Poet Profile

Tanya McDonald

Tanya McDonald is known for her bright plumage and her love of birds. She’s been writing haiku since 2007, when by pure serendipity, she met Michael Dylan Welch at a poetry reading. He invited her to take a haiku class from him, which she did, and invited her to attend a Haiku Northwest meeting, which she did. She’s been writing haiku ever since. Her haiku have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Recently, her haibun and rengay have started appearing in journals, too. She is currently serving as the secretary of Haiku Northwest, and she enjoys teaching haiku classes whenever she can. In June 2020, she launched her new, biannual, print haiku journal, Kingfisher. She lives near Seattle, where she is surrounded by ferns and Japanese maples and the endless distraction of . . . oh look, a grosbeak!

Awards and Other Honors:

Featured reader at the 25th Annual Two Autumns Reading in San Francisco, California, 2014; Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational, 2016 – Honorable Mention; Haiku Poets of Northern California Rengay Contest, 2017 – 3rd Honorable Mention with Michelle Schaefer and Mimi Gorman for “Soak”; Haiku Foundation Touchstone Individual Poem Award, 2018; Edited the Haiku Society of America annual member’s anthology, A Moment’s Longing , 2019; Haiku Poets of Northern California Rengay Contest, 2020 – Honorable Mention with Lew Watts for “Miles and Miles and . . .” ; Haiku Society of America Garry Gay Rengay Award, 2020 – 1st Prize with Lew Watts for “Left Behind”.
Judged: Harold G. Henderson Haiku Contest with Michael Dylan Welch, 2014; Haiku Poets of Northern California Rengay Contest, 2016; Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational with Jacquie Pearce and Paul Chambers, 2018.

Books Published: Anthology Appearances

where the wind turns: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku: edited by Jim Kacian and the RM Editorial Staff, 2009; A New Resonance 7 edited by Jim Kacian & Dee Evetts, 2011; No Longer Strangers co-edited with Marilyn Sandall, Michelle Schaefer, and Angela Terry, 2014; big data: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku edited by Jim Kacian and the RM Editorial Staff, 2014; Haiku 2015: edited by Lee Gurga & Scott Metz, 2015; galaxy of dust: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku: edited by Jim Kacian and the RM Editorial Staff, 2015; Seven Suns/Seven Moons: with Michael Dylan Welch, 2016; The Wonder Code: edited by Scott Mason, 2017; Wishbone Moon: edited by Roberta Beary, Ellen Compton, and Kala Ramesh, Jacar Press, 2018; wind flowers: galaxy of dust: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku: edited by Jim Kacian and the RM Editorial Staff, 2019; Haiku 2020: edited by Lee Gurga & Scott Metz, 2020; The Haiku Hecameron: Gratitude in the Time of COVID-19: by Scott Mason, 2020.

the point at which
he pops the clutch―
full-blow lilac

the glances we share
on the packed train . . .
swallowflight

the flick of her wrist
as she shakes the thermometer
winter starlight

day’s end
the small applause
of rain

sweet dough
rising on the hearth
a just-because kiss

morning cool―
chickadees namesaking
in the cedar

Credits:

“the point at which” – Acorn #43 (2019); “the glances we share” – Presence #64 (2019); “the flick of her wrist” – Modern Haiku vol. 50:2 (Summer 2019); “day’s end” – Akitsu Quarterly Spring (2020); “sweet dough” – The Heron’s Nest Vol. XXII, No. 1: (March 2020); “morning cool” – Mariposa #41 (2019).