Poet Profile

Eufemia Griffo

Eufemia Griffo is an Italian kindergaten teacher, a poet, a haijin, a novelist and an essayist. She lives in Milan since she was five years old. Currently she lives in Settimo Milanese, near Milan, with her son Ivan and her husband Paolo.
Eufemia writes the short stories since she was very young and made her debut in literature in 2005 winning a first prize with a short story "Piccolo Lupo (Little wolf), inspired by Lakota Indians and the massacre of Wounded Knee of 1890. Since then Eufemia has started winning many literary prizes. The great passion for haiku dates back to 2005. From that moment Eufemia begins to study this poetry, which fascinates her so much. In collaboration with photographers and Milanese painters she was a participant of the exhibition of painting and haiku in Milan in 2005. At the same time she writes short stories, long poems, reviews for magazines, prefaces to books, literary essays and novels. She writes mostly in Italian and in English. She has reviewed in Italy for the first, two unpublished novels of Charlotte Bronte receiving the thanks of The Bronte Society. She has a great passion for Jane Austen and J.R.R. Tolkien. Her poems appear in many anthologies and Italian blogs. She publishes her haiku online and in print journals:Asahi Haikuist Network, Butterfly Dream, Blithe Spirit, Cattails, Charlotte Digregorio's Writer's Blog, Chrysanthemum, Daily Haiga, ephemerae, Failed Haiku, Hedgerow, Wild Voices Anthology, Le Lumachine, The Mainichi, Memorie di una geisha, The Mamba, Modern Haiku, Otata, Presence, Scryptic Magazine, Stardust Haiku, The Haiku Foundation features, Wales Haiku Journal, World Haiku Review, Under the Basho, Temps Libre Magazine, 2nd haiku anthology from IN haiku Mumbai.

Awards and Other Honors: The Mainichi Haiku in English Best of 2017; Honourable mention, My Haiku Pond, June 6th, 2018, Quickie Writing Challenge; Honourable mention and two Haiku of Merit (Neo-classical Haiku and Shintai haiku, Zatsusei section) in Word Haiku Review, 10th Anniversary Issue, March 2018; First Place, Italian haiku competition Giappone svelato (April 2017); First place Italian haiku competition San Pellegrino in fiore (May 2017); First place Italian haiku competition Surrentum (July 2017); First prize Italian haiku competition L'arte in versi (November, 2017); Haiku of merit - Italian National competition Gustavo Pece (Forli 2017); Third place Italian haiku competition La stanza di Erato (Genova 2018); First place Italian Poetry competition Leandro Polverini (Roma 2015); First Place, Italian Poetry competition Prix Doscar (Milano 2016); Honourable mention Italian Poetry competition Prix Doscar (Milano 2017); First prize Italian Poetry competition Camellia Rubra (Montebelluna 2017); Second Place La pelle non dimentica (Santa Maria Nuova 2016); Third place La pelle non dimentica (Santa Maria Nuova 2017), Mention of merit Le figure del pensiero (Certaldo 2018), Mention of merit Italian haiku competition Lampi di luce (Torino 2018); Third place Italian poetry competition Enrichetta Galli (June 2018); Mention of merit Italian poetry competition Castello di Supramonte (June 2018); finalist Italian poetry competition dedicated to Ezra Pound (October, 2018).

Books Published: Anthologies that include my poems and short stories: Nugae, a literary journal dedicated to J.R.R. Tolkien (a collection of poems and literary essays, edited by Edizioni Nugae Salerno, 2008); Bronteana II, III, VII (a collection of poems and short stories dedicated to Bronte’s sisters, Ascea, 2013, 2014, 2018 edited by Maddalena De Leo); Scritto nel vento (a collection of poems and short stories dedicated to world of angels, edited by Occhi di Argo, Agropoli, 2012); Ophelia (a collection of poems and short stories dedicated to Ophelia's myth, a book inspired by the pre-Raphaelite painters, edited by OcchidiArgo, Agropoli, 2013); Fuliggine (a collection of poems and short stories, LargoLibro, Agropoli, 2013); Le pagine del Natale (a collection of poems and short stories, LargoLibro, Agropoli, 2013); Il canto della fata No. 1 and No. 2 (a collection of poems and short stories, inspired by the world of fairies, LargoLibro, Agropoli, 2015 and 2016); E dopo? (a collection of short stories, edited by Le Mezzelane, Santa Maria Nuova, 2017, e-book collection); I racconti di Cultora (a collection of short stories, Historica, Milano, 2016); I racconti segreti della Lombardia (a collection of historical stories, Historica, Milano, 2017); I racconti di Cultora Nord (a collection of short stories, Historica, Milano, 2017); Racconti lombardi (a collection of short stories, Historica, Milano, 2017 and 2018); Favole e fiabe (a collection of fairy tales, Historica, Milano, 2018); Racconti fantasy (a collection of fantasy stories, Historica, Milano, 2018); Racconti storici (a collection of historical stories, Historica, Milano, 2018); Racconti di te all’ora del tè (a collection of short stories dedicated to world of tea, edited by Libreria Ticinium, Voghera, 2018).
Books published: L’eredita di Dracula. Liriche sull’Amore oltre il tempo (The Legacy of Dracula. Lyrics on love over the time; (a poetry collection inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Edizioni della Sera, Roma 2015); Il fiume scorre ancora (The river still flows (a collection of 25 short stories, Milano 2016); Sagome di carta. Le streghe di Triora (Triora's witches - historical novel dedicated to the witchcraft trials, Le Mezzelane Casa Editrice August 2018.

your absence
in my hands
snowdrop

dry ink
the last journey
of a word of love

abandoned house
the deep silence
of forgotten things

frosty wind
the empty nest
of a kingfisher

kakemono . . .
I write my name
next to yours

waterlilies
the first flight
of a dragonfly

Credits: “your absence” – Modern Haiku Vol. 42.2, Summer 2011; “dry ink” – Presence issue 61; July 2018; “abandoned house” – Blithe Spirit Vol. 28, No. 2, 2018; “frosty wind” – The Stardust Haiku Jan. 2018, “kakemono” – Blithe Spirit Vol. 27 No. 4, 2017; “waterlilies” – Modern Haiku, Vol. 49.1, Winter-Spring, 2018.