Poet Profile

Anna Maris

Anna Maris writes haiku in Swedish and English. She has worked as a newspaper editor, publisher, film production manager, film museum manager, radio journalist and educator within life-long-learning. She is an environmentalist and is involved in the international transition movement. Since 2015, she has served as a board member of the Swedish Haiku Society and, beginning in 2016, as the editor of Blåeld, the journal of the SHS. Her poetry has appeared in some 25 poetry anthologies and her haiku has been published in international haiku journals such as Frogpond, Acorn, Mayfly, The Heron's Nest, Modern Haiku, A Hundred Gourds, Shamrock, Chrysanthemum, Haiku, Ardea, Haiku Presence, Fri Haiku, Daily Haiku (cycle 20), Prune Juice, Creatrix, Sonic Boom, Frozen Butterfly, Failed Haiku, the Taj Mahal Review, Cinquesettecinque, Wild Plum, Blåeld, Hedgerow, Moon Bathing (tanka), The Lake, and Brass Bell. Anna also writes tan renga and longer renku with Marcus Liljedahl. Their linked poems have been published in Haiku Presence, Atlas Poetica, A Hundred Gourds, Tiny Words, Sonic Boom, and Skylark.

Awards and Other Honors: Recipient, Visiting Stipend at the house of Henning Mankell, awarded by the Swedish Authors' Union (2017); Honorable mention, 70th anniversary of honorable Basho Awards, City of Iga [the Matsuo Basho Festival haiku contest] (2016); Second Place, 6th Polish International Haiku Competition (2016); Selected for the Euro Top 100 (2016); Honorable Mention [with Marcus Liljedahl for nijuin "Northern Lights"], Bernhard Lionel Einbond Memorial Renku Awards (Haiku Society of America, 2016); Honorable Mention [senryu], 4th International Matsuo Basho Awards (2016); Judges Award, 27th ITO EN Oi Ocha New Haiku Contest (2016); Runner-up, Golden Triangle Haiku Contest (2016); Winner [October], The Haiku Calendar Competition 2016; Commended Poem, Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest (2016); Honorable Mention, Ukiahhaiku [Jane Reichhold category] (2016); work selected for galaxy of dust: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2015 (Red Moon Press, 2016); Honorable Mention, 69th anniversary of Honorable Basho Awards, by the City of Iga [the Matsuo Basho Festival haiku contest] (2015); Honorable Mention, 26th ITO EN Oi Ocha New Haiku Contest (2015); Writer in Residence, Julius Bomholts Digterhjemmet, awarded by Esbjergs Kommune in Denmark (2015); work selected for big data: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2014 (Red Moon Press, 2015); selected for "the European Top 100 most creative haiku authors 2015"; Recipient, Visiting Stipend at the house of Julius Bomholt at Fanö in Denmark, awarded by the Municipality of Esbjerg (2015); Recipient, Visiting Stipend, Källskär, awarded by the Cultural Ministry/Kulturbyrån, in Åland (2014); work selected for fear of dancing: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2013 (Red Moon Press, 2014).

Books Published: Lifedeathetc / Livdödetc [English/Swedish] (Red Moon Press, 2016) [ISBN 978-1-936848-72-0]; Transport [Swedish] (Miders förlag, 2015) [ISBN 9789187576195]; Skiftningar [Swedish] (Miders förlag, 2013) [ISBN 9789197894661].

packing up to leave
everything we have
dead weight

first frost I give a beggar nothing

before the rain
the sound
of bluebells

winter solstice
commuters stand still
on the escalators

home town
in the familiar houses
strangers

bus stop
the old man
never gets on

Credits: "packing up to leave" - Frogpond 37:3 (2014); big data: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2014 (Red Moon Press, 2015); "before the rain" - A Hundred Gourds 4:3 [translated from Swedish to English] (June 2015); "home town" - Mayfly 59 (2015); galaxy of dust: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2015 (Red Moon Press, 2016);; "first frost" - Frogpond 38:2 (2015)"winter solstice" - The Herons Nest XV:4 (December 2013); "bus stop" - Frogpond 36:3 (2013); fear of dancing: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2013 (Red Moon Press, 2014).