Poet Profile

Carolyne Rohrig

The day Carolyne Rohrig discovered haiku, it lit a fire in her. She's been passionate about it ever since. Over the years she has written hundreds of poems and collaborated with many poets in the U.S. and Canada. Her publication credits include: A New Resonance: Emerging Voices in English Language Haiku (Red Moon Press, 1999); the thin curve: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 1999 (Red Moon Press, 2000); pegging the wind: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2002 (Red Moon Press, 2003); stone frog: American Haibun & Haiga, Volume 2 (Red Moon Press, 2001); summer dreams: American Haibun & Haiga, Volume 3 (Red Moon Press, 2002); echoes 1 (Red Moon Press, 2007); The Sound of the Bell (Two Autumns Press, San Francisco, California, 1999); Piedmont Literary Review XXI:2 (1998); Rounds (Haiku Canada Sheet, 1998-1999); Raw NerVz; Still; Haiku Spirit; frogpond; Acorn; Modern Haiku; Contemporary Haibun Online; Snapshot Press; Haiku Canada; The Heron's Nest; Black Bough 10; Tundra Premier Issue (July 1999); Tundra #2 (2001; The Scare Crow, A Collection of Haiku & Senryu, Compiled & Edited by Leroy Kanterman (1999); Roadrunner; Daily Haiku; and Mariposa. Carolyne's poems have been published in numerous anthologies and translated into the Japanese. She is a member of the Haiku Poets of Northern California.

Awards and Other Honors: Honorable Mention, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational (2010); Winner for September, The Haiku Calendar Competition 2007 (Snapshot Press); First Place, San Francisco International Competition Awards (2006); The Heron's Nest Award in The Heron's Nest IV:1 (2002).

Books Published: Carolyne is the co-author with Marco Fraticelli of Chalk Drawings, a collection of septenga (King's Road Press, 2007).

for a few days 
the war stops
cherry blossoms

sudden breeze—
the dog sniffs the hisses
of a gopher snake

carrying on
as if nothing had happened
dogwood in bloom

a deer pauses
in the woods—
the stillness of falling snow

cloudy skies—
different shades of shadow
in the cauliflower

bone cold morning
choosing the tea mug
without the handle

Credits: "for a few days" - Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational (2010); "carrying on" - Daily Haiku (November 2010); "cloudy skies" - The Sound of the Bell (Two Autumns Press, San Francisco, California, 1999); "sudden breeze" - Modern Haiku XXX:1 (1999); "a deer pauses" - Modern Haiku XXIX:2 (1998); "bone cold morning" - Mariposa 4 (2001).