Poet Profile

Sandra Simpson

Sandra Simpson is secretary of the Katikati Haiku Pathway Committee, editor of Haiku NewZ website and a journalist who also finds time to be a wife and mother and to write haiku (not always in that order). Other interests include walking, reading, gardening and laughing.

Awards and Other Honors:

Winner: Kokako Haiku Contest (2011); Shoreless River Haiku Contest (2011); Touchstone Award (2011); Single Island Press Haiku Contest (2010); co-winner, Snapshot Haiku Calendar Contest (UK, 2009); miniWORDS Haiku Contest (UK, 2008); Kokako Haiku Contest (2008); co-winner, Kokako Haiku Contest (New Zealand, 2006); Second Place: HaikuNow! Contest (2011); Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Award (2011); Friendly St Poets Haiku Contest (2010). Third Place: Kokako Haiku Contest (2011); Robert Frost Haiku Contest (2010); New Zealand Poetry Society International Haiku Contest (2009); Lyrical Passion Haiku Contest (2009); Kusamakura Haiku Competition (2006).
Sandra is featured in A New Resonance 5: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku (Red Moon Press, 2007). Some of her haiku were selected to appear in white lies: the Red Moon Anthology of English-language Haiku 2008 (Red Moon Press, 2009); the taste of nashi [New Zealand haiku anthology] (Windrift, 2008); New Zealand Poetry Society annual anthologies (2002-2009); and the second New Zealand Haiku Anthology (NZPS, 1998).

Books Published:

Sandra’s first collection of haiku, breath, appeared in 2011 and is available by contacting the author.

standing naked
in moonlight―
the taste of nashi

the start of the rain
your fingers
on my back

first kiss―
the cosmos daisies move
hardly at all

one egg
rattling in the pot
autumn rain

photos of her father
in enemy uniform―
the taste of almonds

holding a moth
in your cupped hands
moonrise

Credits:

"standing naked" - The Heron’s Nest VI:4 (2004), A New Resonance 5: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku (Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2007), the taste of nashi (New Zealand Haiku Anthology, Windrift, 2008); "first kiss" - Kokako 11 (2009); "photos of her father" - Notes from the Gean I:1 (2009), Montage #38 (The Haiku Foundation, 2009); "the start of rain" - Kokako 7 (2007), the taste of nashi (New Zealand Haiku Anthology Windrift, 2008); "one egg" – An Editors' Choice, The Heron’s Nest IX:2 (2007), white lies: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku (Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2009), the taste of nashi (New Zealand Haiku Anthology, Windrift, 2008); "holding a moth" - Highly Commended, miniWORDS Writing Competition (2007); the taste of nashi (New Zealand Haiku Anthology, Windrift, 2008).