Poet Profile

Joanna Ashwell

Joanna Ashwell’s poems have been widely published in the UK and internationally. She is affiliated with various writing associations such as The British Haiku Society, The American Haiku Society and Tanka societies. She was nominated for a Touchstone Haiku Award in 2021 and won the British Haiku Society Award in 2021. She lives in the North-East of England and enjoys being surrounded by countryside whilst continuing to read and write haiku, tanka, cherita and other related forms. Joanna is on the selection team for the Canadian Tanka Journal Gusts.

Awards and Other Honors:

Runner up in the BHS Awards 2021; shortlisted for a Haiku Touchstone Award in 2021; won the British Haiku Society Award in 2020; Autumn Moon Haiku Contest 2022, Honourable Mention.

Books Published:

American in the Palm of My Hand, contemporary poetry, Flarestack Publishing (1998); Between Moonlight, a haiku collection, Hub Editions (2006); Every Star, Threads and Tanka Strings, independently published , KDP, Amazon (2023).

nightfall
the scrape of boots
the chime of stars

songbird
switching the sky
to blue

bluebells
carrying the drift
of rain into dusk

whiskers
in a pocket
of moonlight

the day’s last rainfall
drifting into darkness
geranium scent

within the song
of a winter wren
another begins

Credits:

“nightfall” - Runner up in the The British Haiku Society Awards 2021; Blithe Spirit Vol. 32, No. 2, May 2022; ”songbird” - Modern Haiku Vol. 54.2, Summer 2023; ”bluebells” - First Prize, The British Haiku Society Awards 2020, published in Blithe Spirit, Vol. 31, No. 2; ”whiskers” - The Heron’s Nest Vol. XXV, No. 1, March 2023; ”the day’s last rainfall” - Presence Issue 61, July 2018; ”within the song” - Shamrock #43, 2020 (Touchstone Individual Poems Short List for 2020).