Poet Profile

Melissa Allen

Melissa Allen lives in Madison, Wisconsin, with her husband and son and is a graduate student in library science.  Her haiku, tanka, and haibun have been published widely.  She writes the haiku blog Red Dragonfly (haikuproject.wordpress.com) and is the news editor of haijinx, the email Bulletin editor for the Haiku Society of America, and a board member of the American Haiku Archives.

Awards and Other Honors: Runner-up, The Haiku Calendar Competition 2011 (Snapshot Press); Second Place, Jane Reichhold International Prize (2011); Honorable Mention, Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Award Competition (2011).

spring snow
the chill of 
ultrasound jelly

birdsong
close enough
to silence

thaw
eventually it will come
to frogs

bruised apples
he wonders what else
I haven’t told him

firefly
a small shadow
on the star chart

first snow 
the footprints of the neighbors
we’ve never seen

Credits: "spring snow" - Modern Haiku 42.2 (2011); "thaw" - Presence 44; "firefly" - Notes from the Gean 3.1 (2011); "birdsong" - DailyHaiku Cycle 11 (2011); "bruised apples" - Acorn 26 (2011); "first snow" - Lynx XXVI:1 (2011); The Haiku Calendar 2012 (Snapshot Press).