Our guest poet is Robin White. She is the founder, editor, and publisher of Akitsu Quarterly and the founder and hostess of the annual Haiku Gathering at Wild Graces, Deerfield, NH, since 2014. We consider Wild Graces a not-to-be-missed event. Not only does it feature thoughtful presentations on haiku and inspirational music, it is also set out-of-doors in a natural wonderland. After years of attendance, we have not come close to seeing all there is to see in this setting.

Upon publication of this year’s autumn issue of Upstate Dim Sum, we will have completed twenty-five years in print. While we have every intention and hope of continuing as a group and of sharing some of our work with friends of haiku, the increased costs of printing and shipping a paper journal have caused us to consider a change in format. Starting with the spring 2026 issue, we will be publishing electronically, on our website.

Many of you may strongly prefer to have a haiku collection you can
hold in your hands and take to places inconvenient for laptop use.
Upstate Dim Sum has always been a labor of love on our part. We have
always lost money on presenting it in printed form and have been happy to do so. Unfortunately, the increased scale of that loss has forced us to adapt. We will no longer be taking subscriptions. Everyone who is receiving this issue will also receive the autumn 2025 issue. Anyone who had paid for a subscription running beyond autumn 2025 may contact me for a partial refund: ithacan@earthlink.net

js

Sample Poems

everyday sacred
a dervish rattles
the pods

Robin White

homemade bread
a poem of grace
in his mother tongue

sy

unpacking
I put away
where I’ve been
js

while we were gone
a fog touched
all our belongings
sb

while I’m here
I must be
here

tc

Tai Chi starts
with embracing
earth
yc

teasing the dew
from the grass
morning sun
ms