Poet Profile

Carmel Lively Westerman

I have a BA degree in social work from CSUS. Have a World Haiku Club beginners Diploma and have been writing haiku since 2000. My poetry has been published in many print and online journals, including but not limited to: Paper Wasp, Haijinx, Lyrical Iowa, The Heron's Nest, Nightingale, World Haiku Review, and Go-Shichi-Go. Before I married in 2005, I wrote as Carmel C. Lively.

Awards and Other Honors: Six haiku included in Stand Forth, Compilation of Poems by The Society of Great River Poets (2001); Third place, Louisiana State Fall Festival Poetry Contest (2001); First place, Shiki Haiku Salon Bi-weekly Kukai (Dec. 24, 2000); Honorable Mention, New River Poets, Florida State Poets Assoc. (2001); First place and 3 honorable mentions, First place, Bristol “Parade of Life” Kukai competition at the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol, England (2001); First Place, Shiki Temp Kukai (Dec. 10, 2001); First Place, Haikuworld Shiki Monthly Kukai (April and May 2007)); First, second, and third places, World Haiku Club's St. Valentine's Day Kukai (2004); haiku chosen for the Hamilton Haiku Press Herb Barrett Anthology (2006); my haiku will also soon appear in an anthology of haiku about war, edited by Dimitar Anakiev.

fireflies
a worn path
to the outhouse

summer lightning
a brief view of
two dogs in love

summer's end
the mama cat
shakes off her kittens

slow dripping water
a stray cat cried all night
for a mate

midnight shift
two piss holes
in the snow

garage sale
unraveled flowers
on the kimono

Credits: "fireflies" - 8th Place, Shiki Monthly Kukai (July 2008); "summer's end" - 9th Place, Shiki Monthly Kukai (August 2006); "midnight shift" - Honorable Mention, The First Annual Simply Haiku Winter Kukai (Jan/Feb 2003/2004); "summer lightning" - Haijinx 1:2 (2001); "slow dripping water" - World Haiku Review (August 2001); "garage sale" - The Heron's Nest III:8 (2001)