Poet Profile

Susan Yavaniski

A member of the Route 9 Haiku Group, Haiku Society of America, and Tanka Society of America, her haiku and related short-form poetry regularly appear in notable journals. Her work has been honored by the Polish International Haiku Contest (2022); Autumn Moon Haiku Contest (2022); Golden Haiku Competition, (2023 and 2024); Vancouver Cherry Blossom Haiku Invitational (2024), the Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Award (2024); Haiku Poets of Northern California (2024) and The Tejasvat Award (2024). Her work has been anthologized in upside down, The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2023, Red Moon Press, 2024, and Street Beat, from tsuri-dōrō Press, 2024.
She will be the featured poet on Cornell University’s Mann Library Daily Haiku Page in February 2025.

Awards and Other Honors:

First Place, Haiku Poets of Northern California Haibun Contest 2024 for “A Habit”.

hand-washed
and sun-dried
May morning

days of heat
splitting the melon
between us

snakeskin
i slip out of
my zoom smile

the world around us exploding cattails

giving in to sadness
another load
of darks

a heap of stone
at the field’s far edge
nightfall

Credits:

“hand-washed” – Acorn Issue 53, Fall 2024; Upstate Dim Sum, 2024/ll; “days of heat” – Akitsu Quarterly, Spring/Summer 2024; Haiku of the Day, Troutswirl – The Haiku Foundation Blog, July 13, 2024; “snakeskin” – Golden Haiku Poetry Competition selection, 2023; failed haiku Vol. 8, Issue 88, March 2023; upside down, The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2023, Red Moon Press, 2024; “the world around us” – The Heron’s Nest Vol. XXV, No. 2: June 2023; Under the Basho Personal Best, November 2023; “giving in to sadness” – Upstate Dim Sum, 2024/ll; “a heap of stone” – Upstate Dim Sum, 2024.