Poet Profile

Stuart Quine

Stuart Quine In 1998, after a few years of writing haiku in a three-line form, Stuart Quine started to feel that his haiku were becoming a little formulaic and so began to explore the opportunities of a one-line format without breaks or punctuation. In addition to their aesthetic appeal, one-line haiku echo Japanese haiku which usually, of course, are written in a single, albeit vertical, line. While many one-line haiku contain an implicit caesura given by their syntax, at their best they can be broken in a number of places thereby enabling a multitude of readings. Haiku is a collaborative poetry with writers and readers working together to bring it to completion. Therefore the success of a haiku is not a matter of how well it conveys the writer’s intention to the reader but rather whether readers can enter and occupy it on their own terms.
Many of Stuart’s haiku have been included in anthologies and journals and he is a former associated editor of the journal Presence. He has also had two collections of haiku published by Alba Publishing - Sour Pickle (2018) contains 100 one-line haiku and Wild Rhubarb (2019) contains another 80. He left his inspiration for, and contribution to, Unravelling - anthology of the redthread haiku sangha 1997 - 2019, (2020).
A practitioner of Soto Zen Buddhism for over thirty years he regarded his haiku writing as a dao and was member of the Red Thread Haiku Sangha.
According to Sean O'Connor and Alba Publishing, Stuart had recently contracted the Covid-19 virus and passed away on March 24, 2020.

Awards and Other Honors: A member of The Touchstone Distinguished Books Award Committee (2016).

Books Published: Sour Pickle - one-line haiku, Alba Publishing, May 2018, UK; Wild Rhubarb - one-line haiku, Alba Publishing, March 2019, UK; Unravelling - the Redthread Haiku Sangha anthology 1997-2019, Alba Publishing, February 2020.

sickle moon broken on the steps of the weir

news of the war beer suds slip down the glass

new year's day only the wind comes to my gate

along the strandline seaspray and sunshimmer in knotted kelp

white rice in a white bowl winter sunlight

loosening the storm crowflight in rain

round midnight moonlight playing on the piano hammers

through the haze the headlights of a hearse

snagged in machair a gull feather unzipped by the wind

distant thunder the old mouser raises an ear

Credits:

"sickle moon" - Presence #10; "new year's day" - Presence #14; "white rice" - Presence #23; "news of the war" - Presence#37; "along the strandline" - Wind over Water (4th Pacific Rim Haiku Conference anthology); "loosening the storm" - Red Thread Haiku Sangha ; "round midnight", "through the haze", "snagged in machair", "distant thunder" Sour Pickle and Wild Rhubarb, Alba Publishing, 2018 and 2019.

Sources Biography: Acacia Publications, Poems & Writing by Fokkina McDonnell