Rod Willmot
If I go alone,
I'll lie in the wildflowers
and dream of you
"Prior to 1948 I think I was a hermit thrush somewhere in Algonquin; when reincarnated in Toronto as a human being I felt distinctly out of place. I was born with several incurable diseases - writing in my bones, music in my blood, and an inability to sit still. Spent my youth biting the dust all across Canada. I discovered haiku when a friend edited one of my poems down to the last three lines; since then I've always had the highest regard for brevity and illiterate friends. However, when my book Haiku (1969) was published, I decided to write novels instead."
Foster Jewell
Cows paw at the snow-
turn - and seeing what I am,
go on foraging.
"From 1956 to 1958 I was living in a remote section of the Arkansas Ozarks, tramping the woods in search of black walnut suitable for sculpture - a helpful exercise, also, in awareness of the processes and manifestations taking place in field and forest, and from which came my first book of verses, Strato Lanes in Star Grass, Sangre de Cristo Press, 1959."
Mabelsson Norway
On the top fence-rail
she lights, knocking off some snow-
a common sparrow
"It was in Massachusetts that I was born to my mother, Marysdaughter Mabel, sixty-two years ago. When I was thirteen she took me with my sister, Mabelsdaughter Nan, to France, where for two years I lived and wandered in their company. Since forsaking home at sixteen, I have dwelt for long periods, not only in Massachusetts, but also in Minnesota, Alabama, Florida, Mexico, Alaska, Colorado, New York, Vermont, Hawaii, Peru, and British Columbia, where I an now to be found. The joys and terrors of my shade-loving life are nature, womanhood, and words. As it takes shape in me, poetry draws its own life directly from the objective logic, from the elementary grammar, of these not unusual passions."
Larry Wiggin
wind:
the long hairs
on my neck
"Born in Northfield, New Hampshire, November 15, 1919 ... usual schooling ... served in the Army during World War Two, in the South Pacific ... taught elementary school for four years ... operated a dairy farm for thirteen years ... am a certified Swedish Masseur, practicing since 1963 ... am presently in Laconia, New Hampshire.
"Interested in brevity, started with short stories of Hemingway ... interest in haiku began with a Peter Pauper Press edition of The Four Seasons, a collection of Japanese haiku ... dislike detail in writing, save a necessary scientific explanation of how something works, or how to open and cook a package of frozen peas ... believe the majority of poets get carried away with their wan rhetoric and what they have to say could be said in half the space ... Bible is an excellent example of compression of expression.
"Note: was asked to write this sketch in first person, and so I have, leaving the "I" understood. Hate the damn word, personally!"
(*) The Haiku Anthology
Edited by Cor Van Den Heuvel
Anchor Books, 1974