Poet Profile

Marilyn Appl Walker

Marilyn Appl Walker grew up on a wheat and cattle farm in western Kansas. It was in that setting she became attuned to the fascinations of nature. After a career in teaching, she began writing haiku in 2002. Subsequently she has received international recognition with awards and publication in Canada, Croatia, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Awards and Other Honors:

Winner, The Haiku Calendar Competition (Snapshot Press, 2006, 2008, 2009); Runner-Up, The Haiku Calendar Competition (Snapshot Press, 2006, 2008, 2011); Penumbra Competition: First Place Award (2003), Third Place Award (2006); Finalist: (2004) (2005, 2007, 2008); Haiku Society of America's Gerald Brady Senryu Competition: Second Place (2009), Honorable Mention (2004); Editors' Choice, The Heron's Nest (2008); Selected Poems from 10 Years of Acorn for Commentary by A.C. Missias (2008); Honorable Mention, The Robert Spiess Memorial Competition (2004, 2009); work selected for The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku (2004, 2006,2007,2008, 2010, 2011 [title poem]): Ginkissu! Spirits Up Competition: Honorable Mention (2005), Grand Prix Award (2006); Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival: Sakura Award (2007, 2011), Honorable Mention (2009, 2010); Modern Haiku Best of Issue Award for Senryu in 42.3 (2011); Commended, Haiku Now Contest; Innovative Category (2011); Honorable Mention, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (2012); Honorable Mention, Kaji Aso Studio International Contest; Senryu (2012); Second Place, Haiku Society of America's Gerald Brady Senryu Competition (2013); Honorable Mention, Yuki Teikei Society's Tokutomi Haiku Contest (2013); work selected for fear of dancing: The Red Moon Anthology of English Language Haiku 2013 (Red Moon Press, 2014); Honorable Mention, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (2014); Haiku 21: 100 notable haiku from 2013, selected by Lee Gurga & Scott Metz, (Modern Haiku Press, 2014); work selected for big data: The Red Moon Anthology of English Language Haiku 2014 (Red Moon Press, 2015); Runner-up for January, May, and September, The Haiku Calendar Competition (Snapshot Press, 2014); haiku selected by Bruce Ross for Contemporary World Haiku: A Vast Sky (Furbush Brothers, Inc. 2014); Winner for April, Haiku Calendar Competition (Snapshot Press, 2015); Winner for February and June, Haiku Calendar Competition (Snapshot Press, 2016); Runner-up for January and August, Haiku Calendar Competition (Snapshot Press, 2016); Third Place Award, 12th International Pumpkin Festival, Haiku/ Senryu (Ivanic-Grad, Croatia, 2016); work selected for dust devils: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2016 (Red moon Press, 2017); March Winner, The Haiku Calendar Competition 2017, (Snapshot Press); The Haiku Calendar 2018 (Snapshot Press); Honorable Mention, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (2017); haiku selected by Scott Mason for The Wonder Code (Girasole Press, 2017); haiku selected by Robert Epstein for They Gave Us Life (Middle Island Press, 2017); A Golden Haiku Poetry Contest Favorite, selected in 2018; Honorable Mention, Wild Plum Haiku Contest (2018); January Winner, The Haiku Calendar Competition 2018 (Snapshot Press); Sonic Boom 4th Annual Senryu Contest, Third Place Award, 2018; The Haiku Calendar 2019 (Snapshot Press); work selected for: A Hole in the Light, The Red Moon Anthology of English Language Haiku, 2018, Red Moon Press, 2019; Golden Haiku Poetry Contest: selected in 2020 and in 2021; Runners Up for February and March for The Haiku Calendar Competition, 2020 (Snapshot Press); The Haiku Calendar 2021 (Snapshot Press); The Harold G. Henderson Memorial Awards (HSA), Honorable Mention, 2020; Autumn Moon Journal Contest, Honorable Mention, Nov. 2021; The Signature Haiku Anthology ed. Robert Epstein, Oct. 2021; The Haiku Foundation, January 2022 Kukai, Honorable Mention; engraved stone, Japanese Garden, Monte Sano State Park, AL, Oct. 2022, Editors: Terri French and Peggy Bilbro; string theory: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2021, ed. Jim Kacian, Red Moon Press 2022; The Heron's Nest Award, Vol. XXIV, No. 4: Dec. 2022.

Books Published:

Listening to the Sky - ApplTree Haiku, Madison, GA 2015.

spring gusts
the wild woman
in my shadow

rain all day
I carve the darkness
from a peach

my thoughts
going every which way
forsythia

gibbous moon
she circles her baby's 
due date

dog day afternoon
we take turns moving
the garden hose

falling off the earth's edge a wheatfield combine

Credits:

{first publications} "spring gusts" - Best of Issue Senryu Award, Modern Haiku vol. 43.1 (2012);"rain all day" - Acorn 25 (2010); "my thoughts" - Haiku Calendar Winner (Snapshot Press, 2009); "gibbous moon" - Honorable Mention, HSA Harold G. Henderson, 2020; "dog day afternoon" - Hekinan Exposition Collection, Grand Prix Award (2006); “falling off” - The Heron's Nest Award, Vol. XXIV, No. 4: Dec. 2022.