Poet Profile

Valorie Broadhurst Woerdehoff

Valorie Broadhurst (Breyfogle) Woerdehoff was raised in Northern California and has worked in higher education for over 30 years. She holds a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in English Writing and a Master’s of Arts degree in Theology, both from Loras College, Dubuque, Iowa. She has been writing haiku and other short forms since 1982, and her work has been published in numerous journals and anthologies. The mother of five children, she is married to Thomas.

Awards and Other Honors: Haiku selected for inclusion in Midwest Haiku Anthology [Randy M. Brooks and Lee Gurga, editors] (High/Coo Press, 1992); Haiku Moment: An Anthology of Contemporary North American Haiku [Bruce Ross, editor] (Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc., 1993); and A Vast Sky: An Anthology of Contemporary World Haiku [Bruce Ross, Kōko Katō, Dietmar Tauchner, Patricia Prime, Editors] (Tancho Press, 2015). Other awards include Honorable Mention [Hawaiian word], Hawaii Education Association (1995); First Place (with Connie Meester), Northern California Haiku Poets International Rengay Contest (1995); Honorable Mention (3 haiku), Haiku Splash (1996); First Place [humorous], Hawaii Education Association (1995); First Place, National League of American Pen Women International Poetry Contest - Palomer Chapter (1996); 7th Honorable Mention, Hawaii Education Association (1998); 2nd Honorable Mention [Humorous], Hawaii Education Association (1997); Second Place [Hawaiian word], Hawaii Education Association (2001); Honorable Mention, Gerald Brady Award, Haiku Society of America, 2000); First Place [season word], Hawaii Education Association (2003); one haiku accepted for exhibit, Holmes County Open Air Art Museum, the Inn at Honey Run Haiku Path, Millersburg, Ohio (2015).

in morning fog
the white thistle
blooming

September dusk where the hummingbird is was

in moonlight
a spider web connects
the stars

your fingers touch me …
sunlight on the tree
moves down the trunk

late summer
walking
into our shadows

fog
moving through the woods
and me

Credits: "in morning fog" - Haiku Moment: An Anthology of Contemporary North American Haiku [Bruce Ross, editor] (Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc., 1993); "in moonlight" - Accepted for exhibit, Holmes County Open Air Art Museum, The Inn at Honey Run Haiku Path, Millersburg, Ohio (2015); "late summer" - Haiku Moment: An Anthology of Contemporary North American Haiku [Bruce Ross, editor] (Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc., 1993); "September dusk - Modern Haiku 46:3 (2015); "your fingers touch me" - Honorable Mention, Gerald Brady Award, Haiku Society of America, 2000); Voices and Echoes: Haiku Society of America Members Anthology 2001 (HSA, 2001); "fog" - A Vast Sky: An Anthology of Contemporary World Haiku [Bruce Ross, Kōko Katō, Dietmar Tauchner, Patricia Prime, Editors] (Tancho Press, 2015).