Poet Profile

Jeanne Jorgensen

Jean Anne (Jeanne) Jorgensen was born in a two-room cabin northwest of Abee in Alberta. She is a retired nurse, and comes from a farming background, so got used to having nature as part of her world. She finds it difficult to believe that she has been writing since the age of 8 years, and publishing haiku and related poetry since 1987. Her haiku have been widely published. Jeanne has returned to writing free and rhymed poetry for her grandchildren, as well as short stories. Though she is still writing haiku and related poetry, she is also involved in writing the biographies of her family to include in her genealogy studies.

Awards and Other Honors: Jeanne has received several awards and other honors. Some of her recent work is included in Weathered Wings: An Anthology of Poetry Magpie Haiku & Tanka Poets (Alberta 2014) and in Kamesan’s World Haiku Anthology on War, Violence and Human Rights Violation (2013).

Books Published: New Kid on the Block [haiku and senryu] (1990); Border Crossing [haiku and related poetry] (1993); And So It Was [tanka poems for my father] (1998); A Canopy of Leaves [haiku] (2000); Mother Nature's Heat/a Desert Snake [one-lined linked haiku] (2001); Briefly Snowflakes (King's Road Press, 2001); A Piece of Egg Shell [an anthology of haiku and related work] (Magpie Haiku Poets, 2004).

early May
she pins wet clothes
over spider’s webs

if dry, cracked soil
could let out a sigh
first snowfall

not a surprise
all things in nature decay
 . . . and yet Mt. Fuji

the flash
of a Magpie’s wing
falling snow

early dawn
	stars begin to fade into
scent of lilacs

November morning
Dogwood leaves that still cling
sculpted with hoarfrost

Credits: "early May" - Canada Haiku Anthology (2014); "not a surprise" - Honorable Mention, haiku contest about Mt. Fuji (Japan, 2013); "early dawn" - Hexagon Sampler (2012); "if dry, cracked soil" - Frogpond (2011); "the flash" - Haiku Canada Review (2011) in memory of Bob Spiess; "November morning" - Frogpond (2008).