when you think

when you think
you've heard it all--
brown thrasher

The Heron's Nest 11:4

haiku, Acorn # 23, fall 2009

new moon. . .
an old woman speaks
of the emptiness

ancient trail
footprints fade
with the dew

haiku

noon whistle--
a candy bar
snaps in two

Megapoets, Issue 4, July 2009



harvest moon
the prayer beads
worn smooth


Acorn 22, Spring 2009

tanka

brushing off sand
I walk what's left of
the pine dunes
my time here passes by
like the birds overhead

Ribbons 5:2, 2009

Red Moon Press: A New Resonance 6, 2009

If anyone is interested, I have copies available at cost, $10 each, which includes shipping and the poetry of:

Alan Burns, Glenn G. Coats, Susan Constable, Kristen Deming, David Grayson, Andrea Grillo, Paul Hodder, Jorgen Johansson, Eve Luckring, Bob Lucky, Scott Mason, Me [h. gene murtha], Roland Packer, Michele Root-Bernstein, Jeff Stillman, Richard S. Straw, & Tony A. Thompson.

If anyone happens to be a The Heron's Nest fan, I am pleased to tell you that of the 15 haiku of mine that were selected for NR6, 11 haiku were originally published at the Nest 2002 through 2008.

If you are interested, email me "h g murtha @ gmail . com" No Spaces. I do accept PayPal, cash or check, and I will send you the information.

I think that I can count on one finger the number of times that Jim Kacian did not attend the same Haiku Society of America meeting that I have, so, I will not be packing copies of NR6 to any upcoming events. Hey, Jim has a business to run. . .so, I am sure that everyone understands.


Always,

Gene

Recent haiku

snowed in . . .
fire wraps
around a log

The Heron's Nest v.10:1, March 2008
A New Resonance 6, Red Moon Press 2009


spring —
the pause before
she pulls a sapling

The Heron's Nest v.10:2, June 2008
A New Resonance 6, Red Moon Press 2009


steady drizzle
strand by strand
a robin’s nest

The Heron's Nest vol.10:3, Sept. 2008


morning chill
a child’s shadow
moves thru mine

The Heron's Nest vol.10:4, Dec. 2008
A New Resonace 6, Red Mood Press 2009


starry night . . .
a worn phone number
in the handbook

for Bill, Wm. J. Higginson
The Heron's Nest vol.11:1, March 2009 Memorial section.


originally written:

fresh snow
the things we do
no one speaks of

published as:

fresh snow
the things to do
no one speaks of

Mainichi, Daily Haiku Selection, March 13, 2009


if purple
were my color . . .
twilight snow

The Heron's Nest vol.11:2, June 2009


subway wall. . .
a poem about
butterflies

Asahi Weekly #1871, Sunday, June 7, 2009

recent tanka

my finger
traces the edge
of her lips
around the curve
a new adventrure

Tanka Splender Award 2008
Take Five, tanka anthology ed. M. Kei, 2009 Met Press

just as
I pull myself from
gutter to curb
all things dear to me
can be found in a swamp


the sound
of a broken bottle swept
across asphalt
like the cry of a child
you have given away

for Katherine Cudney

Ribbons vol. 4:3, 2008

drunk
lying in my
own piss--
from the bedroom
my son's voice

Ribbons vol.4:4, 2008

people change
like the color
of a bunting
I feel at peace
when I'm alone

Sunday morning
reading the obituaries
calling daddy
the same name
Sylvia Plath does

sober
she asks me to
come home
I pierce a badger's claw
then hang it from my ear

Rusty Tea Kettle, vol.1:1, January 2009

Carole MacRury: In the Company of Crows

_____________________NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January, 2009 ACCLAIMED POINT ROBERTS POET CAROLE MACRURY PUBLISHES FIRST BOOK ‘In the Company of Crows’ combines haiku, tanka to celebrate life on the northern Washington coast. The first collection of poetry by award-winning poet Carole MacRury, of Point Roberts, Wash. (USA), was released December 15, 2008. In the Company of Crows: HAIKU and TANKA Between the Tides brings together more than 200 haiku, tanka, and poem sequences with 23 hauntingly beautiful sumi-e illustrations created by internationally acclaimed artist Ion Codrescu. The 160-page, soft-cover edition features a foreword by Beverley George, president of the Australian Haiku Society and the editor of Eucalypt, Australia’s first literary journal devoted entirely to tanka. Currently the secretary/treasurer of the Tanka Society of America, MacRury has had her haiku and tanka published in literary journals, anthologies, and online in the U.S., Canada, and overseas, as well as received numerous awards for her work, including the Tanka Splendor Award. “Carole’s gift for vivid imagery links with expressions of human experience and emotion to produce poems that resemble ‘short songs’—the literal translation of the word ‘tanka,’” writes George in her foreword. “This poet can write at the cutting edge of life,” she continues with respect to MacRury’s haiku - “the clarity of her images and the accuracy of her word choices are signatures of a mind that engages with the natural world with eyes wide open and a blend of curiosity and awe.” … “In the Company of Crows is a worthy collection that merits wide readership.” “Over the years, I’ve learned that nothing stays the same; I can’t go back and recreate a moment,” says MacRury. “Haiku and tanka allow me to celebrate the moods and memories evoked by the seasons through special moments that seem imbued with significance,” she says. “Haiku and tanka also have the marvelous ability to transcend cultures, as the human condition becomes recognizable to all of us who share the planet.”Artist Codrescu is a poet and editor in his own right. An illustrator of more than 100 books, whose graphic works grace private and state collections in many countries, he is the founder of the Constantza Haiku Society and the Constantza International Haiku Festival and author of 10 books published in Romania, France, the U.K., and Slovenia. He also was the founder and editor of the highly praised poetry journal Hermitage. Codrescu resides in Constanta, Romania.In the Company of Crows was published by Black Cat Press (BCP), of Eldersburg, Md. (USA). Cathy Drinkwater Better, BCP co-owner—with her husband, Doug Walker—edited and designed the book. An award-winner poet and journalist, and a book author, Better’s work has been published in the U.S., Canada, and abroad since 1969. She works as a newspaper editor and columnist, and a freelance writer. She has authored more than 50 books, including three collections of haiku, a humor collection, and numerous children’s books.In the Company of Crows: HAIKU and TANKA Between the Tides is currently available exclusively through the author. The retail price is $18.00 postage-paid. For media inquiries or to arrange an interview with the author, contact: Carole MacRury at macrury@whidbey.com or Cathy Drinkwater Better (Walker) at Black Cat Press: by e-mail at cbetter@juno.com. For information on ordering In the Company of Crows, contact: Carole MacRury macrury@whidbey.com