Poet Profile

Garry Gay

Garry Gay received his B.P.A. degree in photography in 1974 and has been a professional photographer since 1977. He started writing haiku in 1975. Greatly influenced by Basho's Narrow Road to the Deep North, he has steadily written haiku ever since. In 1989 he became one of the co-founders of the Haiku Poets of Northern California (HPNC) as well as their first president from 1989-90; and was elected again from 2001-2009. As HPNC president he founded the Two Autumns reading series. In 1991 he was elected as President of the Haiku Society of America. Additionally in 1991 he founded Haiku North America, a biennial haiku conference that celebrated its tenth anniversary in Ottawa, Canada, in 2009. In 1996, Garry co-founded the American Haiku Archives in Sacramento, California. He is the creator of the poetic form called Rengay. His work has been published in nearly every English-language haiku journal. He currently lives in the California wine country with his wife Melinda and daughter Alissa.

Awards and Other Honors: Garry has won numerous awards, including first place in the Robert Spiess Award in 2004, and a Sakura Award at the 2009 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival.

Books Published: The Billboard Cowboy (Smythe-Waithe Press, 1982); The Silent Garden (Smythe-Waithe Press, 1982); Wings of Moonlight (Smythe-Waithe Press, 1993); River Stones (Saki Press, 1998); Along the Way (Snapshot Press, 2000); and The Unlocked Gate [published with John Thompson] (Rengay Press, 2008).

Snowflake’s fall
into the darkness
of the tuba

The trail forks
taking the one
with wild flowers

Reflected
in the sword’s blade
soft summer clouds

Hole in the ozone
my bald spot. . .
sunburned

Along the way
an old oak branch
becomes a walking stick

Family reunion—
again explaining
what a haiku is

Credits: "Snowflake’s fall" - Woodnotes 29 (1996); The Red Moon Anthology 1996 (Red Moon Press, 1997); Gay, The Long Way Home (Web: http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/ggayweb/); Gay, River Stones (Saki Press, 1998); van den Heuvel, The Haiku Anthology (W.W. Norton and Co., 1999); "Reflected" - Woodnotes 16 (1993); Gay, The Long Way Home (Web: http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/ggayweb/); Haïku sans frontières (Web); Gay, River Stones (Saki Press, 1998); Hardy, Haiku: Poetry Ancient and Modern (Tuttle Publishing, 2002); Shreve Memorial Library (Shreveport, La.) Electronic Poetry Network (August 11, 2003); "Along the way" - First Prize, Nature Company "Haiku of the Earth" Contest (1994); Woodnotes 22 (1994); Frogpond 18:3 (1995); Gay, The Long Way Home (Web: http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/ggayweb/); Haïku sans frontières (Web); Along the Way (Snapshot Press, 2000); Hardy, Haiku: Poetry Ancient and Modern (Tuttle Publishing, 2002); "The trail forks" - First Place, Nature Company Haiku for the Earth Contest (1995); Woodnotes 25 (1995); Gay, The Long Way Home (Web: http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/ggayweb/); Haïku sans frontières (Web); Gay, River Stones (Saki Press, 1998); World Haiku Association Web site (October 2002); "Hole in the ozone" - Third Prize, Gerald M. Brady Awards (Haiku Society of America, 1989); Frogpond 12:4 (1989); Frogpond 14:1 (1991); Frogpond 14:3 (1991); San Francisco Haiku Anthology (1992); Fig Newtons: Senryu to Go (Editor, Michael Dylan Welch: Press Here, 1993); Brussels Sprout 11:1 (1994); Higginson, Haiku World: An International Poetry Almanac (Kodansha International Tokyo, New York, London, 1996); Gay, The Long Way Home (Web: http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/ggayweb/); Along the Way (Snapshot Press, 2000); Raku Teapot: Haiku (Raku Teapot Press, 2003); "Family reunion" - Honorable Mention, International People’s Haiku Contest (1997-98); People’s Poetry Letter 4:3 (1998); Along the Way (Snapshot Press, 2000); Gay, The Long Way Home (Web: http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/ggayweb/); Raku Teapot: Haiku (Raku Teapot Press, 2003).