Poet Profile

Cherie Hunter Day

Cherie Hunter Day began writing haiku for an English class journal assignment in high school. Her first published haiku was in Frogpond XVI: 1 (1993). She was the Northwest Regional coordinator for the Haiku Society of America 1996-97 and was on the host/planning team for Haiku North America 1997 in Portland, Oregon. She judged the 1999 Nicholas A. Virgilio Memorial Haiku Competition for Grades 7 – 12 with Yvonne Hardenbrook, the Haiku Poets of Northern California (HPNC) Rengay Contest 2007, and the Mildred Kanterman Memorial Merit Book Awards 2009 with an’ya. She has served as editor of Mariposa since 2012, as staff editor for the Red Moon Anthology series since 2013, and edited the January 2013 edition of The Haiku Foundation's Per Diem feature.

Awards and Other Honors: Touchstone Award for Individual Haiku 2012 [one of six winners]; Two Honorable Mention Awards, Scorpion Award 27; Snapshot Press E-Chapbook Award 2012 for A Color for Leaving (tanka) ; Two Autumns Reading: San Francisco, CA, September 18, 2011 [one of four featured readers]; Third Place; Harold G. Henderson Awards (2011); First Place, Haiku Now! Traditional Haiku Contest 2010 [Billy Collins, judge] (The Haiku Foundation, 2010); Runner-up, Haiku Now! Innovative Haiku Contest 2010, [Jim Kacian, judge] (The Haiku Foundation, 2010); First Place, Haiku Poets of Northern California (HPNC) Rengay Contest with Christopher Patchel (2010); Honorable Mention, Mainichi Daily Newspaper 7th, 8th and 14th Annual Haiku Contests (2003, 2004, and 2010); Reader voted “Leading World Tanka,” The Seashell Game" Presence 19 (2002) and Presence 39 (2009); Second Place, HPNC Tanka Contest (2009); Runner-up eleven times, Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar Competition (2003 – 2009); First Place, Pinewood Haiku Contest (2008); Second Place, Haiku World/Shiki List Monthly Kukai Online (May 2007); Second Place, Haiku World Monthly/Shiki List Monthly Kukai Online (November 2007, Free-format); First Place, Tanka Society of America International Tanka Contest (2007); First Place, HPNC Tanka Contest (2006); Tanka Splendor Awards (AHA Books, 1995, 1997(2), 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005(2), and 2006); Honorable Mention, Tanka Society of America International Tanka Contest (2006); Commended, Tanka Café Member's Choice, Ribbons 1: 2 (2005); Honorable Mention, HPNC Tanka Contest (2005); Commended, Snapshot Press Tanka Collection Competition (2005); First Place (Three-way Tie), Snapshot Press Haiku Collection Competition (2004); Special Mention, The Heron's Nest Valentine Awards (2003); First Place, The Japan Tanka Poets Society (Nihon Kajin Club) 4th International Tanka Contest (2003); Runner-up Editors' Choice, The Heron's Nest V: 9 (2003); Honorable Mention, Haiku Society of America Merit Book Award 2001 for Early Indigo (Snapshot Press, 2000); First Honorable Mention [Highest Placement] (Tie) HPNC Rengay Contest with D. Claire Gallagher (1999); First Place, Snapshot Press Tanka Collection Competition (1999); Honorable Mention, Haiku Society of America Merit Book Awards 1997, for anthology: beyond/within: A Collection of Rengay (Sundog Press, 1997); Runner-up Readers' Choice (Tie) The Heron's Nest Valentine Awards (1999); First Place (Tie), HPNC Rengay Contest with Ebba Story (1995); Runner-up Best of Issue, Woodnotes 25 (1995); Best of Issue, Woodnotes 23 (1994); Runner-up Best of Issue, Woodnotes 18 (1993).

Books Published: Kindle of Green [responsive tanka collection with David Rice] (Platyopus Books/Swamp Press, 2008); The Horse with One Blue Eye (Snapshot Press, 2006); Early Indigo [full-length collection of tanka] (Snapshot Press, 2000); beyond/within: A Collection of Rengay [editor] (Sundog Press, 1997); Sun, Moon, Mother, Father [tanka chapbook] (Sundog Press, 1997); Unbroken Curve: HSA Northwest Region Members’ Anthology 1996 [editor].

palominos—    
curve of the winter hills
        in moonlight

swollen stream
a tick on new grass extends
both front legs

a swirl of ink
in the brush water
early dusk

his sermon
on redemption—
winter rain

twilight 
a child’s pail taken
by the tide

a splinter comes out whole     winter moon

Credits: "palominos" - Woodnotes 23 (1994, awarded Best of Issue); Runner-up, The Haiku Calendar Competition (2004); The Haiku Calendar [John Barlow, ed.] (Snapshot Press, 2005); The Horse with One Blue Eye [John Barlow, ed.] (Snapshot Press, 2006); "a swirl of ink" - The Heron's Nest I: 3 (1999); Runner-up Readers' Choice Award 1999 (2000); The Horse with One Blue Eye [John Barlow, ed.] (Snapshot Press, 2006); "twilight" - The Heron’s Nest V: 9 (2003, Runner-up Editors’ Choice); The Horse with One Blue Eye [John Barlow, ed.] (Snapshot Press, 2006); "swollen stream" - The Heron’s Nest IV: 3 (2002); The Horse with One Blue Eye [John Barlow, ed.] (Snapshot Press, 2006); Montage 31 [Allan Burns, ed.] (The Haiku Foundation, 2009); Montage: The Book [Allan Burns, ed.] (Red Moon Press, 2010); "his sermon" - Modern Haiku 37:1 (2006); big sky: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2006 (Red Moon Press, 2007); "a splinter" - Modern Haiku 36: 3 (2005); The Horse with One Blue Eye [John Barlow, ed.] (Snapshot Press, 2006); Blogging Along Tobacco Road (online, Curtis Dunlap) - Three Questions (March 21, 2010).