Poet Profile

Rachel Sutcliffe

English poet and linguist Rachel Marie Sutcliffe was born in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Rachel’s love of language is reflected in her educational qualifications: a BA in Modern Languages, a Postgraduate Certificate in Education and an MA in English. Her studies and work meant Rachel spent some time abroad, first as an English language assistant in Spain, then as a technical English lecturer in France. After her return to England, she worked as an EFL and Spanish lecturer and a language tutor in her home town of Huddersfield.

During her early twenties Rachel was diagnosed with an incurable, immune disorder and her writing, which had once been a pastime, became a form of therapy. Informed by Rachel’s keen observations of both nature and people, her haiku and senryu resonated with readers all over the world.

A former member of the British Haiku Society, Rachel’s work has appeared in numerous print and online journals including A Hundred Gourds, A New Ulster, Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, Bamboo Hut, Blithe Spirit, Brass Bell, Cattails, Failed Haiku, Frogpond, Haiku Commentary, Haikuniverse, Hedgerow, Lynx, Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine, Memori de una Geisha, Never Ending Story, Notes from the Gean, Prune Juice, Shamrock, Per Diem (The Haiku Foundation), Scryptic, Stardust, The Heron's Nest, and The Living Senryu Anthology, The World Haiku Review, The Zen Space and tinywords .

Awards and Other Honors:

Selected for The 9th Yamadera Bashō 2017 Memorial Museum; Work featured on NHK Haiku Masters; Honorable Mention in Wild Plum Haiku Contest 2017; Shortlisted BHS Museum of Haiku Literature Awards 2015; Work selected for big data: The Red Moon Anthology of English-language Haiku 2014 (Red Moon Press 2015); Runner Up Shamrock Readers’ Choice Awards (2014); Journey to Crone (Chuffed Buff Books 2013); The Survivor's Guide To (Brian Wrixon Books 2012); Poets with Voices Strong-In Praise-In Memory-In Ink anthology (Brian Wrixon Books 2012). C.2.2. Anthology of short verse (Yet To Be Named Free Press 2013); and Kigo: Seasonal Words Issues 1 and 2 (Chuffed Buff Books 2014). Short listed for Desmond O'Grady Poetry Competition 2012, White House Limerick Poetry.

Books Published: Author of Flying Free: A Poetic Response to Illness (Misfit Books Press 2018).

morning sun
stroking its warmth
through the old dog's fur

lost in the valley 
listening for the river
to guide us home

wild mushrooms
all the shades
of autumn clouds

dark woods happy to just be

hollow winds 
my thoughts
turn to firewood

evening cool 
the beachcomber’s
cloudy eyes

closing time
still a crowd of pigeons
at the chip shop door

atlas―
all the life
I once had

much weaker now
drawers still full
of a former self

morning stillness
the empty bird table
buried under snow

Credits: “morning sun” - The Heron's Nest vol. XVI Number 3 (September 2014); “lost in the valley” - A Hundred Gourds 4:1 (December 2014); "wild mushrooms" - tinywords Issue 14:2 (October 2014); “dark woods” - Virtual Haiku (August 2018) & Per Diem feature “Loaded”, The Haiku Foundation (October 2018); “evening cool” - The Heron’s Nest Vol. XX Number 4 (December 2018); “hollow winds” - Haiku Commentary (August 19, 2018); "closing time" - The Heron’s Nest Vol. XX Number 3 (September 2018); "atlas" - Cattails 15.1 (March 13, 2015); “much weaker now” - Scryptic Issue 2.4 (December 2018); “morning stillness” - The Heron’s Nest Vol. XX Number 4 (December, 2018).