Poet Profile

Anna Cates

Anna Cates lives in Ohio with her two cats and teaches English and education online to the graduate level. One hundred of her short form poems appear in the online “Living Haiku Anthology”.

Awards and Other Honors: First place, Indiana State University’s Arion Poetry Contest (Fall 2001); Second place, Cattails Fleeing Words Contest (2015); First place, Caribbean Kigo Kukai Contest (Dec 2015); Third place, UHTS Samurai Haibun Contest, for “Cowan Lake” (2015); Runner up in the Golden Triangle’s Golden Haiku Contest and displayed in flower beds around Washington D.C. (2016); Third Place, Undertow Tanka Review Issue 7—The Competition (Sept 1, 2016); Honorable Mention, Undertow Tanka Review Issue 7—The Competition (Sept 1, 2016); Five awards in Ohio Poetry Day 2016: Third place for Haiku for the Betty Contest, co-first place for the Welcome Aboard Contest, honorable mention for the Heidi Knecht Memorial Contest, honorable mention for the Unexpected Joy Contest, and one of ten equal awards for the Evan Lodge Workshop Contest; First place winner, European Quarterly Kukai (Dec. 2017; First place winner, Ohio Poetry Day 2017: Haiku for Betty Contest; First Place winner, 2017 Cattails UHTS Haibun Contest; Seedpods (Feb 2018).

Books Published: The Meaning of Life: Poems (Cyberwit.net, 2015); The Frog King And Other Fantastic Tales (Cyberwit.net, 2015); The Dark Room, Prolific Press, 2017.

dark pearl 
the wet tongue 
of an oyster

muted neighs—
the country fair scent
of corn dogs

still water
a gull's cry widens 
the sky

summer sky sticky with cold watermelon

creek song 
minnows faithful 
to their shadows

the same crow
the same branch . . .
autumn deepens

Credits: "dark pearl" - Frogpond 38.3 (Autumn 2015); "still water" - Modern Haiku 47.2 (2016); "creek song" - Modern Haiku 47:3 (2016); "muted neighs" - The Heron’s Nest (Sept. 2015); "summer sky" - Acorn: A Journal of Contemporary Haiku 37 (Oct. 2016); "the same crow" - Butterfly Dream (March 2016).