Details

Barbara Tate Sayre

(4 February 1944 – 29 July 2024)

Barbara Tate Sayre, born on 4 February 1944, was an American artist and writer whose work achieved distinction in both national and international literary circles. Recognised for her contributions to poetry, incl. the haiku tradition, she was the recipient of several awards, including first place in the Gulf Coast Writers Association Poetry Division. She was also a finalist in the United Poet Laureate International Competition for the Alexander Fui Sak Chang Award in short free verse (Chinese or English), and in the Poetry Society of Tennessee NE Competition, among others.

Her devotion to brevity and precision found its natural home in haiku and related forms. Barbara Tate was an active member of the British Haiku Society, Haiku Society of America, and Haiku Canada, reflecting her deep engagement with the global haiku community. Her poetry and prose appeared in numerous journals, including Akitsu Quarterly, Blithe Spirit, Contemporary Haibun Online, hedgerow, Failed Haiku, Frogpond, Modern Haiku, Presence, Santa Fe Literary Review, Seashores, Storyteller, tinywords and The Heron’s Nest. Within the British Haiku Society, her work was prominently anthologised in volumes such as Wild (2018), Root (2019), Stories Under Every Rock (2020, the 30th anniversary haibun anthology), City (2020, the 30th anniversary haiku anthology), Temple (2021), Water (2022), Change (2023), and the bilingual anthology Shining Wind/Сияен вятър (2024).

Her career as a published writer began in 1968, when her early fiction and poetry first appeared in print. Over subsequent decades, she contributed extensively to a wide range of journals and anthologies, producing work that was consistently noted for its precision, clarity, and evocative brevity. Born in Akron, Ohio, Tate later resided in Winchester, Tennessee. She died on 29 July 2024 following an illness with cancer. Her body of work continues to represent a significant contribution to contemporary haiku and short-form poetry.

Published books:

  • Far More Than I Ever Was, by Barbara Tate (Windsor, Conn.: Café Nietzche Press, 2021)
  • Darkness in a Noonday Night, by Barbara Tate (Windsor, Conn.: Café Nietzsche Press, 2021)

Selected work:

gold rush
a field of flowers
untamed

     (BHS Members’ Anthology Wild, 2018)

*

Grand Canyon...
the echoes
of silence

Chinese Translation (Traditional):

大峽谷 ...
寂靜
的迴聲

     (NeverEnding Story, 4 April 2018)

*

Christmas cantata
the organist pulls out
all the stops

     (Frogpond, Vol. 42:1, winter 2019)

*

family reunion
creating waves in the
gene pool

     (BHS Members’ Anthology Root, 2019)

*

park bench
his shadow creeps closer
and grips my hand

     (City – the 30th anniversary haiku anthology, 2020)

*

Parallel Universe

. . . a microscopic sorcerer chants an incantation and begins lacing and plaiting a silken snare closing the opening in the dreamcatcher, plucking veiled threads and deliberately restraining visions that avoid capture. The master harpist weaves a labyrinth flawlessly and closes the circle seeking to suck reality gone. The nightmare will come.

memories
wrapping myself in a quilt of old age
I believe in pretend

     (cho 16:3 | Dec. 2020)

*

midnight fog
the lighthouse beacon
a wide arc of warning

     (BHS Members’ Anthology Temple, 2021)

*

incoming storm
sitting on the sea-wall
me and a cranky sand crab
letting go of memories
one at a time

trail dust
the only thing left
between us

solitude
I lose the chess game
to my alter ego


visiting hours
everyone brings their own
opinion

     (Darkness in a Noonday Night, 2021)

*

early snow
catching the sky
on my tongue

unbalanced
sharing a canoe
with a dragonfly

     (Far More Than I Ever Was, 2021)

*

first light
fog moves in silencing
a loon’s call

     (BHS Members’ Anthology Water, 2022)

*

resignation
beginning a journey
to find myself

     (BHS Members’ Anthology Change, 2023)

*

twilight
a night owl in the shadow
of the moon

     (BHS bilingual anthology Shining Wind/Сияен вятър, 2024)

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