Standing StillMichael Dylan Welch and Ruth Yarrow, editors. Dejah Léger, illustrations. Press Here, Sammamish, Washington, 2011, 36 pages, 74 poets (one poem each), ISBN 978-1-878798-32-9.  The 2011 Haiku North America conference took place August 3 to 7 at Seattle Center, in Seattle, Washington. In this book’s introduction, I wrote that “The 2011 conference theme of ‘Fifty Years of Haiku’ reminds us that it has been five solid decades that English-language haiku has flourished in North America, with the first haiku journal having started in 1963.This theme also connects us to the location of the 2011 conference at Seattle Center, at the foot of Space Needle, which opened for the World’s Fair in 1962.With fifty years of creativity and increasing numbers of poets and poems to celebrate, the Haiku North America conference demonstrates that haiku poets do not stand still in their development and appreciation for this rewarding genre of poetry.” You can also read the entire introduction. Here are thirty-five sample poems from the anthology, with selected illustrations by Dejah Léger. Read Melissa Allen’s report of the 2011 Haiku North America conference.
ebb tide . . . the blue heron wrapped in stillness
Angela Terry Lake Forest Park, Washington
 shipped oars we drift with the jellyfish through her ashes
Billie Dee San Diego, California
barefoot summer . . . a drop of honeysuckle on my tongue
Cara Holman Portland, Oregon
grass shoots deer’s breath just above them
Ce Rosenow Eugene, Oregon
scribbling pens to find one that works winter trees
Cherie Hunter Day Cupertino, California
the electric fan turns from the boxscores to the fashion page and back
Cor van den Heuvel New York, New York
quiet woods— he turns to kiss me through a snowflake
Dejah Léger Shoreline, Washington  sweet grass and cedar: woven when the settlers came her gather basket
Dianne Garcia Seattle, Washington
spring waterfall . . . the morning sun splashes from my hands
Don Baird Palmdale, California
Brisk west wind, yet the meadow grass sways both ways
Don Wentworth Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
流木の軽さ白さや南風吹く ryūboku no karosa shirosa ya minami fuku
the lightness of the driftwood— evening southerly
Emiko Miyashita Kawasaki, Japan
deep ruts under the children’s swing: end of summer
Ernesto V. Epistola Sarasota, Florida
Spring galaxy— the windup robot takes one more step
Garry Gay Windsor, California
Grandma’s face in the window above the sink distant stars
Gene Myers Rockaway, New Jersey
 rowing the stars overhead the stars below
Jay Friedenberg New York, New York
twilight— the crows outlast the gardener
Jay Gelzer Seattle, Washington
first fireworks she turns her face to mine
Joshua Beach Sammamish, Washington
scattered dominos new constellations to disagree about
Katharine Grubb Hawkinson Seattle, Washington
rope swing across the river, across the years
Kathleen Tice Kent, Washington
full moon the fox re-sorts the recycling
kjmunro Whitehorse, Yukon
a light snowfall— grandpa waves his hand on the platform
Makoto Nakanishi Matsuyama, Japan 
city passersby stare at haiku poets standing still
Marilyn Hazelton Allentown, Pennsylvania
midsummer’s day this heavy sweet-bee heat
Marjorie Buettner Chisago City, Minnesota
a show of hands in the jury room . . . winter light
Michael Dylan Welch Sammamish, Washington
癌検査難なし帰路に買う日記 gan kensa nan nashi kiro ni kau nikki
trouble-free cancer exam on the way home I acquire a diary
Minako Noma Matsuyama, Japan
drinking radiation no risk of on the news in Japan drinking rain
Richard Gilbert Kumamoto, Japan
no trespassing . . . prickly pear blooming on both sides of barbed wire
Richard Tice Kent, Washington
sketching wild orchids— slowly I sense their sweet smell
Ruth Yarrow Seattle, Washington
 Mother’s Day— flowers without thorns in the psych ward
Susan Antolin Walnut Creek, California
I tell him he does too much— overflowing flower basket
Tanya McDonald Woodinville, Washington
wood grain of the door suddenly a forest grove inside my room
Terran Campbell Seattle, Washington
a Chopin étude on late-night radio pale lilies in a vase
Terry Ann Carter Ottawa, Ontario
floating mist the odd sound of my new address
Tracy Koretsky Bellevue, Washington
deepening sunset on the sideboard last year’s canned peaches
Wanda D. Cook Hadley, Massachusetts 
numbers on his arm . . . a grandchild asks how he got them
William Scott Galasso Edmonds, Washington
|