I met Michele Root-Bernstein at Haiku North America in 2007. At that time, I had not read her haiku. But, just based on her conversation, I felt certain that she was someone I would hear much more of. By the time that The Route 9 Haiku Group hosted HNA in 2015, Michele was speaking on behalf of Frogpond, where she served as Associate Editor. I
think there must now be few in the English-language haiku community who haven’t read and appreciated her work.

Our group has experienced an exciting change in recent months. We are
pleased to announce two new members: Shawn Blair and Susan Yavaniski!
Both have been writing English-language haiku for just a couple of
years. Their success, with appearances in many of the leading journals
and multiple contest prizes, attests to their rapid development as haiku
poets. They joined us for the last session in which we collected work
for this issue; thus their presence is currently demonstrated by a small
sample of poems. Beginning with our autumn 2024 issue, they will be
presented as full partners in our pages. For those of us much further
along our own haiku paths it is refreshing and inspirational to witness the
enthusiasm of discovery so evident in the poetry of Shawn and Susan!

js

Sample Poems:

aches when it rains my phantom life

Michele Root-Bernstein


flicking notes
from her tambourine
moonlit sea

sy

the deep end
of a pool…
this summer night

sb

border garden
what little I know
of the neighbors

tc

November wind
on which I lean
some of my weight

js

winter solstice
a glimmer of light
for world peace

yc

our embrace
breaking me into 10,000
white butterflies

ms