Prune Juice: Journal of Senryu and Kyoka 1

ISSN 1945-8886 [Print] ISSN 1945-8894 [Digital]

Issue 1 Winter 2009

E dited by

Alexis Rotella

MODERN ENGLISH TANKA PRESS

Post Office Box 43717

Baltimore, Maryland 21236 USA

www.modernenglishtankapress.com www.themetpress.com

publisher@modernenglishtankapress.com

Prune Juice: Journal of Senryu and Kyoka

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical

means including information storage and retrieval systems

without permission in writing from the publisher, except

by reviewers and scholars who may quote up to six poems.

Prune Juice: Journal of Senryu and Kyoka ,

a biannual print and digital journal,

is dedicated to publishing and promoting

fine senryu and kyoka in English.

Send all submissions and editorial correspondence to:

submissions@prunejuicejournal.com

Prune Juice: Journal of Senryu and Kyoka

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

Published by

MODERN ENGLISH TANKA PRESS

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 2009.

Print Edition ISSN 1945-8886

Digital Edition ISSN1945-8894 [ PDF & HTML versions]

www.prunejuicejournal.com

Editor’s Note

“. . . lewdness and innocence [are] proper subjects of senryu. . . .

nothing is felt as disgusting; all things take their appointed place

in the scheme of things.”

—R.H. Blyth ( Senryu , The Hokuseido Press, 1949)

Welcome to the premier issue of Prune Juice dedicated

solely to senryu and kyoka. Gathered here are well

known and not so well known writers sharing their

funny and not so funny moments.

Several months ago as Denis Garrison and I were

chatting over e mail, he said, “Alexis, you should start

your own senryu journal.”

“If you publish it, I will,” was my response and within

seconds the deal was made—I would become an editor

of a form I dearly love, but that I would also include

kyoka, a form M. Kei, editor of Atlas Poetica , has

promoted.

R.H. Blyth wrote in 1949 in Senryu (The Hokuseido

Press) that the Japanese had a low opinion of senryu,

that people were more inclined to escape from cold

hard reality by writing and reading haiku. He stated,

“Senryu brings us back to here and now; haiku is that

‘something evermore about to be.’” It seems that there

are still people in our own culture that tend to turn up

their noses at senryu, as though meanness and

bitterness have no place in the form and such emotive

expressions do not belong to the collective

unconscious.

A critic recently wrote that if he were at the same party

as I, he would hide behind a potted plant. Apparently

he was uncomfortable with a woman who dances with

the shadow. Perhaps it’s time for us all to come out of

hiding, to report what we really see and feel. While

senryu is a discipline, it’s also an outlet, a therapy of

sorts. When they’re funny, they release endorphins (the

feel good hormones), and when they’re sad, they may

release some pent up tears (release of toxins and

energy). If a senryu or kyoka makes us angry it may be

pointing to a part of us that is hiding, that wants a

voice. As Jung would say, what bothers us about what’s

“out there,” is really what’s bothering us “in here.”

For those of you familiar with Rumi’s THE GUEST

HOUSE, its sentiments best describe my philosophy

for Prune Juice (You can read the poem in its entirety in

Coleman Bark’s translations of The Essential Rumi ).

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

. . . invite them in.

Every emotion in Prune Juice is welcome and I hope this

issue inspires you to step up, to come and mingle with

the rest of us—to make a toast with a glass of prune

juice in honor of the plum blossoms who, without that

delicious metaphorical elixir that gets things moving,

would not exist. And if you are one who hides behind

a potted plant, come out come out whoever you are.

Your most inner feelings and poems are welcome here;

they are our honored guests.

—Alexis Rotella

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

celibacy—

sounded like a fine idea

until that last beer . . .

Hortensia Anderson

5

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

on-phone hold—

between doodles

my swear words

a n’ya

6

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

blind date—

the jangle

of handcuffs

Roberta Beary

7

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

a good gut feeling . . .

my mother and I

making sausage

Brenda Bechtel

8

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first draft

Janus

at the door

Brenda Bechtel

9

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

the undertaker smiles

and pats his belly—

never short of customers

Bob Brill

10

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dark night

the astrologer

counts her trines

Helen Buckingham

11

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hey life

not so fast

let me get

my shoes on

comb my hair

Miriam Chaikin

12

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i watch television

most evenings

to keep me

away

from myself

Miriam Chaikin

13

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

at the Uffizzi

a feather duster

props up a window

Miriam Chaikin

14

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no call, no mail

so much nothing

after so much much

Miriam Chaikin

15

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

Instead of an air conditioner . . .

I return

with popsicles

Tom Clausen

16

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Sunday football—

the neighbor’s leaf blower

silent at last.

Ellen Coffin

17

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

Sunday morning

a flowered hat

on the old mule

Carlos Carlon

18

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

pre-college shopping

car salesman tells my daughter,

“This one’ll do 100”

Carlos Carlon

19

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

mouthful of roast beef

I mumble

grace

Carlos Carlon

20

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

abandoned car

with 300 lbs of marijuana—

COOL!

Raffael DeGruttola

21

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

almost asleep

remembering

what I forgot at the store

Deborah Finkelstein

22

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not knowing

what to say

I wash his dishes

Melissa J. Fowle

23

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

newborn

her tiny helpless hands

open and close

I kiss them lightly

while they are still pure

Denis M. Garrison

24

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this bar hag

with crusted makeup

someone’s daughter

Denis M. Garrison

25

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

wishing-well’s owner

rakes in the coins—

a wish comes true

Denis M. Garrison

26

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

before the mirror

in his dead mother’s

long red dress,

he feels, he sadly admits,

she looked much better in it

Sanford Goldstein

27

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blind date

flowers brought

for my mother

Michele L. Harvey

28

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

I invite him

to join me

in my double kayak—

next day he telephones,

asks to borrow it

Peggy Heinrich

29

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first love

she gives him back

his favorite marble

Carolyn M. Hinderliter

30

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

as far as the eye Kansas

Jim Kacian

31

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morning after—

what’s left of the cheese

has a bite

Jim Kacian

32

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

new to the group—

sitting in back with

the artificial plants

Jim Kacian

33

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

picking up

the toothpicks

you spilled

I hear each one

laughing

Jeanne Emrich

34

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

cleared for takeoff

a flight attendant

adjusts her bra strap

Bill Kenney

35

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

singles bar

she tells him she always

picks losers

Bill Kenney

36

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

Hey, Mona Lisa, baby!

Come to America!

We’ll augment your breasts,

dye your hair blonde,

and get you some nice lingerie!

M. Kei

37

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

male model in

a patriotic jockstrap—

I just hope

the flag doesn’t

start waving

M. Kei

38

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

October

green-faced witches

at work—

and isn’t just

the costumes

M. Kei

39

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while Janis Joplin

cries a little bit longer,

I peel an onion

M. Kei

40

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

I’m a mild rogue:

your pocketbook is safe

but your chocolate is not

M. Kei

41

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five cats!

how happy my daughter

on this visit

M. Kei

42

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

wisteria trees in bloom—

I almost wreck the rental car

M. Kei

43

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

a cute woman

in a short skirt walks past:

some things

let a man know

he’s still alive

M. Kei

44

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

I don’t live alone,

I have a roommate named

‘Poverty.’

If only he would get married

and move out!

M. Kei

45

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sandy beach

he assures me my investments

are rock solid

Michael Ketchek

46

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pond scum—

then again we can’t

all be swans

Michael Ketchek

47

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

my upstairs neighbor

who tries to help

girls on the street—

the last one stole

his Buddha

Angela Leuck

48

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

college friend—

no matter what I go through

she always

betters me

in the school of hard knocks

Angela Leuck

49

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

the ex-girlfrend

who showed up

on their doorstep

with no place to stay—

Christmas Eve

Angela Leuck

50

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

two months

I wait to hear

from him

then a card

with my name spelled wrong

Angela Leuck

51

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

taking her budgie

with her wherever

she goes—

the spinster aunt who lost

her true love

Angela Leuck

52

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

after the dinner

I prepared just for him

he goes home

to his wife

for a second meal

Angela Leuck

53

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

no need

for an indoor

Zen water fountain

we have our own

leaky kitchen faucet

Angela Leuck

54

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

movie night—

the born again Christian

takes a bathroom break

during

every love scene

Angela Leuck

55

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

February morning—

an ad for citrus-

flavored condoms

Angela Leuck

56

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

Monday night—

lone man at the Burger King

draws a Buddha

Angela Leuck

57

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

swans stretching

in the window

of the ballet school

Angela Leuck

58

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

jumping higher

than her daughter—the mother

in the tiger-skin top

Angela Leuck

59

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

the pregnant woman

sharing her umbrella

with a stranger

Angela Leuck

60

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

rush hour—

a man stops

to untangle his rosary

Angela Leuck

61

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

the Dow drops again

the financial section

lines the bird cage

Bob Lucky

62

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

watching cockfights

on Filipino tv,

strangely unable

to turn it off—we forget

the chicken in the oven

Bob Lucky

63

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at a taquería

near my parents’ house

an old man

asks in Spanish

for an English menu

Bob Lucky

64

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

Thanksgiving alone

he takes an extra helping

of Wild Turkey

Scott Mason

65

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

just so

he’d know

she’d been crying—

fuller, curvier,

longer lashes

Michael McClintock

66

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

the pulley-wheel squeaks

lowering the coffin

into the tomb

Michael McClintock

67

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

feeling uneasy

and walking faster

past the cardboard sign

taped to a tree—

“Pit Bulls 4 Sale”

Michael McClintock

68

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

when bankers

jumped out

of windows—

those were the good

old days

Michael McClintock

69

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

aging beauty . . .

once she had a pin

for every sweater

and a boy for each

night of the week

Michael McClintock

70

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

the box instructions

clearly describe how to make

elbow macaroni

mixed with cheese—

the stuff of modern poetry

Michael McClintock

71

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

Sunday walk—

a man in a wheelchair

passes me

Mike Montreuil

72

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

mascara stick

on the bus stop bench—

prom night

Mike Montreuil

73

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

Thanksgiving dinner

a separate table

for the ex and in laws

Renée Owen

74

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

Girl Scout camp—

three squares a day

of Spam

Renée Owen

75

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

flight over—

if I can just survive

Dad’s driving

Christopher Patchell

76

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

potlatch gathering

among the elders

microwaved venison

Stephen A. Peters

77

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zen retreat

the instructor

searches the internet

Stephen A. Peters

78

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

job interview

my chair

a bit lower than hers

Stephen A. Peters

79

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

woke this morning

cradled

in the upper branches

of a tree

—no more wine for me

this warm

february day

is only a tease

mother nature

lifting her skirt

above her knees

Al Pizzarelli

80

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

“When you’re dead, your dead!”

I say

a sad silence

falls among the guests…

“tennis anyone?”

choka (a song)

well worn ruts

over here over there

they drive me nuts

well worn ruts

Al Pizzarelli

81

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

The goldfinch

at the bird feeder

is gone,

but our relatives

are here . . . to stay.

David Pope

82

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

Lugano gardens

recognizing cooking greens

in the flower beds

Bruce Ross

83

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

School of Leonardo

the fresco “Last Supper”

has bread chunks

Bruce Ross

84

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

college reunion,

my old girlfriend

with her lawyer girlfriend

Charles Rossiter

85

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All Hallow’s Eve—

a gay ghost

comes out of the closet.

Alexis Rotella

86

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

Ghastly purple heirlooms—

but with a tinch of salt,

delish!

Alexis Rotella

87

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Halloween party—

I come as I am,

the neighborhood crone.

Alexis Rotella

88

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

Asheville, North Carolina—

even the mechanic

is organic.

Alexis Rotella

89

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Groom late—

he whispers

to his bride,

It was the prune juice,

honey.

Alexis Rotella

90

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

At the Met

three tenors in penguin suits . . .

the one in the middle

flaps his wings

before he hits a high note.

Alexis Rotella

91

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The holiday season begins

early this year

as my family keeps pushing

my buttons as if

I were a vending machine.

Alexis Rotella

92

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

Pearl Harbor anniversary—

Norman Rockwell calendars

sent to a friend in Japan,

one for his daughter,

one for his son.

Alexis Rotella

93

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cat

elegance even when washing

her bum

Eileen Sheehan

94

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

old age home

Guy Simser

95

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hot air seeping

through every crack

cottage outhouse

Guy Simser

96

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

eating blowfish

after retirement

Chiyonofuji*

* Famous sumo Grand Yokozuna 1980-1994

Guy Simser

97

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once again—

Elvis on the radio

Christmas alone

John Soules

98

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

Perseid showers—

if only one wish

would come true

John Soules

99

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

afternoon siesta

the little girl afraid

of grandpa’s snores

André Surridge

100

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

constipation—

the Indian doctor

recommends a good curry

André Surridge

101

PRUNE JUICE : Journal of Senryu & Kyoka

fireworks finale

a mighty rocket explodes

into coloured stars

louder demands

a drunken heckler

André Surridge

102

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

Halloween—

the witch next door

doesn’t have to pretend

Chad Lee Robinson

103

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Halloween band—

all the instruments

out of tune

Chad Lee Robinson

104

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

reading of the will

cremated mother

rematerializes

George Swede

105

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never sunlit

this alley—stench

of lost hopes

George Swede

106

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

at last in his coffin

depressed friend

is smiling

George Swede

107

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the feud continues—

shoveled snow piled high

on the property line

George Swede

108

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

first ice

on mother’s gravestone . . .

her tea time

George Swede

109

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slow day at the hospital

caretakers re-stack

fresh linens

Tony A. Thompson

110

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

Hurricane . . . but still

that Colombian hooker

knows how to walk.

James Tipton

111

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New Year’s Morning . . .

beside me in bed

a stranger wakes up.

James Tipton

112

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

A good day today—

he walked

all the way to the top

not even once putting

both feet on the same step.

James Tipton

113

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A woman at last!

Tonight, old moon,

you will have to sleep alone.

James Tipton

114

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

Cold in the Cuzco plaza—

and the wool gloves

all have short fingers.

James Tipton

115

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Holding her chubby baby

her full brown breasts

also feed the tourists.

James Tipton

116

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

The way she chops coconuts

that woman with the old machete

must still be single.

James Tipton

117

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This is one hot summer night!

I think I want that girl

with the Eskimo Pie.

James Tipton

118

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

When I am dead

who will remember

how beautiful

my mother was

the day I was born?

James Tipton

119

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campaign coverage

on CNN sponsored by

Kaopectate

Charles Trumbull

120

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

just his

midlife crisis . . .

he hopes

Charles Trumbull

121

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my hour is up

the counselor’s new Porsche

parked in the driveway

Charles Trumbull

122

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

writer’s block

the sound of a weed-whacker

closer and closer

Charles Trumbull

123

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yuppie neighborhood

the cops all gather

at the Starbucks

Charles Trumbull

124

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

Roman fashion model:

her nose more prominent

than her breasts

Charles Trumbull

125

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shimmering sun—

the bronze boar’s genitals

rubbed till they’re gold

Charles Trumbull

126

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

the crowd

in the men’s room:

urologists’ convention

Charles Trumbull

127

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Hummer

with a ticket

Schadenfreude

Charles Trumbull

128

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

the soccer mom

uses a motel near the field

to play her own game

Cor van den Heuvel

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a box of chocolates

in the mens’ room trash can

Valentine’s Day

Cor van den Heuvel

130

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

the laughing Buddha

nods his head on my aunt’s shelf

all through the war

Cor van den Heuvel

131

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backyard fence

the neighbor’s barbecue smoke

drops by

Cor van den Heuvel

132

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

flea market

finding an old friend

among the postcards

Cor van den Heuvel

133

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outdoor art show

every other artist has

a blue ribbon

Cor van den Heuvel

134

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

in the greasy spoon

the dishwasher holds up a knife

“Is this a dagger, I see before me?”

Cor van den Heuvel

135

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organic market—

a ponytailed man

and a skin head

speak of caramelized onions

in reverent voices

Linda Ward

136

Issue 1 - Winter 2009

as the train rolls

her mascara

runs

Liam Wilkinson

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Biographical Notes

Hortensia Anderson lives in the East Village in New York

City with her bengal leopard cat, Camellia, and her other

constant companion, Pain.

an’ya is currently the editor of moonset Literary Newspaper and

has been published around the internet as well as in

numerous publications worldwide. She has traveled

extensively but now lives and writes in Oregon, USA.

http://moonsetnewspaper.blogspot.com

Roberta Beary received the William Carlos Williams Finalist

Award (PSA) for her book, The Unworn Necklace (Snapshot

Press.) She is a longtime member of Towpath, haiku poets

of the Chesapeake watershed.

Brenda Bechtel lives on a coastal farm in southern Maine

and teaches at Saint Joseph’s College. An athlete and

passionate about the outdoors, she pursues running, biking

and cross-country skiing.

Bob Brill says, “So glad to be retired. Now I get to play and

what I spend most of my time doing is writing fiction.

Sometimes while lying in bed I find a senryu forming in my

head. This has been happening for about 3 years. I don’t

think it’s contagious, so I continue to socialize, mostly with

other writers, and especially with my wife, who is

sympathetic to my condition and is a writer too.”

Helen Buckingham was born in London and now lives in

Bristol. Her senryu and haiku have been published

throughout the world; she was the sole representative Brit in

A new Resonance 5: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku

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Issue 1 - Winter 2009

(Red Moon Press, 2007). An exhibit of her work is currently

on view at 3LightsGallery .

Miriam Chaikin has written short stories, 30 books for

young readers, and a book of poetry, no moon . . . but fireflies .

Her haiku and tanka appear in print and on the internet.

Tom Clausen lives in Ithaca, New York. He works at

Mann Library, Cornell University where he posts a daily

haiku on the library home page.

Ellen Coffin lives in Arnold, Maryland. Mother,

grandmother, retired state bureaucrat, active nature lover,

backyard birder, opera lover, self-taught mosaicist and an

absolute novice to Japanese poetry.

Carlos Colon has authored 11 chapbooks. He is editor of

Shreve Memorial Library’s Electronic Poetry Network

(http://www.shreve-lib.org/images/Poem.htm). Carlos has

had more than l400 poems published and his poetry is

included in the Let the Good Times Roll@mural in Shreveport,

Louisiana as well as many other places.

Raffael DeGruttola is an editor for Modern Haiga and was a

former President of the Haiku Society of America and

founding member of the Boston Haiku Society. His haiku

and other Japanese poetic forms have been printed

internationally.

Jeanne Emrich is a poet and artist living in Minneapolis,

Minnesota. She is author of The Pleiades at Dawn (Lone Egret

Press, 2007) and also is the webmaster of Tanka Online

(www.tankaonline.com) and Reeds: Contemporary Haiga

(www.reedscontemporaryhaiga.com).

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Deborah Finkelstein is an MFA Creative Writing

Candidate at Goddard College. Her tanka has been published

in Modern English Tanka . She received The Aurorean’s

“Creative Writing Student Outstanding Haiku Award.”

Deborah teaches creative writing and works as an editor.

Melissa J. Fowle is a high school French and Spanish

teacher. She is a member of the Northwest Lousiana Haiku

Society and the Trapped Truth Society. She lives in

Shreveport.

Denis M. Garrison lives by the Chesapeake Bay in

Maryland. His poetry is published in many print and online

journals and in several anthologies. Garrison’s collections of

poetry now in print include Eight Shades of Blue, Hidden River,

Fire Blossoms: The Birth of Haiku Noir , and Sailor in the Rain and

Other Poems .

Sanford Goldstein has been writing tanka for almost fifty

years. He has co-translated several famous Japanese tanka

poets and several Japanese novels and short stories.

Michele L. Harvey is a professional landscape painter,

dividing the year between rural Central New York and

Brooklyn, N.Y., collecting imagery and inspiration.

Peggy Heinrich’s haiku and tanka have appeared in

American Tanka, red lights, Ribbons, Frogpond, moonset and many

other publications and anthologies.

Carolyn M. Hinderliter lives in Phoenix and has been a

member of the Haiku Society of America since 2008. She

has published in Frogpond .

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Jim Kacian is founder of The Haiku Foundation and owner

of Red Moon Press.

M. Kei is an award-winning poet who lives on the Eastern

Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, USA. He crews aboard a

skipjack, a traditional wooden sailboat used to fish for

oysters. He is the editor of the Atlas Poetica: A Journal of Poetry

of Place in Modern English Tanka and the editor-in-chief of the

forthcoming anthology: Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka .

His second poetry collection is Slow Motion: Log of a

Chesapeake Bay Skipjack (2008).

Bill Kenney A retired English professor, he began writing

haiku/senryu in December 2004, one month before his 72nd

birthday. Bill’s work has appeared in numerous online and

print journals and anthologies.

Angela Leuck has been published in journals and

anthologies around the world. She is the author of haiku white

and haiku noir (carve, 2007) and Flower Heart (Blue Ginkgo

Press, 2006). She also edited Rose Haiku for Flower Lovers and

Gardeners (Price-Patterson, 2005), Tulip Haiku (Shoreline,

2004), and, with Maxianne Berger, Sun Through the Blinds:

Montreal Haiku Today (Shoreline, 2003). She is the Vice

President of Haiku Canada and co-founder of Tanka Canada

and its biannual journal Gusts .

Bob Lucky lives with his family in Hangzhou, China, where

he teaches history and occasionally braves the traffic in his

little red car from Great Wall Motors. His work has

appeared in various international journals.

Scott Mason’s work appears regularly in Modern Haiku,

Frogpond, The Heron’s Nest, Acorn, bottle rockets , and elsewhere.

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He has placed first in eight international competitions,

including the Gerald Brady Memorial Award (2007), the

James W. Hackett Award (2005, 2007), and the Betty

Drevniok Award (2003, 2005, 2006).

Michael McClintock resides in Fresno, California. He is

president of the Tanka Society of America and is

contributing editor to Modern English Tanka .

Mike Montreuil lives in Ottawa and on most winter nights

can be found with his son at a hockey rink.

Renee Owen roams remote reaches of northern California

coasts and forests, seeking freedom from concrete and

mini-malls in the wabi sabi of the wild. Along the way,

apparitions from her Southern roots dog her tracks, heckling

until she relents and either utters a fond Hey y’all , or spits

senryu that drive them back into their lair.

Christopher Patchel is a graphic designer who hails from

Brandywine Valley, Pennsylvania (Wyeth country), and

currently lives in Mettawa, Illinois. He first encountered

haiku around 2000 and has been engaged in all of its related

forms ever since.

Stephen A. Peters lives in the Pacific Northwest,

Bellingham, Washington. When the phase of the moon is

right and his ying and yang are somewhat in balance he tries

occasionally to write haiku, senyru and tanka.

Al Pizzarelli is senryu editor for Simply Haiku . He has been

a member of the Haiku Society of America since its early

beginnings. Al is the senryu king, although he doesn’t call

himself that.

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David Pope is from England and lives in Annapolis, Md.

He is a psychiatrist who enjoys studying haiku and tanka at

Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. One of his favorite

poets is William Carlos Williams.

Chad Lee Robinson’s haiku have been published in a

number of journals online and in print, including Acorn, bottle

rockets, Mayfly, Modern Haiku, Frogpond and The Heron’s Nest .

His work has appeared in numerous anthologies, including

Baseball Haiku (Norton, 2007). He has served as the Plains &

Mountains Regional Coordinator for the HSA for the last

three years. Chad lives in Pierre, South Dakota.

Bruce Ross is a humanities educator who lives in Maine. He

edited Haiku Moment, An Anthology of Contemporary North

American Haiku and Journey to the Interior, American Versions of

Haibun . He is also author of How to Haiku, A Writer’s Guide

to Haiku and Related Forms and four collections of haiku, most

recently, summer drizzles . . . haiku and haibun .

Charles Rossiter is an NEA Fellowship recipient and 3-time

Pushcart Prize nominee,who has been writing and publishing

haiku for a long time. He is co-editor, with Jeffrey Winke, of

the Third Coast Haiku Anthology (House of Words, 1978), and

a past guest-editor of Modern Haiku .

Alexis Rotella is on the faculty at Maryland Hall for the

Creative Arts in Annapolis, Md. Former president of the

HSA and editor of Frogpond and founder/editor of Brussels

Sprout , she served as an editor for Modern Haiga in 2008. Her

well known poem PURPLE which appeared in Bernie Siegel,

M.D.’s Love, Magic and Mudpies has just been published in

parable form by Rosenberry Books. Check out her blog at

www.alexisrotella.com.

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Eileen Sheehan is from Ireland. She is current Writer in

Residence with Limerick County. Her work has appeared in

many journals including The Heron’s Nest, Acorn and Frogpond .

Guy Simser’s poems have appeared in more than 40

publications around the world. Awards include the Diane

Brebner Poetry Prize (Canada); Tanka Splendour Prize

(USA); the Special Prize, Hekinan International Haiku

(Japan); plus short story, radio documentary and radio

drama. He serves as co-chair of the August 2009 HNA

Crosscurrents Conference in Ottawa, Canada.

John Soules was born in Toronto and currently lives in

Wingham. His poems have been printed in many journals

including Frogpond, Ribbons, Riverbed, The Heron’s Nest , and

Eucalypt .

André Surridge - Born in Hull, England, André lives in

Hamilton, New Zealand. He is the winner of several writing

awards including the Katikati Haiku Contest, NZ, 2004; 8th

Paper Wasp Jack Stamm Haiku Award, Australia 2006;

Elizabeth Searle Lamb Award for Haiku, USA 2007; Kaji

Aso Tanka Award, USA 2007; Kyoto Museum for World

Peace Award, (Haiku) 2007 and the Florida State Poets

Assoc. Haiku Award 2008.

George Swede has published 28 collections of poetry and

edited six anthologies. He is editor of Frogpond: The Journal of

the Haiku Society of America.

Tony A. Thompson is founder of Wisteria: A Journal of

Haiku, Senryu, & Tanka . His work has appeared in Acorn,

bottle rockets, Modern Haiku and other journals. He lives in the

piney woods of eastern Texas where the muse appears in

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many forms.

James Tipton lives in the tropical mountains of southern

Mexico. He has been publishing for decades in magazines

such as American Tanka, Modern Haiku , and Lynx . His work

has appeared in numerous anthologies including The Haiku

Anthology (Cor van den Heuvel, Doubleday, 1974) and The

Haiku Handbook (William J. Higginson, McGraw-Hill, 1985).

Charles Trumbull semi-retired from Encyclopædia Britannica

in 2007. He began writing haiku in 1991. He has been

newsletter editor and president of the Haiku Society of

America, a founder of the Chicago-area haiku club, an

organizer of Haiku North America—Chicago (2001),

proprietor of Deep North Press, and, since March 2006,

editor of Modern Haiku .

Cor van den Heuvel is the editor of The Haiku Anthology ,

now in its third edition from W.W. Norton. He received the

Shiki International Haiku Award in Matsuyama in 2002 for

his writing and editing of haiku books. His latest book, also

from Norton, is Baseball Haiku , which he co-edited with

Nanae Tamura of Matsuyama.

Linda Jeannette Ward currently lives along the North

Carolina coast. Her most recent publication is Scent of Jasmine

and Brine , (Inkling Press, Canada, 2007), a collection of tanka

funded in part by the North Carolina Arts Council. She has

won several awards for her work, including the 2003 Haiku

Society of America’s Best Book of Haibun award for her

collection a delicate dance of wings (Winfred Press, USA, 2002).

Liam Wilkinson is curator of the 3LIGHTS Gallery of Haiku

& Tanka . He is also editor of Modern Haiga . His poems

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have appeared in such publications as Modern English Tanka,

Atlas Poetica, Ribbons, Presence and Simply Haiku . Liam lives in

Yorkshire, England.

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Also from MODERN ENGLISH TANKA PRESS

Meals at Midnight ! Poems by

Michael McClintock

Jun Fujita, Tanka Pioneer ! Denis

M. Garrison, Ed.

Landfall: Poetry of Place in Mod.

Eng. Tanka ! Denis M. Garrison

and Michael McClintock, Eds.

Lip Prints: Tanka and Other Short

Poems 1979-2007 ! Alexis Rotella

Ouch: Senryu That Bite ! Alexis

Rotella

Eavesdropping: Seasonal Haiku !

Alexis Rotella

Tanka Teachers Guide ! Denis

M. Garrison, Ed.

Five Lines Down: A Landmark in

English Tanka ! Denis M.

Garrison, Ed.

Lilacs After Winter ! Francis Masat

Proposing to the Woman in the

Rear View Mirror ! Haiku &

Senryu by James Tipton.

Abacus: Prose poems, haibun &

short poems ! Gary LeBel

Looking for a Prince: a collection of

senryu and kyoka ! Alexis Rotella

The Tanka Prose Anthology !

Jeffrey Woodward, Ed.

Greetings from Luna Park !

Sedoka, James Roderick Burns

In Two Minds ! Responsive

Tanka by Amelia Fielden and

Kathy Kituai

Sixty Sunflowers: TSA Members’

Anthology 2006-2007 ! Sanford

Goldstein, Ed.

The Dreaming Room: Mod. Eng.

Tanka in Collage and Montage

Sets ! Michael McClintock and

Denis M. Garrison, Eds.

Haiku Harvest 2000-2006 ! Denis

M. Garrison, Ed.

Eight Shades of Blue ! Haiku by

Denis M. Garrison

The Salesman’s Shoes ! Tanka,

James Roderick Burns

Hidden River ! Haiku by Denis M.

Garrison

An Unknown Road ! Haiku by

Adelaide B. Shaw

Slow Motion: The Log of a

Chesapeake Skipjack ! M. Kei

Ash Moon Anthology: Poems on

Aging in Modern English Tanka !

Alexis Rotella & Denis M. Garrison,

Eds.

Fire Blossoms: The Birth of Haiku

Noir ! Denis M. Garrison

Cigarette Butts and Lilacs: tokens

of a heritage ! Tanka by Andrew

Riutta

The Five-Hole Flute: Modern

English Tanka in Sequences and

Sets ! Denis M. Garrison and

Michael McClintock, Eds.

Journals

Sailor in the Rain and Other

Poems ! Denis M. Garrison

Four Decades on My Tanka Road:

Tanka Collections of Sanford

Goldstein ! Sanford Goldstein.

Fran Witham, Ed.

this hunger, tissue-thin: new & sel.

tanka 1995–2005 ! Larry Kimmel

! Modern English Tanka !

! Atlas Poetica !

! Modern Haiga !

! Ambrosia ! Prune Juice !

! Modern Haibun & Tanka Prose !