Shades of Green

First published in Woodnotes #31, Autumn 1997, page 55. See the Press Here page for this book, read the introduction, and read sample poems.

Shades of Green edited by Michael Dylan Welch. Press Here, 1997, 5½ by 8½ inches, 24 pages. $7.00 postpaid from Press Here, P.O. Box 4014, Foster City, California 94404 [address no longer correct]. The fourth biennial Haiku North America conference met in Portland, Oregon this past July [1997], and once again celebrated haiku and related poetry. This year’s anthology of haiku by conference attendees, edited and introduced by Michael Dylan Welch, includes a record number of 63 poems, including translations by Janine Beichman, Steven Carter, and Sam Hamill. The book presents two, three, or four haiku to a page on elegant light green paper. In recognition of their efforts to make the conference the success that it was, here are sample poems from each of the principal organizers of Haiku North America 1997—Margaret Chula, Cherie Hunter Day, and Ce Rosenow:

the morning after—

cutting only the orchids

flattened by rain

a visit with my father . . .

beneath an outdoor spigot

the tall grass

rising mist—

flood waters reach

another slat in the fence