f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

. . Baseball Haiku at Chautauqua, June 26, 2008 . .

– see the 49-minute Roundtable on video at FORA.tv

plus, the 13-minute Interview with Jim Roselle on WJTN1240 AM —

summer loneliness . . .
dropping the pop up
i toss to myself

… by Ed Markowski – Baseball Haiku (2007); pop up (tribe press, 2004)

biking to the field
under a cloudless sky
my glove on the handlebars

…. by Cor van den Heuvel – Baseball Haiku (2007) and Play Ball (Red Moon Press 1999)

at the produce stand
a kid with a baseball
plays catch with the awning

…. by Al Pizzarelli – from Baseball Haiku (2007); The Windswept Corner (2005)

More than 150 fans of baseball and haiku gathered at the Chautauqua Institution’s Hall of Philosophy, on Thursday afternoon, June 26, for a Roundtable on Baseball Haiku, as part of CI’s “Sport in America” week. Sponsored by Chautauqa’s Literary and Scientific Circle, the lecture was presented by Cor van den Heuvel, co-editor of Baseball Haiku (W.W. Norton Press, 2007), along with two major contributors to that volume, Al Pizzarelli and Ed Markowski. f/k/a‘s editor was lucky enough to be present for the event.

Cor started the presentation with a discussion of the relationship that both haiku and baseball have with nature and the present moment. That theme was also stressed by Al Pizzarelli in a front page article published that morning in The Daily Chautauquan.

Cor, Ed and Al also had an entertaining live interview on Thursday morning, by the popular host Joe Roselle, for his daily radio talk show on WJTN News Talk 1240 (Jamestown, NY)

rainy night
a hole in the radio
where a ballgame should be

…. by Ed Markowski – Baseball Haiku (2007); Games (2004)

After Cor’s introductory remarks for the Roundtable, Ed, Al and Cor read their haiku, and helped prove again that “Haiku and baseball were made for each other.”

Here are more of the baseball haiku and senryu presented by Cor, Ed, and Al at the CI Roundtable.

through the blue sky
the tape-wrapped baseball trails
a black streamer

conference on the mound
the pitcher looks down
at the ball in his hand

..… by Cor van den Heuvel, from Baseball Haiku (2007) and Play Ball (Red Moon Press 1999)

late innings
the shortstop backpedals
into fireflies

summer haze
i pick off
the invisible man on first

“red hots!”
for an instant i’m ten
and
father’s still alive

April rain
my grandson practices
his infield chatter

………………………. by ed markowski – Baseball Haiku (2007)

game over
all the empty seats
turn blue

at shortstop
between innings
sparrows dust-bathing

the score keeper
peeks out of the scoreboard
spring rain

.. by Al Pizzarelli – from Baseball Haiku (2007)
“score keeper” – The Windswept Corner (2005)
“at shortstop” – Past Time (1999)

One more reminder to check out Ed Markowski’s new free brochure, “American Sports . . . American Haiku” (June 2008; cover), which has two dozen sports haiku and senryu that were compiled to celebrate this week at Chautauqua.

Below the fold, you will also find several photographs from our two-day stay at the Chautauqua Institution. [See more photos here by Ed’s niece Sara Etten] Meeting Ed and Laurice Markowski and dining-schmoozing with them and Cor, and Al and Donna, made the long drive from Schenectady to Chautauqua, NY, much more than worthwhile. Many thanks to Cor van den Heuvel for brining Baseball Haiku to fruition and making our Chautauqua experience possible.

(more…)

American Sports . . . American Haiku –

– two dozen haiku & senryu by Ed Markowski –

Fourth of July
a refugee stands
in center field

The f/k/a Gang has a special treat today for haiku lovers who happen to be sports fans, and perhaps for sports fans who don’t know yet how much they will come to appreciate haiku. We’re unveiling a new (free) haiku collection by our Honored Guest Poet and friend Ed Markowski, titled “American Sports . . . American Haiku” (June 2008; cover). The two dozen sports haiku and senryu were compiled (and many specifically written) to celebrate the Chautauqua Institution’s “Sport in America” Week (June 21 – 28, 2008), and its June 26th Roundtable featuring last year’s much-praised book Baseball Haiku (Cor van den Heuvel and Nanae Tamura, eds., W.W. Norton, 2007).

You can click this link [or use this URL: http://tinyurl.com/49wybb] to see the 3- page web version of “American Sports . . . American Haiku.” At Chautauqua’s Sport in America Week, Ed will be handing out a tri-fold (two-sided) brochure version. Click tri-fold version to see the pre-folded brochure, or print one for yourself.

Ed contributed over twenty of the 200 “best haiku ever written about the sport” in Baseball Haiku. But, Ed plays — or once played — and fanatically watches quite a few other sports (especially Detroit’s pro teams), and often treats them with his poetic touch. We hope the American Sports haiku collection will demonstrate once and for all that Ed Markowski is not just a one-sport poet. Of course, frequent readers of this weblog (or the top haiku journals and anthologies) did not need convincing. [You can access hundreds of Ed’s haiku and senryu from his f/k/a Archive Page. He even inspired dagosan today.]

late summer
beyond the scarecrow
tackling dummies

city moon 
my basketball flattened
by a shard of glass

– Ed in NYC for a Baseball Haiku party (May 2007) –

autumn gale
tacklers left in the wake
of the halfback

deep winter
a young boy stickhandles
into a snow squall

cross-town rivals
the point guards compare
tattoos

Ed is always quite pleased when his poetry gets some attention and accolades (as it did last week at “Basho’s Road“) — but he downplays the praise. This week, however, Ed has other priorities, and there was real excitement in his voice on the phone yesterday. You see, Papa Ed has been joyously awaiting the birth of his second grandchild, and Nicholas arrived yesterday morning, June 10, 2008, at 8:39 A.M., weighing in at almost 8 pounds, and stretching out to 25 inches. Congratulations to mother and father (Becky and Dan), and to the doting maternal grandparents, Laurice and Ed. (As soon as I have a photo of Ed and Nicholas, I’ll add it to this post.)

April rain
my grandson practices
his infield chatter

…… by Ed Markowski – American Sports . . . American Haiku (June 2008); Haiku Harvest (Spring 2006)

– Ed and Matthew, Grandson #1, April 2008 [larger]

update (June 12, 2008): Baby Nicholas on Day 2:

. . . this will have to do, until he gets a Tigers’ cap (larger)

Grampa’s Pride: Matthew & Nicholas in Becky’s Arms:

Author-poet Norbert Blei discovered f/k/a‘s Honored Guest and Friend Ed Markowski at Tinywords.com in 2006, and has admired and sought out Ed’s work ever since. Yesterday, Blei helped to bring Ed Markowski to a broader group of poetry lovers — beyond regular readers of haiku — with an extended posting at his Basho’s Road website (which Blei created to focus on “the small poem and the quiet voice within”). Please see and enjoy Ed Markowski at Basho’s Road (June 4, 2008). [For more on the spirit of Japan’s master haikuist Basho, check out his classic book, and this commentary.]

Blei says this was probably the first of Ed’s poems he ever read:

dad’s grave . . .
all the flowers
he wouldn’t let mother plant

… by ed markowski – from Haiku Harvest (Fall/Winter 2005)

His reaction: “And, that’s it. Right there. He ‘nailed it‘ , so to speak. That what we’re after. That’s what Basho’s Road is all about.”

After seeing more Markowski, Blei concluded:

“He’s got it, I said to myself. The Scene. The eye to see inside. To simply lay the words on the line and let you see/feel for yourself.

In my humble estimation, my own small world of small poetry, he’s on his way to haiku master — if not already there.

. . . Basho’s Road in mind, he seemed a perfect stranger/poet to meet along the way and share with others.”

In addition to showcasing a few of Ed’s poems (you can find several hundred more here at f/k/a, by starting at his archive page), Blei let’s Ed speak. And his words are as pithy and sharp as his poetry. For instance:

. . . i don’t look for haiku moments, i think it’s more a matter of learning the craft, and placing things within that framework . . .

 . . . “i think the ‘haiku moment’ is basically a mirage perpetrated by people who like to think they see the world in some special sort of way, or that they’re tuned into some higher frequency.”

I especially enjoyed seeing online Ed’s insistence that this poem “is about raking leaves & nothing else” — despite an admiring critic who read much more into it:

fog . . .
i’ve got to begin
somewhere

– from Roadrunner Haiku Journal (Feb. 2006)

When we first posted Ed’s above poem about “dad’s grave” at f/k/a, I said:

While the rest of us sleep, eat, and work, Ed Markowski does all of those, gets in a lot of gardening and ESPN, and “finds” more haiku and senryu than a dozen other haijin combined.

I continue to be amazed by the ability of Ed-da-Prolific to “find” so many quality haiku so quickly (despite his recent decision to cut back, after judging a book contest for HSA last year “burned me out completely”). He’s especially impressive on frantic, short-deadline requests from me, when I want a few poems to go with a topic here at this weblog. Although he pooh-poohed to me Blei’s notion of Ed “being on his way to haiku master,” I reminded him that “master” has so many meanings, one is sure to stick.

If “haiku master” means achieving a high degree of skill and being worthy of teaching others (directly or by example), I am going to embarrass my friend Ed Markowski by agreeing with Norbert Blei, that “he’s on his way to haiku master — if not already there.” [Of course, as I’ve mentioned before to Ed (as to other haijin friends), I hope he’ll stay away from too much fooling around with spacing and line dispersion, and from those darn tell-ems — and stick to the simple, insightful presentation and juxtaposition of sensory images, which he does so well.]

Many thanks to Norbert Blei for sharing Ed Markowski with a broad audience of poetry lovers, at his lovely website, Basho’s Road.

Yesterday, we talked about an infant who fell unnoticed out of his baby stroller (and under a bus). Today, I want to spotlight children who have apparently never been dropped on their heads, and who — more importantly — have been nurturing their inner poetic muses. These kids have been writing some pretty darn good haiku.

The Haiku Society of America has just announced the 2008 Winners of the Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku Competition. The Virgilio Competition was founded in 1990 and is for students in Grades 7-12. It is sponsored and administered by the Nick Virgilio Haiku Association in memory of Nicholas A. Virgilio, a charter member of the Haiku Society of America, who died in 1989. [See the Nick Virgilio Poetry Project Website for more about Nick.] HSA cosponsors the contest, provides judges, and publishes the contest results in its journal, Frogpond, and at the HSA Website.

Tony Pupello and f/k/a Honored Guest Pamela Miller Ness were the judges for the 2008 Nicholas A. Virgilio Haiku Contest — which attracted 85 entries. Click to see their Judges Commentary, which notes:

“We would like to express our appreciation to all the young poets who submitted to this year’s contest and to the teachers who instructed them in the craft and special characteristics of haiku. It was a privilege to be invited to enter their haiku moments and a pleasure to share their imagery and language. . . . Many of the entries were sophisticated in their use of imagery and juxtaposition, and were very proficiently crafted. As with very fine haiku and senryu, many were layered and functioned on multiple levels. . . .”

In the Virgilio Winners Circle you will once again find students of poet-teacher Tom Painting — one of our very first Honored Guest Poets (since May 27, 2004). Indeed, five of the six winning poems were written by students at the School for the Arts, in Rochester, NY. (my birthplace), where Tom teaches Creative Writing. Three 12th graders from the School of the Arts had winning haiku: Asha Bishi (with two poems), Alexa Navarez and Desire Collier. In addition, 7th grader Gracie Elliot had a winner. Somehow, one non-Rochesterian — Lauren Fresch, grade 12, Sandusky, OH — had a winner, too. [Since 2003, the Virgilio Contest winners have been unranked; don’t get me started.]

f/k/a does not publish poems without the author’s permission, so we urge you to click here for the 2008 Virgilio Contest Winners to see what the fuss is all about. Of course, if any of the winners leaves a comment or sends an email granting permission, we’d be most pleased to add them right here.

We also want to remind you about the website Two Dragonflies, which features haiku and music for children, and is presented by award-winning children’s song-writer and haiku poet, Johnette Downing. The site has information about haiku, including an Educator’s Packet, and lots of links.

On its Haiku by Children page, Two Dragonflies has four poems by another young Rochesterian, who is still too young to enter the Virgilio Contest — Sarah Painting, who we’ve told you about here and there, and who is a 4th-grader and the daughter of Tom Painting. Two of those poems can be found in our “introduction to Sarah Painting” (Sept. 16, 2007). Here are the other two from Two Dragonflies:

watching a bee
skim the flowers-
summer’s end

November 11th
cemetery flags
Old and tattered

……………… by Sarah Painting – Two Dragonflies

You will find more poems by kids at Two Dragonflies — along with inspiration and instruction to help nurture more young haijin. Also, every day, you can click on the HSA Virgilio Contest Collection page to see the annual winners since 1990. I’m inspired by all the young haiku talent I’ve seen demonstrated today. After a nap, I hope to write a celebratory haiku, too, with beginner’s mind.

It’s the second season for last year’s MVPoetry volume Baseball Haiku (Cor van den Heuvel and Nanae Tamura, eds., W.W. Norton Press, 2007). The book contains over 200 of the best haiku written about baseball, by 44 poets (both American and Japanese). In a starred review at its release, Library Journal said:

“Not one of those parody collections, this is a gathering of elegantly observed moments capturing the interplay between baseball and the other seasons . . . This collection will inspire some ball fans to be poets and some poets to be ballplayers.”

That reviewer was correct. This past year, I’ve often used the book as a gift for relatives and friends who love baseball, but were not yet haiku fans. They have been consistently pleased. Learn more about the book, and read or hear some of the poems, but checking out the segment of National Public Radio’s All Thing’s Considered titled “Spring Signals the Return of Baseball (Haiku)” (Debbie Elliott, March 31, 2007; Listen).

If you’d like to see or re-read more samples, f/k/a has frequently shared poems from Baseball Haiku written by our Honored Guest poets — e.g., here, there, and here. And see our post “npr spotlights Baseball Haiku” (March 31, 207)

What I wanted to tell you today is that Baseball Haiku has continued to get favorable attention this season. In addition to a review last Sunday in Poet’s Corner (Washington Post Book Review section, May 25, 2008), Sheila Lennon — “features & interactive producer of projo.com, the Web site of The Providence (R.I.) Journal” — featured the book this morning, in a Subterranean Homepage News weblog posting titled “Try your hand at baseball haiku” (May 28, 2008).

update (June 5, 2008): I discovered another favorable article on Baseball Haiku. It is the Japan Times review by David Burleigh, “Who says there’s no poetry in a game?” (May 11, 2008).

Meanwhile, haiku poet Curtis Dunlap reminded us over the weekend, at his Tobacco Road weblog, that Baseball Haiku will be featured at the Chautauqua Institution, on June 26, 2008, at 3:30 P.M. At the Chautauqua Roundtable, editor-poet Cor van den Heuvel, will be joined by two of the largest contributors to Baseball Haiku — “our” Ed Markowski, and Al Pizzarelli. After Cor discusses haiku, and baseball, all three will read their baseball haiku and senryu, and then answer questions.

We told you about the Chautauqua Roundtable event last November. But, it’s now only four weeks away, and the f/k/a Gang — which plans to be there, in the lovely Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York, on June 26 — would love to see a few of our readers and friends attend. The Chautauqua theme that week is Sport in America. Click that link to see the full schedule for week #1 of the Chautauqua season. Here’s how the week is described at the CI website:

• Week 1 June 21-28 – Sport in America

Roger Goodell, long-time Chautauquan and commissioner of the National Football League, will be among the featured lecturers in Week One. Sport looms large in the American culture, whether from an economic perspective or through the lens of its impact on our lifestyles and customs. Fun, competitive, entertaining? Yes. But big business too. Some estimates tag the sports business industry in the U.S. at over $300 billion annually. From youth and amateur athletics to college sports to the pros, we will examine the economics and the impact of sports on our cities, our youth, education, and culture. We will look at Title 9, the influence of television and escalating salaries, and the future of Olympic sports. And we will explore whether the interest of the general fan has been eclipsed by big money.

update (June 29, 2008): Read about the event in “Chautauqua grand slam” (June 28, 2008) .

Here are a few of the poems from Baseball Haiku that we posted last March, in a post about multitasking and distractions:

bases loaded
the rookie pitcher
blows a bubble

late innings
the shortstop backpedals
into fireflies

…………………………by ed markowski from Baseball Haiku (2007) “bases loaded” – orig. pub. Haiku Sun #10 (2004)

geese flying north
the pitcher stops his windup
to watch

hot day
listening to the ball game
while washing the car

…………………………. by Cor van den Heuvel – Baseball Haiku (2007), orig pub. Play Ball (Red Moon Press 1999)

Speaking of distractions and non sequiturs: Tomorrow, May 29, 2008, marks the 5th Anniversary of our very first substantive posting at this website.

Back then, there was no haiku at f/k/a, which was originally known as ethicalEsq — see our URL for proof. That post dealt with the nation’s inadequate system of lawyer discipline (“D for Discipline“). The next few had to do with excessive lawyer fees. We’ve spread our topical wings since then.

Since wood is the traditional gift for one’s 5th Anniversary, please feel free to leave us haiku or senryu that include that subject (no woody jokes, please, this is usually a family website).

last day of school . . .
the crack of a bat
through an open window

…………by Randy Brooks – Baseball Haiku (2007)

tied in the ninth
pitcher and batter
cross themselves

…………. by dagosan

The past couple of weeks, while waiting to get over the flu, I’ve been catching up on the first four seasons of the HBO show The Wire. I can understand why some have called it the best show on television, with “scope, observational precision and moral vision of great literature.” I hope the dvd set of the 5th and final season, which ended on January 6, 2008, is available soon and added to the Schenectady Public Library’s collection, so this cable-less soul can see how it all ended.

As you may know, the show takes place in Baltimore, MD, a City that I only tend to think about while driving down I-95 to D.C. (when required to either bypass or traverse its tunnel). However, much of the political maneuvering in The Wire involved the Baltimore mayor, so I couldn’t help but think of my old law school classmate Kurt Schmoke, who spent quite a few years as Baltimore’s mayor, and made ripples by arguing for drug legalization.

Kurt popped up in one episode during Season 3 (shadowing his current academic role as dean of Howard Law School), which raised drug immunity-legalization issues. (a prior f/k/a post featured Schmoke’s thoughts on law school rankings).

after hours gym –
a heavy bag sways slowly
in the window

Barry George – Haiku Harvest (Jan-Feb 2003)

No, I don’t know where I’m going with this musing — chalk it up to my flu-addled brain. So let me just transition to the real purpose of this post, which is to tell you about the winners of the 2008 Anita Sadler Weiss Memorial Haiku Awards, which were announced last week (and see the NCHS Blog), and the poems honored in the Mainichi News Annual Selection 2007 as the best haiku from that publication in 2007.

The Weiss Awards are sponsored annually by the Haiku Poets of Central Maryland, which serves haikuists in the greater Baltimore Metro Area [hey, there was a tenuous connection to The Wire]. Anita Sadler Weiss was a much-respected and loved Baltimore-based haiku poet, enthusiast, and teacher. This year’s First Place prize went to a poem by Tony A. Thompson, of Lufkin, Texas. As you know, we don’t reprint poems here without permission from the author, so I can’t share Tony’s “mountain stillness” haiku with you — but, I’ll provide a link as soon as one is available.

Among the other winners, however, are three of our f/k/a Honored Guest Poets, allowing us to share them with you. Of course, the honorees are among the usual suspects:

Second Place:

winter dusk—
when dad
would phone

…………….. by Roberta Beary, Washington, DC

Third Honorable Mention:

sunrise
at Gettysburg…
locusts

………………. by Barry George, Philadelphia, PA

Fifth Honorable Mention:

scenic vista
looking out
for ticks

…….. by Paul Miller, Bristol, RI

I‘m sorry to say that one of the Weiss “winners” has garnered a spot on our hold the anchovies page of notable “tell-em” psyku. It’s a fine example of half a haiku attached to a (not particularly interesting or creative) intellectual conclusion.

The Annual Selection 2007 from Mainichi editor Isamu Hashimoto: Every month, you’ll find a dozen or so new poems on the English haiku page of Mainichi Daily News. This year’s First Prize went to a poem by Hubertus Thum, of Barsinghausen, Germany, who had ten poems chosen for Mainichi publication in 2007. The “best of” selections by Editor Hashimoto also include the following poems by our f/k/a Poet Family:

2nd Prize, co-wiiner:

distant shoreline —
silence catches up
with the train

—- Laryalee Fraser (Salmon Arm, BC, Canada)

Honorable Mention . . .

I start to judge
the haiku contest entries …
falling leaves

… by George Swede

grey Atlantic
a pelican crosses
the rainbow

… by Peggy Willis Lyles

Congratulations to all the winners!

The premiere print edition of the Magnapoets Journal (January 2008) arrived yesterday, courtesy of its Editor-in-Chief and publisher (our friend) Aurora Antonovic, who is “a Canadian writer, editor and visual artist” acclaimed for her work in many poetic and literary forms. Along with Nick Zegarac, who is also a writer/editor, graphics artist and weblogger, Aurora launched the online MagnaPoets cluster of weblogs in early 2007, “covering every literary category” and presenting “some of the best modern poets.” With this print edition of Magnapoets, Antonovic and Zegarac continue their mission of “taking over the world one poem at a time,” and deserve thanks and congratulations for their efforts.

The first print issue of MagnaPoets has a gorgeous, glossy cover photograph of Mont Blanc by Milorad Pavic. The semiannual journal is magazine-sized, (8.5″ x 11″), with over 30 pages, and features “all forms of poetry, short stories, interviews, and essays.” Its $5 price per issue in Canada and U.S.A. — that’s $10 for a one-year subscription, and not the memorable typo [$120] shown on the last page (which I enjoyed too much not to mention here) — seems like a very good deal for readers interested in quality modern poetry and other short literary forms.  Word from MP Central is that Volume One has been selling out rapidly in college bookstores and other locations throughout North America.  You can find subscription information here.

In this issue, you’ll find “poetry from Joseph Armstead, an’ya, Kirsty Karkow, Peggy Willis Lyles, Margarita Engle, Taylor Graham, Gilda Kreuter, and more. Featuring an interview with former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky.”

The 15 haiku and senryu included in the premiere issue (edited by Matt Morden), include this pair by f/k/a‘s Peggy Lyles:

cemetery road
the pines almost ready
to harvest again

bath water
resurrects the daisises__
solstice moon

………………………… by Peggy Willis Lyles, MagnaPoets Journal (Vol. I:1, Jan. 2008)

The Heron’s Nest Readers’ Choice Awards for 2007 were announced last night (illustration by Doris Thurston). Congratulations to skipping stones editor Chad Lee Robinson, who was the Grand Prize winner in both categories — Poem of the Year and Poet of the Year. (This will perhaps be a year for handing the torch to a new generation in both poetics and politics: Chad was born in Pierre, SD, in 1980.) This is the favorite poem from Volume IX of The Heron’s Nest:

buffalo bones
wind less than a whisper
in the summer grass

……………………….. by Chad Lee Robinson,
The Heron’s Nest, Reader’s Choice Poem of the Year 2007

This year, eighty-eight “readers” took the time to muse over and evaluate the 485 poems that (after review by “five critical editors”) appeared in The Heron’s Nest in 2007. As often happens (see our “such naches” posting this time last year), members of our f/k/a Honored Guest Poet family were prominently represented among the winning Readers’ Choice poems and poets. To wit:

Favorite Poems

First Runner-up:

circle of lamplight —
I complete the baby quilt
begun for me

…………………. Carolyn Hall

Second Runner-up:

between windows
the space the spider
lived and died
………………… Tom Clausen

Poet of the Year:

First Runner-up

……………. John Stevenson

Second Runner-up

……………… Carolyn Hall

Third Runner-up

……………….. Yu Chang

The Heron’s Nest Vol. IX (due April 2008) [cover detail, Jamie Edgecombe]
As The Heron’s Nest‘s founding editor Christopher Herold reminds us:

Full coverage of the awards, including an overview, editorial commentary,
thirty additional poems that merit inclusion in the “special mention”
section, and comments by several voters will all be presented along with
the four quarterly issues in their entirety in the paper edition of
Volume IX, due to come out early in April.

The cost to purchase a copy of Volume IX is $16 in the United States,
u.s.$18 in Canada or Mexico, and u.s.$20 elsewhere. Please make checks
or money orders payable in U.S. funds to The Heron’s Nest or
Christopher Herold and send to:

The Heron’s Nest
Christopher Herold, Ed.
816 Taft Street
Port Townsend, WA 98368

Click here to see the winning illustrations that will be included in the paper edition of THN IX.

No poet can have more than 8 poems accepted for publication in THN in any year. Only John Stevenson (who is has now taken over as Managing Editor at THN and will no longer by gracing its pages with his poetry) and Yu Chang had 8 poems in THN Volume IX. Carolyn Hall had six. You’ve already seen them here at f/k/a, but here is a reprise of a pair of haiku from each of our aptly-named Honored Guests:

Mother’s Day
filling the bare spots
with nasturtiums

scudding clouds —
the creak of wagon wheels
through Grandfather’s journal

…………………………………………………….. by Carolyn Hall
“deep autumn” – The Heron’s Nest, Vol. IX:2 (June 2007:)
“scudding clouds —” – The Heron’s Nest Vol. IX: 3 (September 2007).

lucky bamboo
a single leaf
tipped with sun

longer days
a nameless bug
on my bicycle

………………. by Yu Chang – The Heron’s Nest, Vol. IX:2 (June 2007)

spring morning —
the hand of a student who
may know the answer

the rooster’s
first five syllables . . .
all he’s got

.… by John Stevenson – The Heron’s Nest, Vol. IX:2 (June 2007)