Poet Profile

Susan Burch

In October 2013, Susan ventured into the magical world of haiku. After reading so many excellent haiku, she thought to herself, I want to do that, but of course she had no idea what she was doing. So she took a class with Alan Summers, and somewhere along the way, it clicked and she began writing terrible haiku, and then better ones, and finally ones that she was not too embarrassed to share with others. To this day, she continues to strive to write good, powerful haiku, but with her warped sense of humor, most of them turn out to be senryu, which constantly amuse her, and sometimes others too. True haiku is more difficult for her, so when she writes a good one, it is a huge accomplishment, whether it ever gets published or not. There is satisfaction in knowing that she’s captured something exactly as she wanted to...

where do I go 
from here―
abortion clinic

snowstorm
my garden Buddha
becomes Santa

Ferris wheel― 
above everything else
love

morning jogger―
my finger runs laps 
around my coffee mug

washed jeans―
his love  note
still dirty

catching crabs
the hermit itches
for company

Credits: “where do I go” - First Runner Up The 4th Annual Vladimir Devide Haiku Contest 2014; “snowstorm” – 1st Place Winner Golden Triangle Haiku Contest 2014; “Ferris wheel” - Modern Haiku,47:2 Spring 2016; “morning jogger” - GEPPO, vol XLI:2 February-April 2017 and YTHS Anthology 2017; “washed jeans” - honourable mention The 4th Annual Senryu Contest, Sonic Boom, July 2018; “catching crabs” - Failed Haiku, A Journal of English Senryu, Vol.2, Issue 23, Nov.2017.