Selected Haiku & Renku

Selections from A Handful of Pebbles

Many of the haiku in A Handful of Pebbles previously appeared in publications such as:

Acorn, Asahi Haikuist Network, Bits of Itself: HSA Members’ Anthology 2002 (Red Moon Press, 2003), Blithe Spirit, Frogpond, haijinx, Haiku Alpha, Haiku: A Poet’s Guide (Modern Haiku Press, 2003), Haiku Light, In Buddha’s Temple, Mainichi Daily News, Mainichi Shimbun, Modern Haiku, Paper Wasp, pegging the wind: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2002 (Red Moon Press, 2003), Penumbra 2001 (Tallahassee Writers’ Association, 2001), RAW NerVZ, Snapshots, Sol Magazine, South by Southeast, Temps Libres/Free Times, The Haiku Calendar 2002 (Snapshot Press, 2001), The Heron’s Nest, The Japan Economic Review, the loose thread: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2001 (Red Moon Press, 2002), The Writer, Tundra, Voices and Echoes: HSA Members’ Anthology 2001 (Haiku Society of America, 2001), and World Haiku Review.

First Prize, 5th Mainichi Haiku Contest International Section (2001)
The Haiku Calendar 2002 [2001 Contest November Runner-up]
Voices and Echoes: Haiku Society of America Members’ Anthology 2001
the loose thread: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2001
Raku Teapot: Haiku (2003)

small-town laundry
a handful of pebbles
stacked outside

Finalist, Penumbra Haiku Contest 2001

cooking together –
the rosemary and garlic
from our garden

The Heron’s Nest II:7 (2000)
The Haiku Calendar 2002 [2001 Contest May Winner]

night drizzle
one of the porch lizards
finds a niche

Highly Commended
British Haiku Society James W. Hackett International Haiku Award 2001

World Haiku Review I:1 (2001)
Takashi’s Corner: “TOKUSEN” (Poems of Special Merit)
included in Lee Gurga’s Haiku: A Poet’s Guide (2003)
Raku Teapot: Haiku (2003)

haiga from haijinx II:1 (2002)

in-laws visit –
a red dragonfly lands
in the white lily

Runner-up, The Heron’s Nest Award, The Heron’s Nest II:11 (2000)

heat lightning
an armadillo skitters
into a ditch

The Heron’s Nest III:3 (2001)
The Writer, Volume 114, Number 8 (2001 article on haiku today by William J. Higginson)
The Haiku Calendar 2002 [2001 Contest September Runner-up]
Raku Teapot: Haiku (2003)

winter night
finding my pajama bottoms
on my wife

nuit d’hiver
je trouve mon bas de pyjama
sur ma femme

French translation by Serge Tomé
Temps Libres/Free Times (2001)
haijinx I:2 (Summer 2001)
Raku Teapot: Haiku (2003)

first honeysuckle –
the gas edger’s blade
kicks up sparks

SxSE 8:1 (2001)
Raku Teapot: Haiku (2003)

spring clouds –
my son tosses a penny
to the rapids

Honorable Mention in Best Haiku category
World Haiku Club Tournament 2002 (round 1 match 1)

new hammock –
my beer on the other side
of the porch

Modern Haiku Vol XXXII:1 (2001)
the loose thread: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2001

pear blossoms –
shaving for the morning
vasectomy

Snapshots 10 (2002)
dust of summers: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2007

crescent moon
the gas pump handle
steals my warmth

The Heron’s Nest III:5 (2001)
the loose thread: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2001

autumn mist
my neighbor goes inside
without a word

Snapshots 9 (2002)
pegging the wind: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2002

A Handful of Pebbles ($20 ppd) can be ordered from Snapshot Press.

William J Higginson’s Foreword Available Here

A limited number of signed copies ($20 ppd) are available from the author.
If interested, please use the contact form to let Mark know.

Renku

Several of my renku did well in the Haiku Society of America’s Bernard Lionel Einbond Renku Competition.

2001: Grand Prize (“Winter Stars” a kasen by Mark Brooks and Christopher Herold)

2002: Grand Prize (“The Wind Shifts” a kasen by Billie Wilson, Peggy Willis Lyles, Carolyn Hall, and Mark Brooks)

2002: Honorable Mention (“a peacock wanders” a kasen by Mark Brooks and Paul MacNeil)

Some Anthologized Selections

Here are a few haiku not found in A Handful of Pebbles. The first is lovingly illustrated across two pages in Sato’s Erotic Haiku anthology

first date –
she’s tongue-tied
the cherry stem

Asahi Haikuist Network (2000)
Erotic Haiku edited by Hiroaki Sato (2005)

The next haiku was also lovingly illustrated, this time by Zolo as a personal gift and his piece hangs in my office. The haiku itself appears in The World Haiku Club’s Wild Flowers, New Leaves anthology

Wild Flowers, New Leaves, World Haiku Club, edited by Susumu Takiguchi (2002)

And here is another from Wild Flowers, New Leaves

hospice garden –
he counts moonflower buds
before any bloom

Frogpond XXIV:2 (2001)
Wild Flowers, New Leaves, World Haiku Club, edited by Susumu Takiguchi (2002)

I helped with the CD that accompanies the Raku Teapot anthology, Raku Teapot: Haiku. Here’s one of those

a plume of smoke
from the opium incense . . .
Sunday siesta

World Haiku Review I:2 (2001)
Raku Teapot: Haiku (2003)

Though it is not included in A Handful of Pebbles, I also have one haiku in RMA signed Shimi

the crackle
of a radio home run—
Sunday siesta

Frogpond XXVII:3 (2004)
tug of the current: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2004

I will add more haiku soon.