Poet Profile

Michelle V. Alkerton

Michelle V. Alkerton (formerly Lohnes) is an artistic spirit who cannot contain her excitement when inspired. An internationally published poet, she thrives best when close to nature and enjoys the therapy her writing, art, photography and other creative outlets provide.
Her haiku and related forms have been published in various journals and anthologies including Frogpond, Modern Haiku, Acorn and Raw NerVZ Haiku. She also enjoyed publication of some collaborations of linked verse forms with Marlene Mountain, Marco Fraticelli, Suhni California and Barbara A. Taylor.
After more than a decade Michelle has resumed writing and submitting haiku and is pleased that her work continues to be published in both print and online journals.
A sampling of her creativity on flickr

Awards and Other Honors:

Selected as one of the best published in 2001 in the loose thread: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2001 for the septenga "Two Swans" co-written with Marco Fraticelli, published in Haiku Canada Newsletter XIV:2 (2001). Selected as one of the best published in 1999 in the thin curve: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 1999 for her haiku "angels in the snow" published in Acorn #3 (1999). Runner-up for her haiku "sky below me" in The Sea Shell Game #17 on the AHA!POETRY web site (February 1999). First Prize (in a draw) for her haiku "whipped in a funnel" in The Sea Shell Game #13 on the AHA!POETRY web site (August 1998). Runner-up for her haiku "thumb print leaves" in The Sea Shell Game #11 on the AHA!POETRY web site (June 1998).

humid summer day
pink cotton candy
bends its paper cone

before tire tracks
the new snow
in moonlight

falling star–
walking alone
I point it out anyway

angels in the snow
I measure myself
against a stranger

summer bonfire–
smoke blackens
this side of the birch tree

graveyard visit
charcoal rubbing
of a stranger’s epitaph

Credits:

"humid summer day" - Modern Haiku vol. XXIX No. 2 (Summer, 1998); Electronic Poetry Network (November 25, 2009); "falling star" - Tundra 1:1 (1999); "summer bonfire" - Starfish 3 (2000); "before tire tracks" - Frogpond vol. XX No. 3 (December 1997); "angels in the snow" - Acorn 3 (1999); the thin curve: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 1999 (Red Moon Press, 2000); "graveyard visit" - Crinkled Sunshine (Haiku Society of America Members' Anthology, 2000.