Poet Profile

Richard C. St Clair

Born and raised in North Dakota, moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1964 to attend Harvard College, received B.A. degree with honors in 1969 and went on to earn Ph.D. in music composition in 1978. Accomplished and recognized composer of modern classical music. Retired concert pianist. Began writing haiku in 1993, first published haiku in Modern Haiku, 1994. Received tutelage in aesthetics of haiku through the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society's GEPPO journal. Member of the Boston Haiku Society for many years. Also active in tanka and renku. Member of Haiku Society of America. Shin Buddhist since 1997.

Awards and Other Honors: First Prize, Kiyoshi Tokutomi Haiku Award (2001); Honorable Mention, Irish Haiku Society International Haiku Competition (2015).

spring sunset
the narrowing road
turns to larkspur

twilight adagio
moving through the ocean fog
cranberry workers

new slant
to an old memory
spring rain

mum’s closet
the March of Dimes folder
half-filled

crowded subway
the pickpocket’s hand
meets mine

morning walk
sundogs
frozen in the sky

Credits: "spring sunset" - Frogpond 37:2 (Spring/Summer 2014); "new slant" - Acorn 32 (Spring 2014); "crowded subway" - Mariposa 29 (Autumn/Winter 2013); "twilight adagio" - First Prize. Kiyoshi Tokutomi Haiku Award (2001); "mum’s closet" - Frogpond 37:1 (Winter 2014); "morning walk" - The Heron's Nest XVI:1 (2014).