Poet Profile

Naia

Naia is a 5th generation native Californian. Her interests include senior dog rescue, photography, Bridge, and genealogy. Naia discovered haiku in 1998 and joined the Southern California Haiku Study Group shortly after it was founded by Jerry Ball. Her haiku, tanka, haiga, haibun, and rengay have been published in a wide variety of journals and anthologies in the US and internationally, including the Basho Festival Anthology (Japan, 2001) and The Ehime Culture Foundation 2001 Shiki Anthology (Japan).
Naia co-founded Haiku San Diego in 2010 and is the group's moderator. Beginning in 2010 and for several years thereafter, she served as California Regional Coordinator for the Haiku Society of America. Naia co-edited the Haiku Society of America's 2002 anthology titled bits of itself, and edited the 2008, 2009, and 2016 anthologies for the Southern California Haiku Study Group. Naia was co-chair for the 2013 Haiku North America Conference in Long Beach, CA, held on board the Queen Mary. She was a guest reader for both the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society's annual "Tea House Reading" (May 2012), and the Haiku Poets of Northern California's annual "Two Autumns Reading" (September 2012).

spring thunder
from the center of a pine stump
a pine

leaving the cabin
for the last time
pine dust on my shoes

heirloom crib
three generations
of tooth marks

twilight mist
more spent dandelions
than I have wishes

spring fog
this feeling of being
untouchable

autumn deepens
the smile in the mirror
more Mother's than mine

Credits:

"spring thunder" - The Heron's Nest Vol. III, Issue 7 (Sept. 2001) - Editor's Choice Award; "leaving the cabin" - Acorn #7 Fall 2001; "heirloom crib" - Frogpond Vol. 35:2 Spring-Summer 2012; "twilight mist" - Eclipse Moon, 2017 Southern California Haiku Study Group Anthology; "spring fog"- Modern Haiku vol. 43.2 summer 2012; "autumn deepens" - La Lune dans les cheveux, Oct. 13 2014, Editions L'iroli, France.