Poet Profile

Tim Gardiner

Dr Tim Gardiner is an ecologist, poet and children's author from Manningtree in Essex, UK. His haiku have been published in over 100 print and online magazines including Frogpond, Modern Haiku and The Heron's Nest and he has been widely anthologised. Tim has had over 1000 poems published in the last decade. His first collection of poetry, Wilderness, was published by Brambleby Books in 2015, with a second, On the Edge, appearing in 2017. Tim's debut children's book, The Voyage of the Queen Bee, was published by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust in 2016, with a second released in 2017, Geronimo the Grasshopper, by the Essex Field Club.

Awards and Other Honors: PhD Grassland Management for Grasshoppers (2006) University of Essex; Fellow of the British Naturalists' Association (2007); Shortlisted for the Amateur Entomologists' Society Hammond Award (2011); recipient of David Bellamy Award (2013) for distinction in natural history; included in Who's Who in the World (2018); British Haiku Society Tanka Awards (2014/15) included in anthology; nominated (for railroad worm) for Haiku Foundation Touchstone Awards (2016); Runner up in Museum of Haiku Literature Award, Blithe Spirit vol. 26 No. 4 (2016) and vol. 27 No. 4 (2017); included in Europe's Top 100 Haiku Poets (2015-17); included in The Mainichi Haiku in English Best of 2015 (1 poem), of 2016 (2 poems) and of 2017 (1 poem). Editor's Choice (for haiku and haibun), Cattails (2017); Honorary Mention, Wivenhoe Off the Rails Christmas Competition (2017); Scryptic Halloween Contest Winner with The Haunted Mere (2017); Suffolk Flora Preservation Trust Poetry Competition Winner with Debris (2018).

Books Published: Poetry collections: Wilderness (2015), Brambleby Books; On the Edge (2017) Brambleby Books; The Flintknapper's Ghost (2018) Alba Publishing.

hilltop abbey
a midsummer mass
of fireflies

bottle digging
by the derelict jetty
long summer night

overhanging ledge the loneliness of wind

the distance   between us   trawler gulls

for dad
the smaller cairn
on the summit 

distant hill
a swallowtail butterfly
obscures the view

Credits: “hilltop abbey” – Acorn No.40, 2018; “bottle digging” – Modern Haiku vol. 46.3, 2015; “overhanging ledge” – Frogpond vol. 37.3, 2014; “the distance” – The Heron's Nest, vol. 18.1, March 2016; “for dad ” – Frogpond vol. 39.3, 2016; “distant hill” – The Heron's Nest vol. 17.4, Dec. 2015.