Poet Profile

Karin Hedetniemi

Karin Hedetniemi is a memoirist, poet, and street photographer from Vancouver Island, Canada. Her creative work is inspired by the sea, a sense of wonder, and ordinary beauty in quiet places. Since 2020, Karin's essays, poems, and photos have appeared in many literary journals. She loves that art can connect humans across time and space, and hopes you find some small, good feeling in these haiku moments.

Awards and Other Honors:

Award of Excellence, 2023 Setouchi-Matsuyama Photo-Haiku Contest; Third Prize, 2022 Betty Drevniok Award, Haiku Canada; Second Prize, 2020 A Little Iris Haiku Contest; Honourable Mention, 2022 Betty Drevniok Award, Haiku Canada; Honourable Mention, 2021 A Little Iris Haiku Contest; Honourable Mention, The Haiku Foundation, Monthly Kukai, August 2021.

hummingbird flash—
ripe raspberry
on my tongue

top step
on a shaky ladder—
sun-warmed peaches

first bouquet
of sweet peas—
her smile at the door

home from hospice
grasses
tall and wild

empty nest—
my fingertips linger
in the hollow

migrating geese—
pulling threads
from a sweater

Credits:

“hummingbird flash” — Haiku Canada Members' Anthology 2021; “top step”, “first bouquet” — Autumn Moon Haiku Journal Issue 4:2, Spring/Summer 2021; “home from hospice” — World Haiku Review, Summer 2021; “empty nest” — Akitsu Quarterly, Winter 2021; “migrating geese” — hedgerow Issue 136, 2021.