Northern Lights

With the 1995 conference, Haiku North America visited Canada for the first time, taking place at Ryerson Polytechnic in Toronto, Ontario. This conference’s anthology is divided into two sections, the first with more of a view towards nature and the seasons, titled “Northern Lights”; the second with more of a focus on senryu, titled “Northern Lights.” Here’s a quotation from the introduction: “Whether you are the lone haiku voice in an isolated town, or one of many talented poets in a single city enjoying much camaraderie, haiku is its own reward.” See the Press Here page for this book. The following are fourteen sample poems from the book.

spring breeze—

some of the seedlings turn over

in the road

                Bruce Ross

                Rochester, New York

view windows

behind the guest speaker

wind twists the leaves

                Francine Porad

                Mercer Island, Washington

The river forks . . .

our raft drifts

through summer clouds

                Garry Gay

                Windsor, California

sss-pit, sss-pit

goes the sprinkler

among the cherry trees

                George Swede

                Toronto, Ontario

autumn sunset—

a berry between the toes

of a titmouse

                Jeff Witkin

                Potomac, Maryland

barefoot in wet grass

the soft bursting

of the slug

                Karen Sohne

                Amityville, New York

country road . . .

slanted sunbeams following

the pickup truck

                Kenneth C. Leibman

                Archer, Florida

dusk at winter’s end

the cardinal’s color

goes into its song

                LeRoy Gorman

                Napanee, Ontario

at the haiku workshop

everyone an expert

                Margaret Saunders

                Hamilton, Ontario

cool sunset—

on the footpath

a punctured balloon

                Martin Lucas

                Lancaster, England

cedar waxwings

in the hawthorn tree

red berry stains on the snow

                Patricia Neubauer

                Allentown, Pennsylvania

       steam rising

after the snow squall:

    buds on the lilac

                Timothy Russell

                Toronto, Ohio

summer solstice

          the cat wakes up

          a few minutes early

                William J. Higginson

                Santa Fe, New Mexico

a dark path

across the lawn

ends in a snowman

                Winona Baker

                Nanaimo, British Columbia