslie (2024)

I have thoroughly enjoyed this course. Alan, I will be in touch about a follow-up session to refine some of these. Many thanks to you and Karen for your excellent, thought-provoking, instruction.

Tanka Online
 

Thank you all for the wonderful experience.  I find that it went fast, and I kind of wish we had a bit more time together...Thank you Alan and Karen, as ever , for a wonderful course.  And Alison!  I have learned a great deal, as always! 
Colette 2024
 

Hello everyone. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your tanka and wanted to thank Alan and Karen for their incredibly useful help and feedback.
Diane (2024)

This has truly been a delightful experience. Thanks to all of you for your creativity and sharing of thoughts and tankas. Perhaps our paths will cross in yet another Call of the Page class. The structure of these classes is relaxing, yet extremely encouraging and a wonderful learning curve is offered.
Joan (2024)

I have enjoyed the challenges of tanka....As always, reading and learning from the amazing work of the other poets here along with Alan's feedback, adds so much. Thank you to all of you!
Margaret (2024)

Thank you all for sharing your good words...this was my first course in writing/reading the tanka poetic form.  I have learned much! "Anything discarded is still invaluable for a bonus tanka, never throw anything away!"  Alan Summers
Alan, Karen and Alison much gratitude for your work in keeping this 77 year old mind alive and still active in her search for the "perfect" words!
Pat (2024)

Thanks Alan, for your in depth comments which educate us every time!  It is a pleasure to be one of your students. Until next time, many thanks.

Leslie (2023)

I very much enjoyed this course and have felt moved and inspired by everyone's poems. It has given me courage to try my hand writing more 'everyday tanka' for myself and I must say - I love the form.

Ella (2022)

Brilliant class. Enjoyed everyone's work

Marcie (2022)

This has been a great class and it has been lovely to have shared all your tanka. 
Best wishes from Sue (2022) 

Blast from the Past Feedback

You opened my eyes to the subtlety of haiku, a gift really that has always stayed with me.
Mary (With Words Intermediate Haiku Course Autumn/Fall 2016)