S.M. Abeles

Born  New Jersey, USA
Living in Washington, D.C., USA
http://www.emptyskypoetry.blogspot.com
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Mike Andrelczyk

Born 1982 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
Living in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, USA
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Bukusai Ashagawa

Born in Boston, Mass, and lives in Chatanika, Alaska. He’s written over 14,000 haiku, tanka, & haiga. His books can be found in the National Haiku Library, and over fifty Universities throughout the U.S.A. & Japan. His works been translated into six languages. 

"Haiku are meant to evoke an emotional response from the reader... to light the spark that triggers creative rumination... They act as literary manifestations... visions of nature’s seasonal modulations... They're emotionally tinged words, barely perceptible sensory flickers... literary etchings of lucid visions transposed into the minds of its readers... They're meant to act as sensory catalysts... like the passing of a penciled baton laid out upon a piece of paper that a reader might grasp for in their mind's eye... all of which prompts the reader to continue exploring the sensory experience elicited from the writers pen... This is how the literary sketching of poets are intended to function... as creative muses with which readers can draw from and viscerally apply to their own artistic idioms... from that lucid space within their heads... where their minds eye can spark their own creative visions"  -- Bukusai Ashagawa, 2013

Blog: Bukusai-Ashagawa.blogspot.com

Marilyn Ashbaugh

Born 1954, South Bend, Indiana, USA
Current residences: Edwardsburg, Michigan, USA; Gulfstream, Florida, USA
Marilyn Ashbaugh is a poet, organic master gardener, and nature photographer. She makes her summer home in a small village near the shores of Lake Michigan, USA.
For biographical information on Marilyn Ashbaugh, see the Haikupedia article: https://haikupedia.org/article-haikupedia/marilyn-ashbaugh/

Joseph Salvatore Aversano

Born in Farmingdale, New York, USA
Living in Ankara, Turkey
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Pamela A. Babusci

Born1950 in Rochester, New York, USA
Living in Rochester, New York, USA
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Don Baird

Born 1947 in Denver Colorado, USA
Living in Palmdale, California, USA
http://www.kungfukarate.com
Hear Don reading a selection of his haiku
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Mary Jo Balistreri

Born in Duluth, Minnesota, US, 1941.
Living today in Waukesha, WI US

Jo Balistreri began her creative life as a pianist and harpsichordist. In 2005, she began writing free-verse poetry after losing her hearing and her ability to play music, and in 2015 registered for a mentoring program through the Haiku Society of America. She has since published widely and in 2019 was included in A New Resonance 12. http://maryjobalistreripoet.com/

Johnny Baranski

Born 1948 in Chicago Illinois, USA
Died 2018 in Vancouver, Washington, USA

A memorial tribute to Johnny Baranski is archived on the Haiku Northwest website

You may listen to the poet reading these poems here

Collin Barber

Born 1974 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Living in Marion, Arkansas, USA
http://collinbarber.com
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Christopher Bays

Born 1961 in Otterbach, Germany
Resides in Beavercreek, Ohio

Professor of English at Clark State College in Ohio. In 2021 Red Moon Press published edge of suburbia, Chris’ first book of haibun, haiku and monoku.
Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: http://chrisbayspoetry.com/

Roberta Beary

Born in New York City, New York, USA
Living in County Mayo, Ireland
https://www.facebook.com/robertabeary/
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Brad Bennett

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Living in Arlington, Massachusetts, USA
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Jan Benson

Jan Benson is a Pushcart Prize nominated haiku poet living in Texas. Benson's haiku are published in many of the world's leading haiku journals and magazines. Jan is a member of The World Haiku
Association, and Poetry Society of Texas. Jan's profile can be found on The Haiku Foundation "Poet Registry" and online at The Living Senryu Anthology.

Tom Bierovic

born 1949, USA
currently residing in DeLand, Florida

Tom Bierovic (M.Ed., M.Div.) writes poetry, plays Native American flutes and Irish whistles, and drums on bongos and djembe in DeLand, Florida.
You can 'Friend' Tom on Facebook. Blink of a Duck's Eye, a collection of Tom's haiku, senryu, and tanka, is available at Amazon.com.

Robyn Hood Black

Robyn Hood Black makes poems and art in the balmy South Carolina Lowcountry of the US. Her haiku appear in several journals and anthologies. A children’s book author, her published works include fiction, nonfiction, and many poems in anthologies and magazines.

Born 1963 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Living in Beaufort, South Carolina, USA
http://robynhoodblack.com & http://artsyletters.com

David Boyer

Born 1974 in Pennsylvania, USA
Living in Stamford, CT., USA
I had written poetry (badly, lazily) for most of my life. It was in finding haiku, and the brilliant and supportive community of modern haiku poets, that my work started to come into focus.

Mark E. Brager

Born in Detroit, Michigan, USA
Living in Columbia, Maryland, USA

Randy Brooks

Born 1954 in Hutchinson, Kansas, USA
Living in Taylorville, Illinois, USA
http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Dr. Randy M. Brooks is a Dean and Professor of English at Millikin University. He teaches courses on the global haiku traditions at Millikin with student work available on the MU Haiku web site: http://performance.millikin.edu/haiku. He and his wife, Shirley Brooks, are co-editors and publishers of Brooks Books, and co-editors of Mayfly magazine. He serves as web editor of Modern Haiku and Frogpond journals. A collection of his haiku, School’s Out, was published by Press Here.

James G. Brueggemann

Born: Austin, Texas USA (1942)
Current: Mount Pleasant, South Carolina USA
Born into a Wisconsin pastor’s family, he became a physician, practicing in Duluth, Minnesota for 26 years. His haiku, personal essays and poetry have been published in literary and medical journals since 1979. After the Night Rain, a haiku collection, was published in 2014. He blogs weekly since 2018.
Blog: http://www.jamesbrueggemann.com

Alanna C. Burke

Born in 1952
Residing in Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A.
Alanna C. Burke lives north of Santa Fe, New Mexico in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, where she divides her time between writing poetry and working as business manager for her husband, the artist William Berra. Her poetry has been published in print and online periodicals including Modern Haiku, The Heron’s Nest, Frogpond, NOON : journal of the short poem, bottle rockets, Kingfisher, Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, Wild Plum, Creatrix Haiku Journal, Shamrock, and Prune Juice.

Sondra J. Byrnes

Living in Sante Fe, New Mexico, USA

Her poetry has been published in Frogpond, A Hundred Gourds, Ribbons, Modern Haiku, The Heron’s Nest, Moongarlic, among others. Byrnes, together with Charles Trumbull, started the Santa Fe Haiku Study Group in February 2015.  She was elected Secretary of the Haiku Society of America in 2015 and serves on the Planning Committee for Haiku North America 2017 in Santa Fe.  Byrnes is a retired law and business professor from the University of Notre Dame; she lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Along with short form poetry, Byrnes is interested in ikebana and chanoyu.  

Joan Canby

Joan Canby lives in Texas, U.S.A.

Patricia Carragon

A native New Yorker, Patricia Carragon’s latest books are "The Cupcake Chronicles" (Poets Wear Prada, 2017) and "Innocence "(Finishing Line Press). She hosts the Brooklyn-based Brownstone Poets and is the editor-in-chief of its annual anthology. She is one of the executive editors for Home Planet News Online.

Erin Castaldi

Born 1978
New Jersey, United States

Erin is a writer who became devoted to the pursuit of haiku theory and poetry during her travels around the U.S. She lives in southern New Jersey with her husband and two basset hounds. They operate a small business and are restoring a nineteenth century farm house.

Margaret Chula

Born 1947 in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA
Living in Portland, Oregon USA
Contact the poet at: http://www.margaretchula.com

Tom Clausen

Born 1951 in Ithaca, New York, USA
Living in Ithaca, New York, USA
http://home.earthlink.net/~tclausen

Stephen Colgan

Born 1954 USA
Living in Oakland California

Stephen Colgan is a psychotherapist, writer, and photographer. He believes in kindness.

Carlos Colón

(23 April 1953 – 30 October 2016)

fading moon
the gates to Graceland
click closed

                                                   Haiku Elvis, aka Carlos Colón (7/27/2016 - Shreveport Memorial Library)

Carlos Wildo Colón, aka Haiku Elvis, was born on 23 April 1953 in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA. He earned his BA in English at Louisiana State University Shreveport and later received a Master's in Library Science from Louisiana State University – Baton Rouge. He worked at Memphis Public Library for a short time, and then returned to Shreveport to work at Shreve Memorial Library until his retirement in 2011.

Carlos Colón began writing poetry and song parodies in grade school. Upon graduation from college, he began submitting to magazines and newspapers and was first published in South by Southeast, 2:2 (1995). He has since published over 1400 poems, 8 articles, 126 reviews, and 10 songs in a variety of journals and anthologies including Modern Haiku, Frogpond, Journal of Poetry Therapy, The Heron's Nest , Writer's Digest, Louisiana Literature, Haiku in English, Higginson's Haiku World, The Southern Poetry Anthology, The Red Moon Anthology,etc. Eight of his poems have been published in The Red Moon Anthology, which yearly collects the best English-Language haiku and related works. Carlos Colón is the author of 12 chapbooks including collections of haiku and concrete poetry as well as his book “Haiku Elvis: A Life in 17 Syllables (or Less)”. His poetry is also part of two public art projects: the "Let the Good Times Roll" mural in Festival Plaza - Shreveport, Louisiana, and a renku display outside of a temple on Sado Island in Japan. In addition, Carlos was editor of Shreve Memorial Library's Electronic Poetry Network, which he established in 1997, a 1994 Pushcart Prize nominee and was also named Caddo Parish Poet Laureate in 2014.

As a dedicated practicing haiku and renku poet and a long-time member of the Haiku Society of America, Carlos Colón was a mentor to numerous poets and writers across the world. Locally, he served as a board member of the Shreveport Regional Arts Council (SRAC) where he fostered a deep appreciation for the arts in Shreveport. An exceptional collaborator, Carlos worked with fellow poets Alexis Rotella, Marlene Mountain, Raffael de Gruttola, and others writing concrete poetry and various renga forms. Many of his remarkable poems originally appeared in these innovative collaborative works.

In addition to writing haiku, Carlos was an accomplished bridge player and a man of strong faith. As a life-long member of St. Joseph Catholic Church, he was an active prayer warrior, assisted with the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) program, and was a sacristan and Eucharistic Minister for daily mass.

Carlos Colón, age 63, passed away on Sunday, 30 October 2016 from a heart attack. He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Alma; daughter, Gina and his grandson, Anthony; sisters, Gloria , Linda, Sylvia; brother, Richard.

Some awards and other honours:

• Nominated for Pushcart Prize XX (1994);
• Honourable Mention, Haiku Society of America Merit Book Awards for editing Voices and Echoes: Haiku Society of America Members' Anthology, 2001 (2002);
• Recipient, Shreveport Regional Arts Council Literature Fellowship (2002);
• Finalist for Sixteenth Annual Louisiana Literature Prize for Poetry (2002);
• Honourable Mention, Kanterman Merit Book Awards for editing haiku anthology (Haiku Society of America, 2002);
• The Heron's Nest Award (June 2003);
• Second Place, Gerald Brady Memorial Award for Unpublished Senryu (2003);
• First Place, San Francisco International Senryu Contest (2004);
• Recipient, Shreveport Regional Arts Council Theatre Fellowship (2011);
• His book Haiku Elvis - A Life in 17 Syllables (or Less) was shortlisted for the Touchstone Distinguished Book Award (2013);
• Named Caddo Parish Poet Laureate by Caddo Parish Commission, (2014).

Selected haiku:

six k places iat tonce tthis e new n

(a part of "One Eight Hundred" (linked haiku by Marlene Mountain and Carlos Colón) in "Mirrors", Winter 1995)

*

zen concert
an air guitar
slightly out of tune

(RAW NerVZ HAIKU III:1 (1996) as part of "Mardi Gras Parade," a renga written with Alexis K. Rotella)

*

in the wrong
place again
my accent

Cärlōs Cólòñ

(From a Kind Neighbor: Haiku Society of America Members' Anthology 1997)

*

my daughter’s eyes
when I refuse
the beggar

(Frogpond XXII.1, 1999)

*

ready to carve
a smile on it
this orange moon

(The Heron's Nest II.1, 2002)

*

in the middle
of making love
counting syllables

(2nd Place, 2003 Gerald Brady Memorial Awards)

*

old-timer
his strike zone
shrinking

(Modern Haiku XXXV.3, 2004)

*

===fast===forwarding===i===fall===asleep===

(Simply Haiku, Summer 2009, vol 7 no 2)

*

Kentucky rain
Kentucky fried chicken
love me tenders

how did it get here
this strand of red hair
on my blue suede shoe

(Haiku Chronicles Episode 21: Halloween Extravaganza, 2011)

*

smoothing it
with gloved hands
the ransom note

(Modern Haiku, Volume 44.1, Winter-Spring 2013)

Published chapbooks and books:

• THE WORST OF almira gulch[satirical poetry] (self-published,1984);
• Almira Gulch: Confessions of a Social Wallflower [musical] (self-published,1987);
• The Kleppie Handbook (unpublished manuscript, 1982);
• Blue Jay on a Bowling Pin(self-published, 1991);
• Jiminy Limericks(self-published, 1991 and 1994 [illustrated version]);
• Mountain Climbing [(haiku and concrete poetry] (self-published, 1993);
• Nothing Inside [linked poem with Alexis K. Rotella] (proof press, 1996);
• Clocking Out(self-published, 1996);
• Sassy [a collection of linked poetry with Alexis K. Rotella] (self-published, 1998);
• Circling Bats: A Concrete Renga [with Raffael de Gruttola] (self-published, 2001);
• You Don't Need a Weatherman (unpublished poetry manuscript, 2001);
• Wall Street Park: A Concrete Renku[with Raffael de Gruttola] (self-published, 2007);
• Autumn Leaves: A Twelve-Tone Concrete Renku [with Raffael de Gruttola] (self-published, 2010);
• The Inside Scoop: New and Selected Poems [poetry] (Naissance, 2010);
• Haiku Elvis - A Life in 17 Syllables (or Less) (Laughing Cactus Press, 2013).

Editor:

• The Best of the Electronic Poetry Network (Shreveport Regional Arts Council Literary Panel, 2000);
• Voices and Echoes: Haiku Society of America Members' Anthology, 2001(Haiku Society of America, 2001);
• Between Quiet and Confrontation (Lost Words Publishing, 2003).

Sources:

Additional information for this profile has been kindly provided by Charles Trumbull including Carlos’ obituary published in Shreveport Times from Nov. 3 to Nov. 4, 2016.

• https://breathhaiku.wordpress.com/2016/11/08/carlos-colon-in-his-own-words/
• http://www.worldhaiku.net/poetry/eng/us/c.colon_files/c.colon.htm
• http://simplyhaiku.com/SHv7n2/senryu/senryuFeature.html
• https://haikuproject.wordpress.com/tag/carlos-colon/
• https://livinghaikuanthology.com/index-of-poets/alphabetic-index/64-c-poets/carlos-colon.html
• https://www.shreveporttimes.com/picture-gallery/news/2016/10/31/remembering-carlos-coln-the-haiku-elvis/93071016/
• https://www.thehaikufoundation.org/poet-details/?IDclient=193
• https://poetrysociety.org.nz/affiliates/haiku-nz/haiku-poems-articles/my-favourite-haiku/favourite-haiku-by-carlos-colon/
• http://www.hsa-haiku.org/regions/South.htm
• https://senryu.life/poets-index/54-index-c/col%C3%B3n,-carlos.html

Carlos Colón

Born 1953 in Shreveport Louisiana, USA
Living in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA

Temple Cone

Website: www.templecone.com

Temple Cone is Professor of English at the U.S. Naval Academy and served as the inaugural Poet Laureate for the city of Annapolis.
He is the author of four books of poetry: Guzzle, That Singing, The Broken Meadow, and No Loneliness.

Tim Cremin

Born: 1957 (USA)
Currently lives in Andover, Massachusetts

Tim Cremin is the author of the poetry chapbook The Way You Run in Dreams, published by Finishing Line Press. His work has appeared in several literary journals, including Frogpond, Mayfly, Modern Haiku, Soundings East, and Westview.
Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Tim-Cremin/e/B079Y31FDL?ref_=pe_1724030_132998060

Ralph Culver

Year of birth: 1952
Country of birth: United States
Currently residing: Vermont and central Pennsylvania, United States

Ralph Culver's love of haiku and Eastern poetic forms goes back to his childhood. His work has appeared in many print and online journals. A Passable Man (2021) is his latest poetry collection.

Cherie Hunter Day

Born in Morristown, NJ, USA
Living in Cupertino, CA, USA

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Warren Decker

Born in the United States in 1977
Living in Japan

website https://disorienteering.wordpress.com/

Warren Decker is a writer and teacher based in Osaka. In addition to writing haiku and senryu he performs rhythmical poems as Enjambmental.

Charlotte Digregorio

Charlotte Digregorio authored seven books that are book club selections and adoptions as supplemental university texts. She was honored by Illinois’ Governor for her lifelong literary achievements. Her book, “Ripples of Air: Poems of Healing,” encourages writing as a healing exercise with essays/prose passages. It provides resources for publishing/promoting one’s poetry. Her classic is Haiku and Senryu: A Simple Guide for All. Her haiku collection is Shadows of Seasons. Writing 14 poetic forms, she’s won 56 awards, and was nominated for a Pushcart. She translates poetry from Romance Languages into English. Libraries, hospitals, corporate centers, galleries, and park districts feature her haiga show. She organizes national writers’ conferences; speaks at writers’ organizations/ libraries/chain bookstores; is a university writer-in-residence; teaches haiku in public schools; and judges national writers’ contests. Digregorio hosted a poetry program on public broadcasting, was a Haiku Society of America executive officer, and writes a poetry column for “Winnetka Living” magazine. She blogs about general writing, posting The Daily Haiku from global poets (www.charlottedigregorio.wordpress.com).

Hear the poet read a selection of her haiku.

Janice Doppler

Born 1948 in USA
Living in Massachusetts, USA

Janice is a retired public school teacher and administrator. Stardust, her debut collection of haiku and haibun, was published by Phacops Publishing in 2021. 
https://poets.drifting-sands-haibun.org/first-name-starts-with-j/janice-doppler/

Lynn Edge

Born 1943 in Texas, USA
Lives in Tivoli, Texas, USA

Anna Eklund-Cheong

b. 1959, USA
currently residing in Croissy-sur-Seine, France
Living an expatriate life in France has been rewarding; but now that the nest is empty, I have more time to devote to a creative activity I loved long ago—composing haiku. I embrace the challenges of writing modern, English-Language Haiku (ELH). I also travel, blog, lead tours, and volunteer.
Website/Blog: https://parishaiku.com

Robert Epstein

Born 1954 in New York City, New York, USA
Living in El Cerrito, California, USA

David Kāwika Eyre

Born in 1946 in the USA and currently lives in Volcano, Hawai‘i.

He has has taught Hawaiian language at Kamehameha Schools for 30 years. His books have won numerous Ka Palapala Po‘okela honors, including the Award of Excellence for By Wind, By Wave, as best natural science book of 2000. Kamehameha–The Rise of a King received the Palapala Po‘okela Award in Hawaiian culture, a Moonbeam Children’s Book Award, a Read Aloud America award, and a Nënë Award. Eyre’s haiku collection, not a one, was published by Red Moon Press in 2018.

Michael Flanagan

Born 1947 in the USA
Currently live in Minnesota, USA
I live in Minnesota with Lady, my lovable mutt.  I fly fish and write short poems to fill out my life.

Sylvia Forges-Ryan

Born 1937 in New York City, New York, USA
Living in North Haven, Connecticut, USA

Mike Freiling

Born: 1950, San Francisco, CA
Living in: Kyoto, Japan and Vancouver, WA

Website: www.shimenawa.org
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Bio: Mike was a co-founder of MIT’s literary magazine Rune (1976), and a Henry Luce Scholar at Kyoto University (1977). In addition to haiku, Mike translates both classical and contemporary Japanese poetry, and writes on topics including contemporary life, culture, economics, and the search for Transcendence.

Terri L. French

Chase Gagnon

Born 1995 in Detroit, Michigan, USA
Living in Madison Heights, Michigan, USA
http://poetryofchasegagnon.webs.com

Jack Galmitz

Denis M. Garrison

Born 1946 in Hampton, Iowa, USA
Living in Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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Victor P. Gendrano

Born in the Philippines
Living in Lakewood, California, USA
http://haikuharvest.blogspot.com

Pat Geyer

Born 1951 in Newark, NJ, USA.
Living in East Brunswick, NJ, USA

Richard Gilbert

Born 1954 in Connecticut, USA
Living in Kumamoto, Japan
http://gendaihaiku.com
http://sailing-across-oceans.org
Hear the poet reading a selection of his haiku
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Merrill Ann Gonzales

Born in Queens, New York, USA
Living in Dayville, Connecticut, USA
http://snowbirdpress.wordpress.com

Chris Gordon

Born 1966 in Toronto, Canada
Living in Eugene, Oregon, USA
http://antantantantant.wordpress.com
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Anita Curran Guenin

Born 1937 in USA.
New England native and presently California resident.
Student of haiku since 2010. 

Lee Gurga

Born 1949 in Chicago Illinois, USA
Living in Lincoln, Illinois, USA
Lee Gurga is a past president of the Haiku Society of America and former editor of the journal Modern Haiku. He is currently editor of Modern Haiku Press. He works as a general dentist in the farming community of Lincoln, Illinois.
His awards include three first prizes in international haiku contests, an Illinois Arts Council Poetry Fellowship, the Japan-America Society of Chicago's Cultural Achievement Award, and, in his professional work as a dentist, an American Red Cross Healthcare Heroes Award.

Jennifer Hambrick

Born in Columbus, Ohio, USA
Living in Columbus, Ohio, USA

A classical musician and public radio broadcaster, her poetry has been honored with a Pushcart Prize nomination, and her debut chapbook, Unscathed (NightBallet Press), was nominated for the Ohioana Book Award.  Her work has been published in Modern Haiku, World Haiku Review, Hedgerow, Third Wednesday, and elsewhere.
Her blog, Inner Voices, is at www.jennifermhambrick.com.

Steve Hodge

Born 1953 in the United States
Living in White Lake, Michigan, U.S.

Steve Hodge is the editor of Prune Juice, a Journal of Senryu, Kyoka, Haibun and Haiga. An award winning and anthologized poet, Steve’s work has appeared in many haiku publications, including Modern Haiku, Frogpond, The Heron’s Nest and others. 

Born 1969 in Vratsa, Bulgaria
Living in Marietta, Georgia, USA

Roberta Beach Jacobson

Roberta Beach Jacobson is drawn to the magic of words – poetry, puzzles, song lyrics, stand-up comic humor. As a student of tanshi (short poems), she strives to include humor whenever possible. Besides poetry, she writes greeting cards and flash fiction … anything to avoid a day job.

Born 1952 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
Residing in Indianola, Iowa, USA

Alexander (Lex) B. Joy

Born 1989, USA
Resides in New England
Alexander B. Joy holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Some of his writings are published under the name "Lex Joy."

Jim Kacian

Born 1953 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
Living in Winchester, Virginia, USA
http://www.redmoonpress.com
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Hear the poet read a selection of his haiku

Leroy Kanterman

(1923-2015)

Leroy Kanterman, the cofounder and President of the Haiku Society of America, was born on 2 October 1923 and for many years lived in Forest Hills, Queens, N.Y. During the World War II he served in the U.S. Army.

The Haiku Society of America, created in the winter of 1968–69, was the first formally structured organization devoted solely to Western haiku, and it remained the only one for a number of years. On the evening of 23 October 1968, twenty-three men and women met at Asia House in New York City. Harold E. Henderson, with help from Leroy Kanterman and encouragement from the Japan Society of New York, was responsible for the meeting. Kanterman was chosen to head the group that was known at first simply as the Haiku Society. Regular monthly meetings were scheduled, and these were usually held in rooms of the Asia Society or at the offices of the Japan Society. Simple bylaws were drawn up and adopted at the April 1969 meeting and with this the group became the Haiku Society of America. Leroy Kanterman served as its President in 1968–69, and 1972. Over the years the society has grown to embrace over 800 members from all parts of the United States and the world. Meetings, readings, workshops, awards programs, and various publications have provided members with stimulation and opportunities to learn about haiku and related art forms and to share their work with a wide variety of people who have an interest in haiku. The Haiku Society of America has played and continues to play a vital role in the English-language haiku movement.

The Society's journal, Frogpond, has been published since 1978 and appearing three times per year, it contains haiku and related forms of poetry, articles, reviews, contest results, announcements of the Society, and haiku-related news.

Leroy Kanterman was also the Editor of one of the earliest English-language haiku magazines Haiku West. The magazine was edited and published by Leroy Kanterman in New York City, and appeared twice a year from June 1967 until January 1975. More traditionally oriented, the magazine published many quality haiku and senryu. After the formation of the Haiku Society of America in the winter of 1968–69, Haiku West served as its voice.

The establishment of the American Haiku Archive at the California State Library in Sacramento provided for the first time a focal point and central repository for the American haiku movement. The inauguration of the archive was celebrated in ceremonies on 12 July 1996. It was dedicated to the collection, preservation, and promotion of all haiku and related poetry as a vital component of literature in the English language. A prominent American haiku poet has been selected each year as honorary curator. In recognition of Kanterman’s many decades of haiku writing and his cofounding of the Haiku Society of America, he was appointed as the 2002-2003 honorary curator of the American Haiku Archives.

In 2005 in memory of his late wife, Mildred, Leroy Kanterman made a generous donation to the Haiku Society of America and the HSA Merit Book Award for best first book of haiku was awarded. Sadly Leroy Kanterman died in early October 2015 and in his honour the HSA Executive Committee has decided to rename this award for the first place book, "The Leroy and Mildred Kanterman Memorial Award." [HSA Newsletter, Nov. 5, 2015]

Books & Magazines by Leroy Kanterman:

• Magazine Editor. Haiku west. Forest Hill, N.Y. : L. Kanterman, 1967-75.
• The ram's horn: a collection of haiku-senryu. Kanterman, 1967.

Selected works:

That lazy windmill
Snoozing in the summer sun
Beckoning the breeze.

(Haiku Highlights 2:8, August 1966, 9)

Breaking the whiteness
Playful sparrows darting thru
This morning snowfall.

(Haiku Highlights 2:11, November 1966, 5)

Beyond the breakers,
   mist rides on morning wind
      and fishermen stare…

(American Haiku 5:1, 1967, #70; Ram’s Horn, L.Kanterman, 1967, 21)

Proclaiming autumn –
   lake-side birches and maples
      spreading their banners.

(Ram’s Horn, L.Kanterman, 1967, 9)

On the water front –
   pile upon pile of slag heap
      and the smell of fish.

(American Haiku 5:2, 1967, #48)

The field now bare
   and on the Scarecrow’s arm
      a crow has perched.

(Haiku West 2:2, January 1969, cover)

Across the old stump,
   a spate of scattered leaves
      overlaps its shape.

(Ram’s Horn, L.Kanterman, 24; Modern Haiku 1:1, winter 1969)

Softly on a leaf
   expanding and contracting
      silent butterfly

(Haiku Highlights 1966; Met on the Road, Higginson, 1993, 9)

Visiting the graves
seeing the place
reserved for me

(Frogpond 21:1, 1998, 44)

just turned 90
     the nights
          seem darker

(Frogpond; Fall 2013, Vol. 36 Issue 3, p.5)

Sunset . . .
the scarecrow stretches
across the field

(Frogpond 13:3, August 1990, 25; How to Haiku: A Writer's Guide to Haiku and Related Forms by Bruce Ross, Tuttle Publishing (2014), p.16)

winter evening
   only my thoughts
      give warmth

(Frogpond; Spring/Summer 2014, Vol. 37 Issue 2, p.5)

Sources:

http://www.americanhaikuarchives.org/curators/LeroyKanterman.html
http://www.hsa-haiku.org/about-hsa.htm
http://www.thehaikufoundation.org/2010/10/16/essence-4/
http://www.modernhaiku.org/essays/AmHaikuMovement1.html

Our warm thanks go to Charles Trumbull who for several years he has been compiling the Haiku Database, and allowed us to use it for our haiku researches!

Leroy Kanterman

RIP

1923-2015

Tribute Page

William Keckler

Born 1966, Steelton, USA.

William Keckler is a poet, translator, fiction writer and visual artist. His books include Sanskrit of the Body, which was selected by Mary Oliver for the National Poetry Series. His favorite haiku poet is everybody.

Nicholas Klacsanzky

Born in Seattle, USA
Livingin Seattle, USA

Nicholas Klacsanzky is the editor of Haiku Commentary, an online journal for the analysis of haiku and related forms. He was the haiku/senryu editor of Frogpond journal in 2023 and now also in 2024. Nicholas started to write haiku with the inspiration of his father, George Klacsanzky, who was the editor of the journal Haiku Zasshi Zo. 

Contact the poet

Tricia Knoll

Born in Chicago Illinois, USA
Living in Portland, Oregon, USA
http://triciaknoll.com
Contact the poet

S.M. Kozubek

Born 1947 in Evanston Illinois, USA
Living in Sarasota, Florida, USA

After retiring from practicing law, S. M. Kozubek devotes more time to writing haiku and other poetry, plays, flash fiction and other works. He also leads writing workshops. His poems have appeared in ICON, Journal of Modern Poetry, Frogpond, Mayfly, is/let, A Hundred Gourds, Modern Haiku, bottle rockets, Skylark, Prune Juice, Red Moon Anthology, failed haiku, hedgerow, Sonic Boom and other publications.
https://mkozubek1.wordpress.com

Jim Krotzman

Born in USA 1949 
Living in Wisconsin USA

Jim Krotzman taught secondary reading and English for 36 years in Wisconsin and Colorado. He started writing haiku and senryu in the 1990s when he wrote along with his students as part of writer’s workshop. He uses irony, contrast, humor, puns and other wordplay in his haiku.

Elizabeth Searle Lamb

(22 January 1917 – 16 February 2005)

ON READING HAIKU 

Whatever it takes
to write

haiku
it takes almost
as much of
to read

hearing sound
on the page
and seeing shape
in the ear
but then     mostly

just the courage
to let old Basho’s frog

Jump

(Haiku West 7:2, January 1974)

Elizabeth Searle Lamb was rightfully named the "First Lady of American Haiku" by the prominent poet Father Raymond Roseliep. In 1968 she was among the first people to join the Haiku Society of America and served as an editor to its journal Frogpondfor many years.  

Elizabeth Lamb was born in Topeka, Kansas on 22 January 1917. She came from a musical family and studied and played harp during her high school years. She graduated from college with a B.A. in literature in 1938 and a Bachelor’s of Music in 1939. When Elizabeth graduated from the University of Kansas she was the first to be awarded a degree in harp from the Music School.

In college Elizabeth Searle played music with a fellow student, a flautist named Bruce Lamb. Soon they began dating and fell in love. They got married in December 1941, and she moved with him to Trinidad, West Indies for two years. Bruce Lamb’s work as a tropical forester meant that the family lived in South and Central America for many years, and Elizabeth could not pursue her musical career. Therefore, she began to write and publish children’s stories, short stories, and spiritual poetry.

In 1961, Lamb and her husband moved to New York. This is where she was first introduced to the art of haiku. She began to study, read, and write about this form of poetry and in 1968 she became a member of the Haiku Society of America (HSA). In 1971, only ten years after she learned of haiku, she became the President of the HSA. Since this time, she has had her work published in many haiku magazines and newspapers. Her work was translated into Japanese, Chinese, Polish, French, Spanish, etc. She has participated in many festivals and held various offices incl. Elizabeth was involved in the establishment of the American Haiku Archives (AHA). She donated her library and papers that became the core of the archives, and was the first Honorary Curator of the AHA (1996–1998).

Elizabeth Searle Lamb passed away 16 February 2005 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Some Awards:

Elizabeth Lamb has won more than 150 awards in the haiku field among them:

• Harold Henderson Awards (1978, 1981)
• Haiku Society of America Biennial Book Awards (1979, 1983, 1985/86)
• Mainichi Daily News best of issue (1988)

Published books:

• In this blaze of sun (From Here Press, 1975);
• Picasso’s "Bust of Sylvette": haiku and photographs (Garlinghouse Printers, 1977);
• 39 blossoms (High/Coo Press, 1982);
• Casting into a cloud: southwest haiku (From Here Press, 1985);
• Lines for my mother, dying (Wind Chimes Press, 1988);
• 美国俳句100首 / 美国俳句100首  The Light of Elizabeth Lamb: 100 American Haiku, Translated into Chinese by Haiping Gong, 1993;
• Ripples spreading out: poems for Bruce and others (Tiny Press Poems, 1997);
• Platek irysa (Miniatura, 1998);
• Across the windharp: collected & new haiku (La Alameda Press, 1999).

Selected work:

Picasso’s ‘Bust of Sylvette’
not knowing it is a new year
smiles in the same old way

(Picasso’s Bust of Sylvette, E. Lamb, 1977)

*

cry of the peacock      the crack in the adobe wall

(Harold G. Henderson Awards 1981, 2nd; Frogpond 4:3, 1981)

*

the apricot
in full bloom — O’Keeffe’s
black sculpture

(https://www.thehaikufoundation.org/omeka/files/original/2d114d32f6ae56ba1450fd0faa189b8a.pdf)

*

beneath the portal
a summer tourist buys turquoise
to match the sky

(Nexus 24:2, winter 1989)

*

Six Haiku for The Acequia:

before firstlight
the wild plum blossoms
whiten the dry ditch

from the dead tree
a santero carves St. Francis
there on the ditch bank

Ditch-Cleaning Day
the mayordomo’s pickup
has a flat

half silted under
the dead puppy
after spring run-off

a white horse
drinks from the acequia
blossoming locust

ancient cottonwoods
drop their leaves in the acequia
September’s brittle wind

(Archive of New Mexico Poetry website))

*

the blind sculptor
his own features
on all the bronzes

shiverrrring
on the winter balcony
first star

wind in the sagebrush—
the same dusty color
the smell of it

his voice
reading his poems
still

(Lamb, Across the Windharp, 1999)

*

flight of the cranes
surely just dream but
this white feather

(55th Annual Basho Festival, 2001)

*

pausing
halfway up the stair-
white chrysanthemums

(Haiku Mind: 108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart, ed. by Patricia Donegan, 2014)

Most information for this profile has been kindly provided by Charles Trumbull. Charlie, we are very grateful for all your help and dedication!

Sources:

• http://www.americanhaikuarchives.org/curators/ElizabethSearleLamb.html
• http://performance.millikin.edu/haiku/writerprofiles/lamb.html
• https://terebess.hu/english/usa/lamb.html
• https://bashosroad.outlawpoetry.com/elizabeth-searle-lamb-the-wasp/elizabeth-searle-lamb/haiku/
• http://www.lorenwebster.net/In_a_Dark_Time/2011/07/19/patricia-donegans-haiku-mind/
• https://bearcreekhaiku.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/elizabeth-searle-lamb-and-mariam-sagan.html

Some essays on Elizabeth Lamb:

• http://www.hsa-haiku.org/frogpond/2011-issue34-2/essay.html
• http://performance.millikin.edu/haiku/writerprofiles/KussartOnLamb.html
• Charles Trumbull, “Elizabeth Searle Lamb—New Mexico Haiku Poet,” Malpaís Review (Gary L. Brower, ed., Placitas, N.M.), winter 2012–13, 118–33; archived at http://www.thehaikufoundation.org/omeka/items/show/1154

David G. Lanoue

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Living in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
http://haikuguy.com

Douglas J. Lanzo

I am award-winning and featured American poet and published novelist with over 270 poems published in 47 journals and 5 anthologies spanning 5 continents since 2019. I also have a debut novel that has been endorsed by a New York Times bestselling author and is being nominated for the John Newbery Medal. My diverse poems have spanned many genre, from haiku, senryu and tanka to sonnets, free verse and hybrid poems and include many eco-conscious and socially conscious poems.

My poems have exploded since 2020, having been published in 46 literary journals and 5 anthologies during that period spanning the U.S., Austria, England, Wales, Canada, Australia, India, Japan, Mauritius and The Caribbean. These poems have been published in Academy of the Heart and Mind, Akitsu Quarterly, Ancient Paths Online, Ariel Chart, Asahi Haikuist Network’s haiku column published in The Asahi Shimbun, Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, The Bamboo Hut, Bear Creek Haiku, Better Than Starbucks, Cafe Haiku’s sharing my solitude anthology, The Caribbean Writer, cattails, Chrysanthemum, Cold Moon Journal, Current Accounts, Down in the Dirt Magazine, The Drabble, Failed Haiku, 50 Haikus, Frogpond, Front Porch Review, Grand Little Things (including as featured poet), Haiku Journal, The Haiku Way to Healing Poetry Anthology, Haikuniverse, Last Leaves, Literary Yard, Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine, The Pangolin Review, Pennsylvania Literary Journal, The Penwood Review, Plum Tree Tavern, Poetry Pea, Presence Haiku Journal, Red Eft Review, Riverbed Review, Scarlet Leaf Review, The Society of Classical Poets Journal (including as runner-up in its Best of 2020 Haiku Competition), The Starlight SciFaiku Review, Studio, Take 5ive Journal, Three Line Poetry, Time of Singing, tsuri-dōrō, Vita Brevis’ 2021 Poetry Anthology Brought to Sight & Swept Away, Vita Brevis’ Nothing Divine Dies: The Poetry of Nature Poetry Anthology, Vita Brevis’ 2022 Volume IV Poetry Anthology What is all this Sweet Work, Vita Brevis Press Poetry Magazine, Wales Haiku Journal, WestWard Quarterly (including as featured poet), Wild Violet (including as featured poet) and The Zen Space (including in its 2020 Summer Showcase).

Although I have never relinquished the lawyer’s quill and serve as the General Counsel of a small business in McLean, Virginia, my passion is composing engaging, eco and socially conscious poetry that connects with readers worldwide.

Michael Henry Lee

Born 1951 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Living in Saint Augustine, Florida, USA

Kat Lehmann

Born: 1969 in Reading, PA
Currently: Guilford, CT

Kat is a founding co-editor of whiptail: journal of the single-line poem. A former research biochemist, she likes to contemplate the grandiose within the details.

Website: https://katlehmann.weebly.com/
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Priscilla Lignori

Born 1953 in Brooklyn, New York USA
Living in Montgomery, New York USA

Kristen Lindquist

b. 1967, United States
Camden, Maine
www.kristenlindquist.com

Kristen Lindquist is a writer and naturalist living on the coast of Maine.

Eric A. Lohman

Eric A. Lohman lives in Powder Springs, GA. He is a psychiatric social worker, composer, avid cyclist and poet. He works in the emergency department of a large urban medical center, evaluating and assisting the homeless, the chemically dependent and the chronically mentally ill. Much of his poetry reflects his response to and efforts to cope with that reality. He also composes music for orchestra as well as smaller ensembles and solo performance, toward similar ends. He has been active in performing and written arts for 35 years and holds a bachelor’s degree in musical theory and composition from Jacksonville University, Jacksonville, FL.

Gregory Longenecker

Born1947 in Hollywood, California, USA
Living in Pasadena, California USA
Contact the poet

Bob Lucky

born:15 August, 1956, USA
current residence: Portugal

Bob Lucky is the author of Ethiopian Time (Red Bird Chapbooks, 2014), Conversation Starters in a Language No One Speaks(SurVision Books, 2018), My Thology: Not Always True But Always Truth (Cyberwit, 2019), and the e-chapbook What I Say to You (proletaria.org, 2020).

Peggy Willis Lyles

(17 September 1939 – 3 September 2010)

John Stevenson, editor of The Heron's Nest,wrote: “Peggy Willis Lyles was a giant presence in the world of English-language haiku during the last quarter of the twentieth century and the first decade of this century. Those who came to know and admire Peggy's published work were enriched by the encounter.” And indeed Peggy was one of the most authentic poets writing English-language haiku, and she was deeply respected by all who knew her. According to Randy M. Brooks, editor of her book To Hear the Rain, in Peggy’s haiku “time seems to stand still in a scene that will be as true tomorrow as it was a hundred years ago.”

Peggy Willis Lyles was born in Summerville, South Carolina, on September 17, 1939. Peggy earned her B.A. from Columbia (S.C.) College and an M.A. in English from Tulane University; where she was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow for 1960-61. Peggy taught briefly at Sophie Newcomb College, High Point (N.C.) High School, High Point College, and the University of Georgia. She was Poetry Editor of a regional magazine Georgia Journal from 1980-85. Peggy contributed regularly to leading haiku journals and magazines for more than 30 years. She was a long-time member of the Haiku Society of America and lived with her husband Bill in Tucker, Georgia where she died from complications of cancer on September 3, 2010.

Reading the first edition of Cor van den Heuvel’s The Haiku Anthologyconvinced her of the sparkle and value of English-language haiku. Since the late 1970’s her work was published regularly in leading journals in the United States and abroad. She has won the most prestigious of the haiku awards, and here haiku are included in many anthologies and haiku classics such as The Haiku Handbook, by William J. Higginson with Penny Harter and The Haiku Anthology, 2nd and 3rd editions, edited by Cor van den Heuvel. She judged competitions for the Haiku Society of America, the North Carolina Haiku Association, the Poetry Society of Georgia, the Tallahassee Writer’s Association, and other groups. Peggy was a member of The Red Moon Anthology staff and editor at The Heron's Nest. During her eight years as an editor with The Heron's Nest she managed to influence so many people, and her work will continue to touch so many souls in the future.

Peggy once wrote, "Sometimes we say too much. Words get in the way. . . . A good haiku offers just enough words, just the right words, to recreate the essence of a specific time and place and hold it permanently available."

Awards and some other Honours:

• A few of Peggy's awards include: The Museum of Haiku Literature Award (4 times); The Haiku Calendar Contest, winners and runners-up (1999-2009);
• First Place, The World Haiku Festival 2000 Poetry Competition; The Heron's Nest Readers' Choice Award (2000);
• The Heron's Nest Poet of the Year Award (2001);
• Honourable Mention, The Harold G. Henderson Memorial Contest (Haiku Society of America,1980, 1986);
• Commended, Mildred Kanterman Merit Book Award (Haiku Society of America, 2003);
• Grand Prize [with Paul MacNeil and Ferris Gilli, 2004 and 2008], Grand Prize [with Billie Wilson, Carolyn Hall, and Mark Brooks, 2002], Second Prize [with Paul MacNeil and Ferris Gilli, 2001], Honorable Mention [with Mark Brooks, Christopher Herold, Paul MacNeil, Billie Wilson, and Carol O'Dell, 2005]: The Bernard Lionel Einbond Renku Competition (Haiku Society of America);
• Mayfly Best-of-Issue Haiga Award;
• The Scorpion Prize;
• Sakura Award, The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival;
• First Place, The Robert Frost Poetry Festival Haiku Competition;
• Second and Third Place, The Kusamakura Award;
• Third Place, The Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Contest (2008).

Books Published:

• Red Leaves in the Air (Battle Ground, Indiana: High/Coo Press, 1979);
• Still at the Edge (Oneonta, NY: Swamp Press, 1980);
• Prisms (a Wind Chimes Haiku Sheet, 1986)
• Thirty-Six Tones (Normal, IL: Saki Press, 1999);
• To Hear the Rain: Selected Haiku of Peggy Lyles (Decatur, IL: Brooks Books, 2002).

Selected haiku:

summer night
we turn out all the lights
to hear the rain

 (Cicada [Canada] IV:4, 1980; H.F. Noyes' Favorite Haiku 2, 1999)

*

a mayfly
taps the screen--
warm beets slip their skins

 (Mayfly #1, 1986)

*

wind and rain
the hand I reach for
in the dark

 (Frogpond XVIII:3, 1995)

*

Gershwin's lullaby
magnolia petals ladle
fireflies

 (Mayfly #29, 2000, and Best-of-Issue Haiga for #30, 2001) 

*

Indian summer
a turtle on a turtle
on a rock

(Heron's Nest Award winner for Volume III, #10, December 2001)  

*        

shimmering pines
a taste of the mountain
from your cupped hands

 (Mayfly #31, 2001)

*

boarding call
the ripe banana flavor
of the small one's cheek

into the night
we talk of human cloning
          snowflakes

autumn sea
a little girl’s love
of small brown shells

bread rising
yellow crocuses
fill with snow

 (To Hear the Rain: Selected Haiku of Peggy Lyles, Clothbound, 2002)

*       

deep chords
from the practice room
a bee stirs apple mint

 (The Heron's Nest IV:2, 2002)

*

scattered stars
the space between us
tastes of pine

(Brocade of Leaves - Haiku North America Conference Anthology, 2003)                             

*

not quite goodbye--
an ocean beats
against the rocks

(Modern Haiku 40:3, 2009)

Sources: 

• http://www.thehaikufoundation.org/poet-details/?IDclient=77
• http://simplyhaiku.com/SHv7n2/haiku/Bios.html
• http://home.gci.net/~alaskahaiku/guestpoet.html
• http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/brooksbooks/selectedlyles.html
• http://www.theheronsnest.com/awards/awards_2015.html
• http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/peggy-willis-lyles-70-revered-haiku-poet/nQkCn/
• http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/let-us-celebrate-peggy-lyles/
• http://tobaccoroadpoet.blogspot.co.uk/2008/05/peggy-lyles-three-questions.html

More of her work:

http://terebess.hu/english/usa/lyles.html

https://poetrysociety.org.nz/affiliates/haiku-nz/haiku-poems-articles/archived-articles/haiku-western-poetry/

R.D. McManes

born 1953 - USA - currently resides in Topeka, Kansas.
R.D. McManes is the author of seven poetry books. He has had over 500 poems featured in numerous worldwide publications. Mr. McManes enjoys reading and writing haiku, senryu and free verse poems.

Lori A Minor

Born 1992 in West Virginia, USA
Current location: Norfolk, Virginia, USA

Lori A Minor is a feminist, mental health advocate, and body positive activist currently living in Norfolk, Virginia. She has received various awards and nominations, including shortlist for the 2017 Touchstone Award. Lori is the editor of #FemkuMag and Bleached Butterfly, as well as the author of two poetry chapbooks.
Website: https://loriaminor.wixsite.com/poet

Matthew Moffett

Born in 1987 in Wyandotte, Michigan, USA
Living in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, USA

Matthew Moffett currently teaches Introduction to Academic Writing and Freshman Composition at Mid Michigan Community College, but hopes to someday teach a course devoted solely to haiku and related forms. He hopes you enjoy his poems!

Beverly Acuff Momoi

Living in Mountain View, California, U.S.A.

Marlene Mountain

(11 December 1939 – 15 March 2018)

Marlene Mountain (born Marlene Morelock) was an American artist, writer, and haiku poet as well as social and political activist. She was born on 11 December 1939 in Ada, Oklahoma, and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Oklahoma and Master of Arts from the University of North Dakota in painting with a minor in literature. Her works have been included in many exhibitions and they strongly reflect her view on women's issues, environmental matters, and politics. She was a fiction and non-fiction writer and has printed cards, produced books and written plays with haiku incorporated. Marlene also taught courses in drawing and design. She painted and wrote in the mountains of Tennessee, from which later in 1982 she took her pseudonym.

In 1966 Marlene married John Wills, one of the first modern practitioners of English-language haiku, and she contributed minimalist artwork to his innovative 1970 collection ‘river’. She began writing haiku in 1968 and was one of the first haiku poets to focus on the one-line approach by way of analogy with the one-column vertical writing of Japanese haiku thus becoming a major contributor to the English-language haiku in her own right. Marlene also published numerous "concrete" poems for which she coined the term "unaloud haiku".

In recognition of her continuing devotion to the development of haiku and related arts in 2014-2015 Marlene Mountain was appointed as the Honorary Curator of the American Haiku Archives which include the HSA archives and is one of the largest public collection of haiku materials outside Japan.

Marlene also maintained a website that featured selections of her essays, reviews, paintings, calligraphy, poetry (incl. one-line poems, visual poems, unaloud haiku, dadaku, tearouts), and other creative art forms. She had a unique influential voice in the haiku circles and changed some preconceptions by developing her own style. For instance in her ground-breaking essay, "One-Image Haiku" (first published in the Australian haiku journal Tweed and reprinted in A Haiku Path), Marlene challenged the idea that haiku must consist of two juxtaposed images. In his review of her first book, the old tin roof, (1976) considered to be one of the most seminal books of haiku ever published, Cor van den Heuvel wrote that some of the best poems in that collection "immediately placed [her] in the front rank of American haiku poets."

Until her death on 15 March 2018 Marlene Mountain stayed true to herself and continued to write with outspoken conviction, developing, experimenting and mastering the possibilities inherent to the haiku genre.

Books by Marlene Mountain:

• the old tin roof,haiku senryu & dadaku; & unaloud haiku not yet termed, 1976, 97 pages, right side only, plastic-coil bound, 3.5 x 8.5 inches, self-published, Tennessee;
• new bridge,
• aware becoming,haiku sequence/visual haiku, c 1977/78;
• moments/moments,unaloud haiku, High/Coo Press, 1978;
• naturenotes,unaloud haiku, mid-1970s;
• preying mantis,unaloud haiku, poemcard #11 High/Coo Press 1979;
• femmarks,3 sets of bookmarks, self-published 1981/82;
• solstice cards,1981 to present;
• equal hell, art,haiku, untamed haiku & beyond untamed haiku, booklet and 40 cards, including 4 bumper stickers,1982, self-published, Tennessee;
• a poem, women,poems and haiku, early 80s/abandoned [hal roth, editor];
• tonight i am mountain,
• pissed off poems and cross words,haiku sequences & 13 sketches for painting series, 1986, 32 pages, saddle-stitched, 8.5 x 7 inches, self-published, Tennessee;
• intimate posters,haiku with images c. 135 images, self-produced/published 1990;
• a crone’s haiku highcoup,haiku criticisms via captions to “famous art” c. 255 images, self-produced, 1992;
• from the mountain,book of 20+ years of one-line haiku, etc., with annotations and visuals, 1992, self-published;
• ? lined-paper blues,tear outs;
• femail boxes and junk male,development of a painting series, text and visuals, self-produced/published 1993;
• home away from home,development of a painting series, text and visuals, self-produced/published 1993;
• nature talks back,tear outs, etc., self-produced/published 1994;
• visualante,tear outs, etc., self-produced/published 1994;
• now you too,dadaku/high coup, self-produced/published 1994;
• when the mountain comes over the moon,tear outs, etc., self-produced early 90s;
• how to flounder and fiddle,the making of 2 unaloud haiku, self-produced;
• cur*rent,
• ,[book one] 2000, Kris Kondo, Marlene Mountain, Francine Porad, one-line linked haiku & color artwork, 85 pages, perfectbound, 5.5 x 5.5 inches, Vandina Press;
• ,[1 volume] 2000, Kris Kondo, Marlene Mountain, Francine Porad, one-line linked haiku & artwork, 116 pages, perfectbound, 8.5 x 5.5 inches, Vandina Press;
• trio of wrens,[book four] 2000, Kris Kondo, Marlene Mountain, Francine Porad, one-line linked haiku & artwork, foreword by Dennis H. Dutton, 64 pages, perfectbound, 8.5 x 5.5 inches, Vandina Press;
• ,[unpublished], one-line linked haiku with Francine Porad and Kris Kondo, 2001;
• ,[unpublished], one-line linked haiku with Francine Porad and Kris Kondo, 2001;
• ,[unpublished], one-line linked haiku with Francine Porad and Kris Kondo, 2001;
• ,[unpublished], one-line linked haiku with Francine Porad and Kris Kondo, 2002;
• ,[unpublished], one-line linked haiku with Francine Porad and Kris Kondo;
• mother nature’s heat/a desert snake,
• probably ‘real’ renga sorta,
• probably ‘real’ renga sorta 2,

Awards and Other Honours:

• Outstanding Senior in Art;
• Lew Wentz Service Scholarship;
• Special Commendation in Painting, Drawing, Graphics;
• Mothers' Association Scholarship;
• Alumni Development Fund Purchase Award;
• Delta Phi Delta National Art Fraternity.

Selected Haiku:

                 o                       g

     r

f                                                       frog

(the old tin roof, Marlene Wills, 1976)

*

alone-

the taste of summer water

from the faucet

(Cicada 1:3 (1977)

*                           

pig and i spring rain

(Frogpond2:3-4 (1979)

*

seed catalog in the mailbox     cold drizzle

(Frogpond3:1 (1980)

*

he leans on the gate going staying

(AmoskeagI (University of Southern New Hampshire, 1984)

*         

old pond a frog rises belly up

(Pissed Off Poems and Cross Words (1986); Modern Haiku 17:3 (1986)

*

winter night writing letters to get letters

(Modern Haiku 17:1 (1986)

*

thrush song a few days before the thrush

(Modern Haiku 21:3 (1990)

*

end of the cold spell

i’d forgotten the color

of my under socks

                                                                                                                       stick

                                                               my neighbor’s rooster hops the         i throw

(the old tin roof, Marlene Wills, 1976; van den Heuvel, The Haiku Anthology 3 (1999)

*

on this cold

         spring 1

   2 night     3   4

       kittens

     wet

     5

(moments/moments, unaloud haiku, High/Coo Press, 1978; van den Heuvel, The Haiku Anthology 3 (1999)

*

together as we dry there is the listening to rain

(Global Haiku: Twenty-five Poets World-wide (George Swede/Randy Brooks, Mosaic Press, Canada, 2000)

*

one fly everywhere the heat

(Cicada 2:1 (1977); van den Heuvel, The Haiku Anthology 2 (1986); Global Haiku: Twenty-five Poets World-wide(George Swede/Randy Brooks, Mosaic Press, Canada, 2000); van den Heuvel, The Haiku Anthology 3 (1999); Blithe Spirit 10:4 (2000)

*

spin on dead and wounded any scratch of pines

(Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years, ed. by Philip Rowland, Allan Burns; W. W. Norton & Company, 2013)

With gratitude to Charles Trumbull who has kindly provided most information for this profile. Many thanks indeed!

Selected Essays:

• http://www.marlenemountain.org/essays/haikuessays.html
• http://www.tempslibres.org/tl/en/livres/mm00.html
• http://www.marlenemountain.org/essays/essay_jphaiandso.html
• http://www.marlenemountain.org/essays/essay_letter_whatsthe.html
• http://www.marlenemountain.org/essays/sinterview_innerview.html

Sources:

• http://www.marlenemountain.org
• https://www.flickr.com/photos/marlenemountain
• http://www.marlenemountain.org/mminfo/mi_background.html
• http://www.thehaikufoundation.org/poet-details/?IDclient=104
• http://www.marlenemountain.org/mminfo/mi_mmpublications.html
• http://www.marlenemountain.org/mminfo/mi_anthologies.html
• http://www.americanhaikuarchives.org/curators/MarleneMountain.html
• https://www.thehaikufoundation.org/thf-haiga-galleries/image-haiku-of-marlene-mountain/
• https://livinghaikuanthology.com/poets-on-haiku/defining-haiku/2905-evolving-consciousness-by-marlene-mountain.html

H. Gene Murtha

Born 1955 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Lived in New Jersey, USA
19 October 1955 – 9 October 2015

Elena Naskova

Born: Stip, Macedonia
Resides: Seattle, WA, USA

Elena Naskova immigrated to the USA when she was twenty-five. Elena writes haiku, poetry and plays. On days when Elena doesn’t write, she usually paints.

Nika

Born 1946, Spokane, Washington, USA
Current Residence: Victoria, BC, Canada
Nika is the pen name of retired educator Jim Force. He currently writes with The Heron’s Quill in Victoria where he is a member of Haiku Arbutus. His haiku have been widely published in magazines and anthologies. He has published two chapbooks: frogs singing (1993) and snail my friend (2015).

Gail Oare

Born 1952 in USA
Gail Oare is a retired science publishing executive. She writes fiction, nonfiction and poetry, and consults.

David Oates

Born 1956, New York City, New York, USA
Currently Athens, Georgia, USA

David Oates is the host and producer of Wordland radio show on WUGA and https://www.wuga.org. His books are Night of the Potato (fiction and poetry), Shifting with My Sandwich Hand, Drunken Robins, and The Deer's Bandanna (the last three, haiku). He teaches haikai forms, especially haiku and senryu.

Tom Painting

Born 1951 in Rochester, New York, USA
Living in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Sandi Pray

Born 1949 in Maryland, USA
Living in North Carolina & Florida, USA
http://ravencliffs.blogspot.com

Christopher Provost

Born 1970 in Springfield, MA, USA
Living in Nashua, NH, USA
Contact the poet

Michael Rehling

Born 1946 in Detroit, Michigan, USA
Living in Presque Isle, Michigan, USA

Jane Reichhold

Born 1937 in Lima, Ohio, U.S.A.
Died in 2016

I’ve been writing haiku since the 1960s and have published over 40 books of haiku, renga, and tanka. I have translated 7 books from the Japanese with the best seller being Basho The Complete Haiku. Writing and Enjoying Haiku, also published by Kodansha, along with A Dictionary of Haiku, by AHA Books, are still often on Amazon’s best-seller list. The latest tanka book, was translated with Machiko Kobayashi from Akiko Yosano’s most famous book, Midaregami – Tangled Hair. AHApoetry.com was started in 1995 and  AHAforum is the place poets meet online since 2006.

Michele Root-Bernstein

born in USA in 1953
lives in Michigan, USA

Michele Root-Bernstein devotes herself to haiku, haibun, and haiga. Her work appears in journals and anthologies at home and abroad and on three large rocks in Ohio. She has served as co-editor of Frogpond and book editor of Modern Haiku. Currently she facilitates the Evergreen Haiku study group in mid-Michigan.

Alexis Rotella

Born 1947 in Johnstown Pennsylvania, USA
Living in Arnold, Maryland, USA
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Jacob Salzer

Born in Renton, WA USA
Living Vancouver, WA, USA
Jacob Salzer is a haiku poet who served as the managing editor for the following haiku anthologies: Yanty’s Butterfly (2016), New Bridges (2018), and Half A Rainbow (2020) and is currently the managing editor for a haiku anthology dedicated to people who don’t have access to clean water. His poetry website can be found at: https://jsalzer.wixsite.com/mareliberumhaiku

Kelly Sargent

Date of birth: 1970
Place of birth: Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Present place of residence: Williston, Vermont, USA
Website: http://www.kellysargent.com 

Kelly Sargent is an award-winning hearing impaired author and artist. Her debut collection of haiku and senryu poems is entitled Bookmarks (Red Moon Press, 2023).

Agnes Eva Savich

Born 1976 in Krakow, Poland
Living in Austin, Texas, USA
Agnes Eva Savich has been writing haiku since 2003. A featured Southwestern Haijin in Roadrunner Haiku Journal (2006), she continues to be published in haiku journals, and has an early collection of poetry, The Watcher: Poems (Cedar Leaf Press, 2009).
https://agnesevasavich.wordpress.com
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Robert Clayton Spiess

(16 October 1921 – 13 March 2002)

“A true haiku is an experience experiencing itself.”

(Speculations by Robert Spiess)

Robert Spiess, editor of American Haiku and Modern Haiku was born on 16 October 1921 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  After graduation from high school, he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin, in Milwaukee, in 1939 but his plans were interrupted by World War II. He was drafted into the Army Air Force and trained as a cryptographer. Perhaps it was his war experience that helped determine the peaceful path he would follow thereafter. He earned his B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin, majoring in Botany and English, and then received an M.S., with a major in Vocational Guidance.

Robert became interested in haiku in the late 1930s, through early translations of Japanese haiku.

In the late ’40s and early ’50s he acquired R.H. Blyth’s four volumes of Haiku, and from then on he became hooked on this poetic genre. Robert Spiess published his first haiku in 1949 in American Poetry Magazine, and he became a participating writer. In 1963, he purchased the premiere issue of American Haiku and two of his poems were published in the second issue. A few years later, he accepted the position of poetry editor for that journal.

Robert Spiess’ first collection of haiku, The Heron's Legs, was published in 1966 by American Haiku in Platteville, Wisconsin and over the years he published ten more books. He was also the author of several articles and essays on haiku and his poems have been featured in numerous publications and anthologies. The premier issue of Modern Haiku was published in 1969, and ten of Robert's haiku appeared in the second issue. Within a few years, he was appointed associate editor of that journal. In 1977, he published the first of his "Speculations on Haiku" in Modern Haiku, and in 1978, he became that journal's editor and publisher until his death in 2002.

Robert's countless contributions were integral to the evolution and success of English-language haiku and he was an instrumental mentor in the haiku careers of many contemporary haiku poets.

Books Published:  

• The Heron’s Legs (American Haiku, Platteville, Wisconsin, 1966);
• The Turtle’s Ears (Wells Printing Co., Madison, Wisconsin, 1971);
• Five Caribbean Haibun (Wells Printing Co., Madison, Wisconsin, 1972);
• The Shape of Water (Modern Haiku Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 1982);
• The Bold Silverfish and Tall River Junction (Modern Haiku Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 1986);
• New and Selected Speculations on Haiku (Modern Haiku Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 1988);
• The Cottage of Wild Plum (Modern Haiku Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 1991);
• A Year’s Speculation on Haiku (Modern Haiku Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 1995);
• noddy (Modern Haiku Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 1997);
• noddy & the halfwit [with Lee Gurga] (Modern Haiku Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 1999);
• some sticks and pebbles (Modern Haiku Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 2001).

Some awards and other honours: 

• In 1988, Robert Spiess was awarded the Haiku Society of America's Special Recognition Award "for a profound, insightful book about haiku".
• In 2000, in Matsuyama, Japan, Robert was presented with the first Shiki International Haiku Award for his achievement in disseminating and deepening the understanding of haiku in English-speaking countries.
• From 2000-2001, Robert was Honorary Curator of the American Haiku Archives.

Selected work: 

among these willows:
     and breathing the light that falls
          from leaf to green leaf

(The Heron's Legs, American Haiku, Platteville, Wisconsin, 1966)

*

A drive out of town —
and best of all the billboard
that a wind blew down

(Modern Haiku Vol.5:1, 13, 1974)

*

Evening in the park
— and the snow lodging also
in the statue’s eyes

(Modern Haiku Vol.6:1, 11, 1975)

*

A couch à la Freud, —
curing souls of sex and things
by which they’re annoyed

(Modern Haiku Vol. 6:3, 21, 1975)

*

“Canoeing the Bend” [sequence]
(Modern Haiku Vol.8:3, 12, 1977):

canoeing the bend —
a fox in the evening dusk
mouses in a field

canoeing the bend —
a man throwing stones at coots
turns away

canoeing the bend —
motionless, a short-eared owl
watches from an oak

canoeing the bend —
on a sunny ledge of rock
a rattler stirs

canoeing the bend
another bend ahead
thank you

canoeing the bend
in a spit of April snow —
warblers flying by

*

a     square
of      water
re f l e c t s
the    moon

(The Shape of Water, Modern Haiku Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 1982)

*

ice cubes
    aging
        in each one's glass

(The Bold Silverfish and Tall River Junction, Modern Haiku Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 1986)

*

the field's evening fog—
   quietly the hound comes
      to fetch me home

(The Cottage of Wild Plum, Modern Haiku Press, Madison, 1991); Frogpond 14:4 (1991)

*

wild roses . . .
tarrying beside one
     touched by time

(From a Kind Neighbor, Haiku Society of America Members’ Anthology 1997)

*

walking for my heart...
    so many little karmas
        beneath a step

(some sticks and pebbles, Modern Haiku Press, Madison, Wisconsin, 2001)

Some essays:

• “Multiple-sense Imagery in Haiku”, Modern Haiku Vol.2:1, 15–16, 1970
• “Notes on Writing Haibun”, Modern Haiku Vol.3:1, 11, 1972 
• “The Problem of Originality in Haiku”, Modern Haiku Vol.4:2, 30–34, 1973
• “The Problem of Beauty in Haiku”, Modern Haiku Vol.6:3, 30–32, 1975
• “The Problem of the Ordinary in Haiku”, Modern Haiku Vol.7:2, 16–17, 1976
  “A Comparison of Characteristics of English Language Haiku and Senryu”, Modern Haiku Vol.7:3, 30–31, 1976
• “The Problem of Explanation and Interpretation in American Haiku”, Modern Haiku Vol.7:3, 15–17, 1976
• “A Few Notes on the Now-Moment”, Modern Haiku Vol.8:2, 38, 1977
• “The Problem of Reading Haiku”, Modern Haiku Vol.8:1, 30–34, 1977
  “Toward a Theory of Fundamental Balance in Haiku”, Modern Haiku Vol.8:1, 39–40, 1977

Sources:

http://www.modernhaiku.org/issue33-3/spiessautobiography.html
http://www.thehaikufoundation.org/poet-details/?IDclient=114
http://www.haikupoet.com/definitions/speculations.html
http://www.modernhaiku.org/MH-Archive/authorsO-S.html#s
http://www.modernhaiku.org/essays/BrooksSpiessHaiku.html
Wikipedia (Russian)
An Interview with Robert Spiess by Michael Dylan Welch at (Modern Haiku Vol.33:3, Autumn 2002)