Gregory Longenecker

I began writing poetry as a way to keep in touch with my inner self and the person I am. I have chosen to write, mainly, Japanese short-poetry forms; haiku, haibun, kyoka, senryu and tanka. The title of my recent book, Somewhere Inside Yesterday (a first full-length collection of English-language haiku), came from a haiku which was shortlisted for a Touchstone Award from The Haiku Foundation. I've edited the anthology of the Southern California Haiku Study Group and been chair of the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society's Tokutomi Contest.

Awards and Other Honors: I have twice been awarded First Place in the H. Gene Murtha Senryu Contest (2017 and 2018). Received First Place in the Irish Haiku Society Haiku Contest (2016) and three time received Second Place in the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society's Annual Tokutomi Contest (2012, 2014 and 2018) as well as Honorable Mentions in several other contests. In 2018 I haiku, music box somewhere inside yesterday, was shortlisted for a Touchstone Award. For three years I was editor of the Southern California Haiku Study Group Anthology, been registrar for Haiku North America and the Yuki Teikei Society, Chaired for two years the Yuki Teikei Society's Tokutomi Contest and been a Judge for the Haiku Society of America's Haibun Contest.

Books Published: Somewhere Inside Yesterday, Red Moon Press, 2017.

music box somewhere inside yesterday

prayer book
all the funeral cards
but hers

lingering heat
guitar riffs from
my neighbor's past

beneath the waves
the pearled words
of oysters

equinox
the weight
of dying light

in the end
it's left to her
Piéta

Credits: "music box" - Sonic Boom Issue Eight, April 2017; "prayer book" - Modern Haiku 48:3, 2017; "lingering heat" - Acorn Issue #39, Fall 2017; "beneath the waves" - tinywords 17.1 2017; "equinox" - IHS International Haiku Competition 2016 First Prize; "in the end" - Prune Juice Issue 21, March 2017