Poet Profile

Graham High

Graham High’s poetry is widely represented in magazines and anthologies and he has had four published poetry collections to date, the latest being Wolf on the Third Floor (New Hope International).  He edited the Journal of the British Haiku Society, Blithe Spirit (2005-2008) and has published seven collections of haiku to date through his own publishing outfit, RAM Publications. In his professional life he is a painter and sculptor, with many exhibitions and commissions, both in the UK and abroad. Alongside this activity, he has fitted in a thirty-year career as an Animatronic Model Designer in the Feature Film Industry and has worked on over forty films including ‘Aliens’, ‘The Golden Compass’, ‘The English Patient’, ‘Babe’ and the ‘Harry Potter’ series.

Awards and Other Honors: Received the Writers Inc. citation for ‘Outstanding Services to Literature’ for his work as editor of Blithe Spirit which was placed fifth in a field of over 300 literary journals and magazines in 2007.

Books Published: With Colin Blundell, co-edited the British Haiku Society Haibun Anthology (2007). Has also published, though his own RAM Publications, Blackheath, London, over twenty collections of British haijin including Martin Lucas, David Cobb, Doreen King and Steve Dolphy. He has also published his own work in seven collections as follows: Between the Heartbeats [0-9511386-3-4] (Ram Publications, 2001); Where Two Streams Meet [9511386-7-7] (Ram Publications, 2002); Towing the Breeze [0-911386-8-5] (Ram Publications, 2003); Once Around the Sun [0-911386-5-0] (Ram Publications, 2004); Under The Edge of the Horizon [0-9545630-5-0] (Ram Publications, 2004); A Bigger Ocean [978-0-9551915-5-8] (Ram Publications, 2010).  A photo/haiku book in collaboration with Tony Eva: 36 Views of King’s College Chapel [978-0-9551915-2-7] (Ram Publications/King’s College, Cambridge). The Great Enigma, 45 Haiku by Tomas Transtromer, translated from the Swedish by G. High, 978-0-9551915-0-3, a gift volume].  Besides the above haiku publications Graham High has published four collections of poetry (by Outposts, Athenaeum, and New Hope International) and appears regularly as a poetry reviewer in poetry magazines.

shared intimacy—
along a windswept beach
a bigger ocean

iron age spoil pit
we watch a snipe rise from
the dew-laced heather

moon at the window
the evening still bright enough
to sew that button

wave after wave—
the inexhaustible
moonlight

our time together
crackle of the Christmas tree
in the new year fire

sunrays filtering
through the blades of grass—
I watch your eyelids

Credits: "shared intimacy" - Pumpkins (British Haiku Society members' anthology, 2006); "moon at the window" - Betty Drevniok Award (2005); "our time together" - Modern Haiku 37:3 (2006); "iron age spoil pit" - Presence #40 (2009); "wave after wave" - Blithe Spirit 14:3 (2004); "sunrays filtering" - Reach (August, 2010).