A wonderful post-birthday gift! My poem received an Honorable Mention among the 174 entries in the International Haiku Contest of Constanta, Romania. 

autumn sky

our laughter spiral down

the lighthouse stairs

To see the other winners, please click here. 

Here's the photo that inspired my haiku - a visit to the Point Loma Lighthouse at Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego. 

Weighing Raindrops Haiku Contest 2020 by Narrow Road

I'm over the moon! Among 129 entries, my poem made it to the shortlist of Weighing Raindrops Haiku Contest! All the shortlisted poems will be published in the December 2020 issue of Narrow Road. My heartfelt thanks to the Narrow Road team! 

Sonic Boom's Sixth Annual Senryu Contest

I'm so happy that I was given this opportunity to judge the Sixth Annual Senryu Contest of Sonic Boom . It was a pleasure picking out the winners and writing my commentaries for each poem. 

I took screenshots of the results because I know one day only the list of winners will be posted. I'd like to keep a photo of my commentaries. If you would like to read them, here they are below. Right now, you can still view the whole thing by clicking here. 

New Haiku Grand Prix ITO EN (North America) - Semi-finalist

My haiku was selected as a March semi-finalist. :-) 

To see the page of Shukan NY Seikatsu, which shows March semifinalists, click here. 

Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of Tanka Society of America

I made this video for Tanka Society of America. It's a compilation of taiga posted from April 1-21, 2020 on the Tanka Society of America Facebook page to commemorate the 20th anniversary of TSA. Contributing poets in order of appearance are Julie Anne Thorndyke, Bing Bingham, Debbie Strange, Pat Geyer, Pamela A. Babusci, John Martell, Izumi Shikibu, Ignatius Fay, Susan Burch, Xenia Tran, Pris Campbell, Alexis Rotella, Anne Benjamin, Carol Raisfeld, Michael H. Lester, Christine L. Villa, an'ya, Pravat Kumar Padhy, Julie Kelsey, and Marilyn Ashbaugh.

*Compiled by Susan Burch

Here is the taiga I contributed. 

Haiku Page edited by John Zheng

So honored and blessed to be the featured artist of Haiku Page! I didn't know that I will be having my own section with all these poems with alcohol ink art below. John Zheng sent me the pdf and I was blown away. :-) Soon you will be able to view the full issue on the The Haiku Foundation digital library here.

Climate Change: The Burning Issue

Fires ravaged vast areas of land across Australia during the last few months of 2019, and well into the start of 2020. Amanda D'costa, David Terelinck, and I felt that we could create awareness of what is happening around us through tanka. Numerous poets around the world joined in and supported our cause. During the months of February and March 2020, we raised a total amount of $1365 AUD ($880.97 USD). Thank you for your wonderful and wholehearted support. This amount has been donated to Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, in New South Wales, Australia. 

Congratulations to all the winners, and a big thank you to all who have supported this contest and fundraiser by way of tanka and donations.

The winners of this contest went above and beyond in terms of quality, extending the metaphor and the inferred emotion. Click the link to find the results. 

Sonic Boom Journal Issue 17

So honored and thrilled to have my three haiga (monoku and alcohol ink art) published in Sonic Boom! Read the full issue here! 

My Tanka at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery in England

Out of 800 beautiful poems from 30 countries worldwide my tanka was selected for a woodblock print at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery in England. Thank you so much to Karen and Alan Summers for making this possible! Congratulations to all my poet friends!
https://exhibitions.bristolmuseums.org.uk/japanese-prints/…/

New Haiku Grand Prix (Ito En) North America

Just found out yesterday that my haiku made it to the semi-finals. So honored! Click here to see the other 6 finalists last February 2020.