Poet Details

Carolyn Hall

Carolyn Hall discovered haiku in 1999. Since then her haiku have been widely published and anthologized in the U.S. and abroad. She was co-editor of Mariposa, and served on the editorial staff of The Red Moon Anthology. She served as editor of Acorn, a journal of contemporary haiku (2008-2012) and is an officer of the Haiku Poets of Northern California.

Awards and Other Honors: Featured in A New Resonance 2: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku (Red Moon Press, 2001); Poem of the Year and Poet of the Year, The Heron's Nest Readers' Choice Awards (2005); The Museum of Haiku Literature Award (2006 and 2007); Joint First Prize winner, Snapshot Press Haiku Collection Competition (2004); Second Place, Haiku Society of America's 2007 Mildred Kanterman Memorial Merit Book Awards [for Water Lines, published by Snapshot Press, 2006]; Winner, True Vine Press Autumn Chapbook Contest (2007); Winner, The Haiku Foundation Touchstone Distinguished Book Awards [for How to Paint the Finch’s Song, published by Red Moon Press, 2010]; How to Paint the Finch’s Song was also awarded an Honorable Mention in the 2011 Mildred Kanterman Memorial Merit Book Awards. She received First Place Awards for the following: the Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Award (2005, 2006 and 2010), the Haiku Poets of Northern California Haiku Contest (2000, 2005 and 2009), the HPNC Senryu Contest (2006), the Hawaiian Education Association Humor Contest (2004 and 2006), the Washington Poets Association Contest (2009), and Winner of the Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar Competition (2000-2009 and 2011).

Books Published: One Hundred Gourds (editor), (Two Autumns Press, 2003); Water Lines (Snapshot Press, 2006); In and Out of Shadow (True Vine Press, 2008); How to Paint the Finch's Song (Red Moon Press, 2010); The Doors All Unlocked (Red Moon Press, 2012).

so suddenly winter
baby teeth at the bottom
of the button jar

dog day afternoon
a lemon seed
up through the straw

baiting one fish
with another
autumn dawn

twilight
the poultry truck returns
with empty cages

circle of lamplight
I complete the baby quilt
begun for me

slave cemetery
the tug of the current
on willow fronds

Credits: "so suddenly winter" - The Heron's Nest VII:1 (2005), loose change: Haiku Society of America Members' Anthology [Pamela Miller Ness and Tom Painting, eds.] (Haiku Society of America, 2005), The Heron's Nest VIII:1 (2006), Grand Prize, Favorite Poems: The Heron's Nest Readers' Choice Awards (2006), Water Lines [John Barlow, ed.] (Snapshot Press, 2006), Montage #19 (The Haiku Foundation, 2009); "baiting one fish" - Editors' Choice Award: The Heron's Nest IV:11 (2002), edge of light: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku (Red Moon Press, 2003), Haiku Calendar 2004 [John Barlow, ed.] (Snapshot Press, 2003), Water Lines [John Barlow, ed.] (Snapshot Press, 2006), moonset: the newspaper 3:1 (2007); "circle of lamplight" - The Heron's Nest IX:1 (2007), Haiku Calendar 2008 [John Barlow, ed.] (Snapshot Press, 2007), dust of summers: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku (Red Moon Press, 2007), Haiku--The Sacred Art: A Spiritual Practice in Three Lines, Margaret McGee (Skylight Paths Publishing, 2009), My Neighbor [Paul Miller, ed.] (Two Autumns Press, 2009); "dog day afternoon" - Modern Haiku XXXI:3 (2000), Haiku Light (February 2001), Haiku Calendar 2002 [John Barlow, ed.] (Snapshot Press, 2001), A New Resonance 2: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku [J. Kacian and D. Evetts, eds.] (Red Moon Press, 2001), Water Lines [John Barlow, ed.] (Snapshot Press, 2006), Montage #19 (2009); "twilight" - Editors' Choice Award: The Heron's Nest V:8 (2003), Water Lines [John Barlow, ed.] (Snapshot Press, 2006), Montage #19 (The Haiku Foundation, 2009); How to Paint the Finch's Song (Red Moon Press, 2010); "slave cemetery" - The Heron's Nest Award: The Heron's Nest V:6 (2003), Valentine Awards: Editors' Choice Poem of the Year: The Heron's Nest Vol. VI (2004), tug of the current: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku (Red Moon Press, 2004), Water Lines [John Barlow, ed.] (Snapshot Press, 2006).