Laryalee (Lary) Fraser
August 22, 1940 – October 16, 2013
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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:
She was also very proud of the anthology she compiled with haiku by some of her friends
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
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inhale, exhale . . .
the push of a leaf bud
into sunlight
Rustles Spring 2010 © L. Fraser
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opening day
a yellow crocus
gathers sunlight
Previously unpublished
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the wiggle
of a bee’s behind –
cherry blossom
Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Contest Sakura Award (HM)
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late snowfall –
I search for yesterday’s
spring feeling
Rustles Spring 2012 © L. Fraser
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red mittens
her laughter ahead
of the snowball
The Heron’s Nest 9:2 June 2007
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planting the beans …
this year it takes longer
to unbend myself
Ambrosia #4, 2009
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election promises –
I turn my tray of seedlings
toward the sun
Haiku News May 28/12
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all those doors
I never opened …
rosebud
Rustles Summer 2010 © L. Fraser
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I ponder
the meaning of hope
dandelion summer
Rustles Summer 2012 © L. Fraser
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midday mosquito –
my elbow the only place
I didn’t spray
A Hundred Gourds 3.1, December 2013
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tug of her hand –
a heron one breath away
from the sky
The Heron’s Nest 7:3, 2007
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apple harvest –
weighing the future
of honeybees
A Hundred Gourds 3.1, December 2013
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cloud watch –
the inner weight
of grey
Haiku News Sept 24/12
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between the sky
and the spin of the earth
this falling leaf
Mainichi Daily News November 2006
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frozen mud –
everything I want to say
has been said before
Rustles Winter 2009 © L. Fraser
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autumn sunset
sometimes a dream
is only a dream
Rustles Autumn 2010 © L. Fraser
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dusting off
an old memory
piano keys
Rustles Winter 2010 © L. Fraser
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box of keepsakes
hoarfrost
reshapes the willow
Rustles Winter 2011/12 © L. Fraser
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arctic chill –
I too, have caused
a flower’s death
Haiku News, Vol.2 No. 8 Feb.18, 2013
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hospital sheets
the moment when now
changes shape
Simply Haiku 5:1, 2007
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snowdrops –
the simplicity
of white
Simply Haiku (haibun) 7:2, 2009
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first violets –
somewhere a river
keeps rising
Haiku News June 11/12
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biopsy …
but just for today
cherry blossoms
Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Contest 1st place, 2010
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so little time …
a hummingbird on the edge
of nightfall
Rustles Spring 2010 © L. Fraser