Poet Profile

Caroline Giles Banks

Caroline Giles Banks is a cultural anthropologist by training and profession. Dr. Banks was on the faculties of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Her academic teaching, research and publications are in the field of medical anthropology. Her poetry, written in several genres, is often informed by her anthropological training and research.

Awards and Other Honors:

Runner-up, Gerald P. Brady Memorial Senryu Contest (Haiku Society of America, 1988) for "feel the warmth"; Runner-up, Senryu, Kaji Aso Studio, Boston Haiku Society Second Annual Haiku Contest (1989) for "his turn to cook" [this haiku was also selected to appear in Haiku World: An International Poetry Almanac, ed. William J, Higginson (Kodansha International, 1996); First Place – Haiku, The League of Minnesota Poets' Poetry Contest (2003) for "eviction notice"; Editor's Choice, Ekphrasis Challenge #1 (Rattle, 2014) for "the writing spider".

Books Published:

Warm Under the Cat (Wellington Press, 1995); The Clock Chimes (Wellington Press, 2003); The Weight of Whiteness: a Memoir in Poetry (Wellington-Giles Press, 2012); The Clay Jar (Wellington-Giles Press, 2013); Temples, Tigers and Marigolds (Wellington-Giles Press, 2013); Picture a Poem: Ekphrastic and Other Poems(Wellington-Giles Press, 2014); Pressing Matters: Haiku, Senryu and Haibun Poems (Wellington-Giles Press, 2023).

feel the warmth of 
Basho's frogpond
just Xeroxed

first day of autumn
the geese
so sure of the way

his turn to cook
again he can't find
the thyme

communion
I think of
last night's tryst

peace vigil
the candle from
our Ready Response kit

new haiku
warm
under the cat

Credits:

"feel the warmth of" - Frogpond 11:2 (May 1988); "his turn to cook" - Haiku World: An International Poetry Almanac, ed. William J. Higginson (Kodansha International, 1996); "peace vigil" -Acorn 13 (Fall 2004); "first day of autumn" - Haiku Quarterly 3:3 (Autumn 1991); "communion" - Modern Haiku 20:1 (Winter-Spring 1990); "new haiku" - Haiku Quarterly 1:1 (Spring 1989).