In his classic book The Joys of Yiddish, Leo Rosten defines naches as “the glow of pleasure-plus-pride that only a child can give to its parents.” Around f/k/a, the Gang finds that our best naches-moments of joy, pride and gratification involve the accomplishments of our Honored Guest Poets. This morning, our chests and hearts are swelling with naches over The Heron’s Nest Readers’ Choice Awards 2006 (Vol. VIII).
The Readers of the esteemed haiku journal The Heron’s Nest have chosen as their Favorite Poem from Volume VIII (2006) of THN, this gem from Billie Wilson:
winter wind —
a cradlesong sung
in an ancient tongue
See Billie’s webpage for more of her work.
THN Readers’ Choice Popular Poets
In addition, Heron’s Nest readers choose their Favorite Poets (who are arrived at by totaling the number of votes awarded each poet for their entire body of work in Volume VIII. ). For 2006, the Grand Prize went to our Honorable Guest Poet and friend, John Stevenson and the First Runner-up Prize went to Billie Wilson.
When I emailed John to congratulate him last night, he wrote back: “Each time that I’ve had this kind of boost from the readers of The Heron’s Nest I’ve wished that there was some way that I could say thank you to them.” To the THN readers who stop by f/k/a: Please Consider yourself thanked by John (plus me — and Billie, too).
Here are samples of haiku by John and Billie from Volume VIII.
from deep in the forest
a haunting birdsong
sung just once
unanswered mail — 
a pelting rain
flattens the pansies
cold moon —
a stray dog roams
the village street
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Billie Wilson
late night —
a waitress repeats
the list of pies
a penny for my thoughts?
the fireflies
of last summer
midwinter thaw
last night I dreamed
my dad was alive
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by John Stevenson 
As a bonus for f/k/a readers, below the fold you will find haiku by our family of Honored Guests from the The Heron’s Nest, Vol. IX, No. 1 (March 2007), which was also published online yesterday.
circle of lamplight —
I complete the baby quilt
begun for me
a butterfly
so long at my window
summer dusk
. . . . by Carolyn Hall
“circle of lamplight” – Heron’s Nest Award
between windows
the space the spider
lived and died
. . . by Tom Clausen, Editors’ Choice
autumn dusk
enough light
to count the leaves
banana leaf
our small talk
in the rain
. . . by yu chang
golden hour
a nuthatch pauses
partway down the trunk
basswood stump
what I would say
if asked
. . . by paul m
ferry dock
sunlight bounces
from wave to wave
. . . . by Laryalee Fraser
summer cottage
the nails
mother straightened
late summer —
eelgrass turns
with the tide
. . . . ………………………….. by Hilary Tann
old snag —
a woodpecker starts
the day
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Alice Frampton
prairie —
nothing
higher
. . . . by Gary Hotham
wild flax —
a minute of blue sky
on a cloudy day
. . . . by DeVar Dahl
wilderness canyon
my shout and its echo
quickly lost in time
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by George Swede
rush hour —
spring snow covers
the roadside memorial
. . . . by Billie Wilson