Poet Profile

Peter Jastermsky

The author of seven books of haiku-based writing, Peter Jastermsky lives with his family in the high desert of Southern California, USA. An award-winning cherita poet, Peter’s work has appeared in many journals and anthologies. He is also a Dwarf Star Award and Best of the Net nominee. In 2017, Peter invented a new linked form that is haiku-centered called a split sequence. His recent book, Just Dust and Stone (Velvet Dusk Publishing, 2021) is a collection of collaborative split sequences, co-written with Bryan Rickert. Peter’s other titles include Steel Cut Moon: Haiku & Senryu (Cholla Needles Press, 2019), The Silence We Came For (Yavanika Press, 2020), and Fingerbone Sky (Yavanika Press, 2021).

Books Published:

Steel Cut Moon: Haiku & Senryu (Cholla Needles Press, 2019); No Velcro Here (Yavanika Press, 2019); Failed States (Bones Library, 2020); The Silence We Came For (Yavanika Press, 2020); tyranny of the familiar, with Tiffany Shaw-Diaz (Yavanika Press, 2020); Just Dust and Stone, with Bryan Rickert (Velvet Dusk Publishing, 2021); and Fingerbone Sky (Yavanika Press, 2021).

paths crossing . . . 
a songbird becomes
the wind

breakfast for one
a morning held together  
by sparrows

sagging trellis no one tells on the roses

slack guitar a melody tunes to the moon

where to go next a nose for new blossoms

sloe gin tides a red eye egret

Credits:

“paths crossing” – Butterfly Dream, June 19, 2018; “breakfast for one” - Under the Bashō, March 2019; “sagging trellis” - Blo͞o Outlier Journal Issue #1, December 2020; “slack guitar“ - hedgerow #133, December 2020; “where to go” - Presence #72, March 2022; “sloe gin” - Heliosparrow, February 2022.