Poet Profile

Cynthia Gallaher

Cynthia Gallaher, a Chicago-based poet, largely writes mainstream poetry with a newly found interest in haiku over the last dozen years. She is the author of four full poetry collections, including Epicurean Ecstasy: More Poems About Food, Drink, Herbs and Spices, and three poetry chapbooks, including Drenched. Her award-winning nonfiction/memoir/creativity guide is Frugal Poets’ Guide to Life: How to Live a Poetic Life, Even If You Aren’t a Poet.

Awards and Other Honors:

Haiku honors: Participant in the Haiku Society of America (HSA) Mentorship Program, Jennifer Hambrick, mentor, 2022-23.

Books Published:

(none of which are haiku-based): Epicurean Ecstasy: More Poems About Food, Drink, Herbs & Spices, The Poetry Box Select, perfect bound, Portland, Ore., 2019; Drenched: Poems About Liquids, Pools, Sewers, Saunas, Waterfalls & Floods, Main Street Rag Publishing Company, perfect bound chapbook, Charlotte, N.C., 2018 ; Frugal Poets’ Guide to Life: How to Live a Poetic Life, Even If You Aren’t a Poet, Bookbaby, 280 pp., nonfiction perfect bound print and eBook, 2016; Omnivore Odes: Poems About Food, Herbs and Spices, Finishing Line Press, saddle-stitch chapbook, Georgetown, Kentucky, 2013; Earth Elegance, March/Abrazo Press, perfect bound, Chicago, 2000; Swimmer’s Prayer, Missing Spoke Press, perfect bound, Seattle, 1999; Private, On Purpose, Mulberry Press, saddle-stitch chapbook, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1993; second printing, 1994; Night Ribbons, Polar Bear Press, perfect bound, Chicago, 1989; Pretend It’s All a Movie, Ommation Press, mimeograph chapbook, Chicago, 1976.

jury room . . .
an airplane splits
the winter sky

10-minute nap
lasts a half hour
winter solstice

naked in the hot spring
except for a hat—
first day of winter

scuba diving –
thinking only of my mortgage payment

old guilt
from my dime-store thefts
scent of hawthorn blossoms

collecting milkweed pods
my leather oxfords
split

Credits:

“jury room” – Neverending Story: Butterfly Dream, First English-Chinese Bilingual Haiku and Tanka Blog, Sept. 28, 2014; “10-minute nap” – bottle rockets issue #39, Windsor, Conn., August 2018, USA; “naked in the hot spring” – Frogpond vol. 44:1, Winter 2020; “scuba diving” – Dawn Returns, HSA Haiku Society of America 2022 Members Anthology, October 2022; “old guilt” – Presence Issue #76, July 2023; “collecting milkweed pods” – HSA Haiku Society of America 2024 Members Anthology, October 2024.