Poet Profile

Victor Ortiz

Victor Ortiz, Pushcart Prize nominee, has, until 2018, spent most of his life in southern California, where he earned his Ph.D. in Classics from UCLA and met his wife Mimi, a teacher and artist. Many years ago, he discovered haiku while thinking about how to engage his Latin students in using Latin creatively. He was a panel member of the Touchstone Distinguished Books Award (2020-2023) and is the Washington Regional coordinator for the Haiku Society of America (2022). He served as the curator for the February 2022 edition of The Haiku Foundation’s Haiku of the Day feature.

Awards and Other Honors:

Special Mention, The Heron's Nest Valentine Awards (2002); Runner-up Editors' Choice, The Heron's Nest vol. VII No. 3 (2005); The Scorpion Prize, Roadrunner Haiku Journal issue VI:3 (2006); Commended, Snapshot Press Haiku Collection Competition (2006); Honorable Mention, Mainichi Daily Newspaper 12th and 21st Annual Haiku Contests (2008, 2018); Runner-up, Haiku Now! International Haiku Contest, Traditional Category [Billy Collins, judge] (The Haiku Foundation, 2010); Two Autumns Reading: San Francisco, CA, August 22, 2010 [one of four featured readers]; Haiku 21 and Haiku 2015, 2020, 2021 (Modern Haiku Press, 2011, 2015, 2020, 2021); Honorable Mention, Haiku Society of America Merit Book Award 2013, [for Into Borrego Valley] (2013); work selected for Nest Feathers: Selected Haiku from the First 15 Years of The Heron’s Nest (2015); Best of Issue, Modern Haiku vol. 47 No. 3 (2016); Honorable Mention, Second Annual Jane Reichhold Haiga Contest (2017); The Wonder Code (2017); Editor’s Choice, The Heron’s Nest Award vol. XXI No. 1 (2019); The Heron’s Nest Poem and Poet of the Year [Reader’s Choice] Awards (2019); The Red Moon Anthology of English Language Haiku (2005, 2007, 2011, 2019, 2020, 2021).

Books Published:

Into Breath (Red Moon Press 2002); Into Borrego Valley (Red Moon Press 2012); Hidden from Moonlight (responsive haiku with mezzotint and book artist Mikio Watanabe, Nantes, France 2012); Rippling Fragrance (responsive haiku with mezzotint and book artist Mikio Watanabe, Nantes, France 2015); Mirage (responsive haiku with mezzotint and book artist Mikio Watanabe, Nantes, France 2017); Butterfly Dreams (responsive haiku with mezzotint and book artist Mikio Watanabe, Nantes, France 2019).

suture scars along her spine pink panties

summer stars
we pick out
our house

the lingering scent
of sharpened pencils
spring night

inside a prayer the scent of rain

mother's hospital room
shadows the same length
day and night

windy ridge
a rusty bed frame
in winter light

Credits:

"suture scars" - Frogpond vol. XXVII No. 2 (2004); tug of the current: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2004 (Red Moon Press, 2005); "summer stars" - The Heron's Nest vol. VIII No. 2 (2006); big sky: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2006 (Red Moon Press, 2007); "the lingering scent" - Modern Haiku vol. 47 No. 3 (2016) [Best of Issue Award, announced in Modern Haiku vol. 48 No. 1 (2017)]; "inside" - Editor’s Choice, The Heron’s Nest Award vol. XXI No. 1 (2019) [Poem of the Year Reader’s Choice Award]; "mother's hospital room" - Acorn issue #26 (2011); carving darkness: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2011 (Red Moon Press, 2012); "windy ridge" - Scorpion Prize, Roadrunner Haiku Journal issue VI:3 (2006).