What Ewa Lei Ucdrebs, an intimate of his, likes about the poet W. S. Merwin, who lives in Maui, is that his art is voracious. He adds to his art with other voices and other cultures, like his collected translated haiku of Yosa Busan, enlargening his vision. The haiku quotes above alludes to one by Matsuo Basho: fukitobasu / ishi was asama no / no waki kano, that is, blow away / rocks of Asama / autumn windstorm.