Poet Profile

Tom Drescher

Tom sees haiku as a way of life and was no doubt drawn to it from the practice of archery as a child and later of karate and kendo. He has an academic background in English literature. He now enjoys long haiku hikes and sketching expeditions from his home in the Kootenay region of British Columbia.

Awards and Other Honors: Sakura Award, Vancouver British Columbia Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational (2010); Sakura Award and an Honourable Mention, Vancouver British Columbia Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational (2015); two Sakura Awards, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational (2016); Sakura Award, Vancouver British Columbia Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational (2017).

Books Published: The Witch Finder Generall: Poems (London: Odin's Eye Press, 1978) [Note: this work was type-set and printed by hand on one of the original Kelmscott Press platen presses at the William Morris Centre, Hammersmith, London, UK].

long summer
the whiskey glass full
of midnights

red moon
a shopkeeper
locks up tight

a mist
slipping through the morning woods
coyote

chill wind
a dime lands softly
in his velvet case

jam jars cooling
summer sealed
with a snap

a shadow
coughs
winter road

Credits: "long summer" - The Heron's Nest XVI:4 (December 2014); "a mist" - The Heron's Nest 16:3 (September 2014); "jam jars cooling" - Frogpond 33.1 (Winter 2010); "red moon" - Acorn 21 (2008); "chill wind" - Acorn 24 (2010); "a shadow" - Acorn #24 (2010).