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Don Baird
Titles published by MET Press:
Haiku Wisdom: Living the Principles and Philosophies of Kung Fu, Haiku and Nature
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Don Baird, shortly after his birth, moved with his family to live on his Grandfather’s ranch in Wyoming. He lived in an old converted chicken coup building for some time. Eventually, he and his family moved to San Diego, California and remained there until he was 19. Since then, Don graduated from UCLA in music performance with an English minor. He began playing clarinet when he was age 8: followed by photography and martial arts. He played in several symphonies but eventually ended up being a studio musician recording for Warner Brothers, Disney, MGM, Paramount and others. He has produced and recorded seven cds during the last ten years. At 15 Baird entered the world of Martial Arts of which remains his primary career today. He has been featured in most of the major magazines such as Inside Kung Fu, Black Belt, and Fighting Stars. In 2009 he was inducted into the Master’s Hall of Fame and was featured in two videos regarding police defensive tactics (Hands On – Police Defensive Tactics). He was badge 1 with a local police department. He owns, operates and teaches his schools today. During his years of training kung fu, Baird became interested in Asian poetry; Chinese and Japanese poetry, both, attracted his eye. Haiku was his first serious endeavor as a poet. While he had written various freestyles of poetry over the years, it was haiku that raced his heart. From haiku, he included haiga (being a photographer), tanka and then haibun. His haiku reached a wonderful point a few years back when he won 3rd Place in the Kusamakura International Haiku Contest two years in a row, 2004 and 2005. Along with that, his poetry has been published in three books and many e-zines, including Ambrosia: Journal of Fine Haiku, World Haiku Review, Notes from the Gean, Simply Haiku, Haijinx and others. He is a Tanka Splendor Award recipient (2008) and a 1stPlace winner in the NHK Radio International Haiku Contest by Sokan Tadashi Kondo (2009). In 2011, April, he placed 1st and 2nd in two divisions of the Shiki Kukai contest. When Baird has free time, he likes lounging on his big, fat green puffy chair and pondering this whole thing called life. Don Baird's website: American School of Martial Arts. Email: kungfuinfo@aol.com
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