Poet Profile

Merrill Ann Gonzales

Earliest influences: childhood environment; Chinese nurse who taught me brush stroke. Art and poetry my avocation. I have provided art for literary journals for decades together with poetry and haiku. On February 2, 2005 I created snowbird press. . I have a blog featuring my snowbird notes that I have done over the years with other haiku poets (above link).

Awards and Other Honors: Bernard Lionel Einbond Award for Renku [with John Stevenson] (2005) - published in Frogpond 24:2 (2006); Honorable Mention, Harold G. Henderson Award (Haiku Society of America, 2006) - published in Frogpond 30:1 (2007)

stone in my pocket –
the brook cuts deeper
into the mountain

ceaseless rain –
his birthday comes
and goes

still it comes
out of the nor’easter –
the winter wren

before snow
how silent the birds –
sparrow tongue tea

I rake dried leaves
from my garden path –
the smell of mint

moon child –
a different face
each morning

Credits: "stone in my pocket" - Honorable Mention, Harold G. Henderson Award (Haiku Society of America, 2006), Frogpond 30:1 (2007); "still it comes" - A Purple So Deep, an anthology of haiku collected by Leatrice Lifshitz (2001); "I rake dried leaves" - dandelion clocks, Haiku Society of America Member’s Anthology (2008); "ceaseless rain" - Modern Haiku 40.l (2009); "before snow" - Simply Haiku 7:2 (2009); "moon child" - Acorn 23 (2009)