Poet Profile

Francis Attard

He is a retired school teacher. His haiku have appeared in the following journals and magazines listed in alphabetical order. His grateful thanks go to Editors, Assistant & Guest Editors, who have read the work & generously provided the space to showcase his writings: The Asahi Shimbun (Asahi Haikuist Network Column), Azami, Blithe Spirit, Envoi, Frogpond, HI Haiku International, HQ Poetry Magazine, Hummingbird Magazine of the Short Poem, KŌ: Haiku Magazine in English, Kokako Magazine, Lynx, The Mainichi (Mainichi Daily News, Mainichi Weekly), Modern Haiku, moonset, Presence, rawne’rvz, Simply Haiku, WKD World Kigo Database.
Acceptances in themselves have been very good feedback, since he has chosen to submit to publications, in a number of countries that have promulgated different house styles.
Currently he is editing notebooks which have been kept over the years to contribute to haiku appreciation/criticism.
He has been a Member of the British Haiku Society since 1997.

Awards and Other Honors:

The KŌ Award for 1998 [First Prize] & 2003 [Second Prize].

Books Published:

dust rearranges itself (Stone Curlew Publishing – Malta, 2007); turn up at the shrine (Stone Curlew Publishing – Malta, 2014).

first autograph book
the ink sketch on page one
father’s moonflowers

with its lineage
in a soldier’s coat
the scarecrow

      in each ring
within each ring as each pebble drops
    vagrant counts the stars 

at the waterfront
a pipe smoker gives the moon
a second look

trim the five-needle bonsai pine Sunday heartbeat

sky partly the purple of eggplants served on  All Souls’ Day

Credits:

“first autograph book” - HQ Poetry Magazine Numbers 35 & 36 (adopted for my signature haiku); “with its lineage” - moonset Final Issue Edition Vol. 6 Issue 1, 2010 (editor an’ya’s choice for haiga; “in each ring” - Hummingbird Vol. XII No. 4, 2002 (editor Phyllis Walsh’s choice for haiga); “at the waterfront” - Blithe Spirit Vol. 18, No. 2, 2008; and picked for: The Humours of Haiku, edited by David Cobb, Iron Press, 2012; “trim the five-needle” - KŌ Vol. 28, No. 4 Autumn-Winter 2013; “sky partly” - The Asahi Shimbun November 2nd, 2018.