Earthworks

Earthworks features haiku and senryu by 129 attendees of the 2023 Haiku North America conference, held June 28 to July 2, 2023 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Edited by Michael Dylan Welch and Julie Schwerin, this anthology features leading poets writing haiku in English, plus many rising stars, together with photographs by John E. Hancock of Ohio’s ancient Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks that date back more than 1,600 years. The book’s introduction notes that, in solidarity with the presumed purposes of these ancient earthworks, poets at Haiku North America “gather for a poetic sort of worship, and for cultural trade, ritual, and social gathering. We celebrate the spirit of place in many of our poems—the places we come from, the places we visit, and places of the heart.” You can read the entire introduction, see the contributor list, and order the book on Amazon. See also the Press Here page for this book. The following are forty-two sample poems from the anthology, the second largest in Haiku North America’s thirty-two-year history, and with the highest percentage of participation by registered attendees.

a tricky passage

in the sonata

mockingbird song

            Agnes Eva Savich

            Austin, Texas

cross-country train

all the towns

I’m not from

            Alan S. Bridges

            Westford, Massachusetts

a skyline

I no longer recognize

early bluebonnets

            Allyson Whipple

            Saint Louis, Missouri

last rites

how our hands

just know

            Antoinette Cheung

            Vancouver, British Columbia

quarter moon

that part of me

I let you see

            Bona M. Santos

            Los Angeles, California

autumn clarity

a first grader sings

from her swing

            Brad Bennett

            Arlington, Massachusetts

honky-tonk

the unknown stories

scratched into its floor

            Ce Rosenow

            Eugene, Oregon

estranged

I follow my daughter’s life

on the internet

            Christine Lamb Stern

            Bayfield, Wisconsin

Mother’s Day

a pedicure rivaling

the sunset

            Crystal Simone Smith

            Durham, North Carolina

work meeting

in another world

the window washer

            David Grayson

            Alameda, California

country driving

past this little church and that

thinking about sin

            David Oates

            Athens, Georgia

last cast

reeling in

the twilight

            Elliot Nicely

            Lakewood, Ohio

blossoms on the wind her infant spirit carried away

            Francine Banwarth

            Dubuque, Iowa

tornado warning

the old car

finds another gear

            Frank Hooven

            Morrisville, Pennsylvania

trailhead

a gathering

of walking sticks

            Garry Gay

            Santa Rosa, California

heatwave

the crowd at the bus stop

the shape of the shade

            Jacquie Pearce

            Vancouver, British Columbia

deepwoods

the hidden hills

in me

            Jennifer Hambrick

            Columbus, Ohio

cold rain

I am that much more

approximate

            Jim Kacian

            Winchester, Virginia

a rusty lock

on the storm shelter

swirling wheat

            Joe McKeon

            Strongsville, Ohio

peeling eggshells

so quietly you slip

into silence

            Julie Bloss Kelsey

            Germantown, Maryland

enabling

predictive text—

this vee of geese

            Julie Schwerin

            Sun Prairie, Wisconsin