Laryalee (Lary) Fraser

Laryalee was the pen name Lee Fraser chose when she entered the world of poetry. However, most of us in the writing circles knew her best as Lary.

She was born on Vancouver Island in Canada’s westernmost province, British Columbia.  However, she spent most of her life living in small BC interior towns.  Her employment as a reporter, editor, and photographer for various newspapers helped her to hone skills which she would put to good use as a haiku poet and haiga artist for the last ten years of her life.   

In 2000, Lary turned to writing – something she’d enjoyed since childhood. She wrote a lot of rhyming poetry, before turning to other forms and styles, many of which appear on various internet sites. In 2002, she started composing haiku. It was here she found her niche. Although Lary also wrote haibun and tanka, she is probably best known through her haiku and haiga.

Lary was a member of several on-line work shopping forums including WHC Multimedia, Haiku Hut, and AHA. She was a well-respected and much-loved moderator on the AHA Haiku and Haiga Forums, where her generosity and self-effacing nature were felt by all. Many remember her as a mentor and friend, and owe her a great deal of gratitude for her time, compassion, and constant encouragement and support.

Lary’s haiku, tanka, and haiga have appeared in Ambrosia, Asahi Haikuist Network, Atlas Poetica, Chrysanthemum, Clouds Peak, f/k/a, Frogpond, Haiga Online, Haiku Harvest, Hermitage 3, Magnapoets, Mainichi Daily News, Notes from the Gean, Roadrunner, Shamrock, Shiki Internet Kukai, Short Stuff, Simply Haiku, Sketchbook, The Heron’s Nest, Tinywords, Wisteria, World Haiku Review and, posthumously, in A Hundred Gourds and Cattails.

A selection of her work is available on three of her own websites:

a leaf rustles 

Lary's poetry and art 

Rustles: Lary's blog 
 

She was also very proud of the anthology she compiled with haiku by some of her friends

a procession of ripples  

Awards and Other Honors:

Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Contest 1st place, 2010
Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Contest (HM or Sakura Awards), 2006 – 2009
Mainichi Daily News 2nd place in Annual Selection, 2005
Shiki Internet Kukai 1st place, August 2005 (free), November 2005 (free theme), April 2006 (free theme), July 2006 (kigo and free)
Shiki Internet Kukai 2nd place, July 2005 (kigo), December 2005 (kigo)
Shiki Internet Kukai 3rd place, February 2005 (free), April 2005 (kigo) February 2006
The Katikati’s Haiku Pathway in New Zealand 2007

 

Read a selection of her haiku