Poet Profile

Ron C. Moss

Ron is a visual artist and poet who lives in Tasmania, a place of rugged wilderness and solitary beaches. These natural wonders inspire his art and poetry and his continuing journey into the haiku arts. He’s a member of the Australian Haiku Society and a past Secretary and is regularly a judge and editor of haiku.  Ron works for the Tasmanian Government as a digital technician capturing the State's precious holdings, including early convict records newly classified as of World Heritage value.  He enjoys collaborating with his fellow poets on renku and rengay and other haiku related writings in a variety of shapes and forms. Ron enjoys sharing his art through the practice of haiga, which has been widely published. He has designed several book covers including The Haiku Foundation's Montage: The Book.  Ron is also a Volunteer Fire-Fighter and was recently awarded the Tasmanian Volunteer Medal for diligent service.  He is currently involved in teaching haiku and haiga to adults and school groups and has been guest poet at several festivals around Australia.

Awards and Other Honors: Ron is one of the featured poets in A New Resonance 5: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku (Red Moon Press, 2007). His haiku appear in the Watersmeet Haiku Group Anthology, and his haiga in several editions of Reeds: Contemporary Haiga (Lone Egret Press). Some of his other awards and other honors include: Grand Prize [with Ferris Gilli, Matthew Paul and Paul MacNeil], the Haiku Society of America's Bernard Lionel Einbond Renku Competition (2010); five First Place awards in the Yellow Moon Seed Pearls Contest in haiku, haibun and renku as well as numerous Second Prizes and Honourable Mention awards; various wins and placings for haiga in the World Haiku Association Haiga awards; Winner, the Devonport Poetry Prize -Traditional Section, for a haiku sequence ’Mersey River’; Winner, the Final Words International haiku Competition (2009); Winner, the Zen Garden Haiku Contest (December, 2004); Second Place, the Haiku Society of America's Harold G. Henderson Awards for Haiku (2009); Second Place, the Anita Sadler Weiss Memorial Haiku Awards (2007); First Place, the Shiki Internet Kukai 5th Annual Poets' Choice Kukai [kigo] (2007); Third Place, the Shiki Internet Kukai 3rd Annual Poets' Choice Kukai [free format] (2005); Second Place, the Haiku Society of America's Gerald M. Brady Senryu Awards (2005); Second Place, the Presence Award (2004); Gold Medal, NPAC [haiga] (April 2003); Second Place, the 7th Mainichi Daily News Contest [International Section] (2003).

Books Published: The Bone Carver (Snapshot Press, 2014)

crescent moon
a bone carver sings
to his ancestor

deep into the mountains the road I'm lost on

stargazing . . .
an outback camp oven
glows red

whaling station—
the weight of rust
on the snowline

end of summer—
fire-fighters hug
in the lightness of rain

starry night
what’s left of my life
is enough

Credits: "crescent moon" – Second Place, Harold G. Henderson Awards for Haiku (2009); Frogpond 33:1 (2010); The Bone Carver (Snapshot Press, 2014); "stargazing" – First Place, Haiku Section, Yellow Moon 15 (2004); The Bone Carver (Snapshot Press, 2014); "end of summer" - FreeXpressSion (January 2007); The Bone Carver (Snapshot Press, 2014); "deep" - 3 Lights Feature (April 2009); The Bone Carver (Snapshot Press, 2014); "whaling station" – Second Place, Anita Sadler Weiss Memorial Haiku Awards (2007); The Bone Carver (Snapshot Press, 2014); "starry night" – Winner, Shiki Internet Kukai 5th Annual Poets' Choice Kukai [kigo] (2007); First Place, The Seashell Game (2011); The Bone Carver (Snapshot Press, 2014).