Poet Profile

Patricia Prime

Patricia Prime is co-editor of the New Zealand haiku magazine Kokako, reviews editor of Takahe (NZ) and the online magazine Stylus. She is also assistant editor of the online journal Haibun Today, and one of the editors of The Take Five Tanka Anthologies, 2008 and 2009. She is on the panel of judges of contests for the traditional poetry magazine MetVerse Muse (India). Besides reviewing, and writing poetry and articles, Patricia enjoys interviewing poets and editors and has had several of her interviews published in Takahe and online in Simply Haiku and Stylus. Recent such work includes an article on “The Mindset of Women Poets” and an interview with the acclaimed New Zealand poet, C K Stead.

Awards and Other Honors: 33rd Peace Museum Award (1999); Honorable Mention, Kyoshi Tokutomi Memorial Haiku Contest (2000); Honorable Mention, Have a Go Haiku Contest, Katikati (2001); First Place, Haiga Online (2003); Honorable Mention, Koji Aso Studio, International Haiku Contest (2003); Commended, Yellow Moon (2003); Commended, Yellow Moon (2004); Second Place, Haiku Headlines (2004); Time Haiku Award (Best of Year, 2008); Commended, Kloster Ivanic Haiku Meeting, 5th International Contest for Haiku in English (2008)

Books Published: Every Stone Drop Pebble: Haiku, Catherine Mair, Patricia Prime, R. K. Singh (Bahri Publications, New Delhi, 1999); Deuce: Haiku, Kanwar Dinesh Singh, Patricia Prime (K. K. Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi, 2001)

guarding the brood . . .
a quail’s plume nods
from the fence post

kayaking –
the beginner’s
tentative paddle

tightening her laces
the dancer’s bent leg
in a burst of sun

measuring cups
kindergarten children
wait for rain

light lunch –
even the pigeon
rejects the bruised pear

first cold morning
the smell of mothballs
on her jersey

Credits: "guarding the brood" - Presence 38 (2009); "tightening her laces" - Extinguished Candles (Yuki Teikei Haiku Society Membership Anthology, 2009); "light lunch" - Time Haiku 30 (2009); "kayaking" - paper wasp 14:3 (2008); "measuring cups" - paper wasp 14:4 (2008); "first cold morning" - Time Haiku 26 (2007)