Poet Details

John (Jianqing) Zheng

John Zheng, born in the 1950s in China, is founder and editor of Yazoo River Press, Haiku Page, Poetry South, and Valley Voices. He served as president of Mississippi Philological Association (2005, 2007).

Awards and Other Honors: Fulbright Scholar (2009-2010); Literary Arts Fellowship for Excellence in Poetry (Mississippi Arts Commission, 2004); Mississippi Humanities Teacher Award (2003); Winner of the 2001 Slapering Hol Press Chapbook Competition (2001); Winner of the 1994 Georgetown Review Poetry Competition.  Some of Zheng's creative work is showcased on the Southern Arts Federations website: http://www.southernartistry.org/Jianqing_Zheng

Books Published: The Other World of Richard Wright: Perspectives on His Haiku (Edited, UP of Mississippi, 2011); The Landscape of Mind (Slapering Hol Press, 2001); The Porch (Yazoo River Press, 2006); Deltascape (Yazoo River Press, 2006); Found Haiku (Yazoo River Press, 2006); minis (Yazoo River Press, 2008).

sleeping alone
night rain tinkling
an empty can

bamboo shoots
wild geese tip bottoms up
in the fish pond

faint thunder -
the song of cotton pickers
from distant fields

autumn wind
creaking of the windmill
down the stream

I crack an egg
against the bowl rim
sunset plops in

hiking to Makapuu Point
someone's name 
carved in cactus

Credits: "sleeping alone" - Dasoku (2000); "faint thunder" - Haiku Novine 21 (2006); "I crack an egg" - Potpourri 13.3(2001); "bamboo shoots" - Parnassus Literary Journal 23.3 (1999); "autumn wind" - Haiku Reality 4 (2007); "hiking to Makapuu Point" - Shamrock Haiku Journal (Winter 2007).