Poet Profile

Lisa Espenmiller

Lisa Espenmiller is a visual artist and poet. She is a student of Zen and The Tao, and sits zazen twice a day. Her poetry has been published in Modern Haiku, is/let, Otata, Bones: A Journal for Contemporary Haiku, #FemkuMag, Under the Bashō, Issa’s Untidy Hut, and many other small press journals. Her visual art has been included in several Bay Area solo, two-person, and group exhibitions, and is part of private and public collections throughout the United States. Espenmiller resides with her husband in Oakland.

Awards and Other Honors:

She was accepted into the Squaw Valley Community of Writers poetry residency in 1995. Her haiku were accepted for the 1st (2009) and 2nd (2010) Annual Bashō's Challenge Chapbook edited by Don Wentworth (published by Lilliput Review). Her artwork graced the cover of Otata (No. 13, January, 2017).

sitting
in the pale Winter sun
everything breathing

another dry year
tap water
spills through my hands

endless sky
telephone wires 
make it bearable

eavesdropping
forest
and rain

at home―
small stones
in my pocket

wild sea
when I am ash
pour me in

Credits:

“sitting” - Lilliput Review 2nd Annual Basho’s Haiku Challenge Chapbook; “another dry year“ – Modern Haiku Vol. 46:1, February, 2015; “endless sky“ – Bones: A Journal for Contemporary Haiku Issue 6, March 15, 2015; “eavesdropping“ – Modern Haiku Vol. 48.1 Fall, 2016; “at home“ – Otata 13, January, 2017; “wild sea“ – Otata 37, January, 2019.