National Poetry Month: Guest Post #7, Claire Everett

I’m delighted to introduce Claire Everett as my seventh guest poet.  Claire lives with her husband and children in northern England, and, although we’ve never met, I feel I know her personally and am pleased to call her a friend.  An accomplished writer of tanka, haiku, and tanka prose, Claire brings richly textured language and a lyrical voice to all of her writing.  You can find more of her work at her blog, At the Edge of Dreams.  But, for now, here’s what she has to say about how she began writing Japanese short form poetry, and a sampling of her poetry:

“I’ve written poetry ever since I can remember, but only really discovered short form poetry about two years ago.  I began to write haiku and tanka on Twitter and quickly became hooked, thanks to the encouragement of wonderful poets like Paul Smith and Chen-ou Liu.  It was Paul who first persuaded me to submit work for publication and I will always be grateful to Raquel D. Bailey of Lyrical Passion Poetry e-zine and Marilyn Hazelton, editor of red lights, for accepting my early offerings and giving me the confidence to keep going.  Opportunities have continued to open up for me, such as being invited to be on the editorial team for Take Five Best Contemporary Tanka (2011) and tanka prose editor for Haibun Today, but beyond this, short form poetry has become a way of life, a way of connecting with others who feel as passionate about haiku and tanka as I do; a way of bookmarking the magical and the everyday moments, in fact, for me, a form of spiritual practice.  I am delighted to have found this well-worn path and never cease to be amazed and inspired by the fellow travellers I have met, and continue to meet, along the way. “

–Claire Everett

I rest my mind
with the world
there
in the stillness
of the heron’s raised foot

–Notes from the Gean, vol. 3, no. 2, Autumn 2011

a sky so blue
I can still see yesterday. . .
in the hospital grounds
a butterfly lifts
from its shadow

–American Tanka, issue 20, “A Few Feet Away,” January 2012

summer’s end . . .
the willow leans closer
to the river’s song
–Magnapoets 9, January 2012

[Sponsored by Couplets–the brainchild of Joanne Merriam of Upper Rubber Boot Books–this exchange is just one of many going on during this month-long celebration. I’ll be hosting several haiku/tanka poets here this month.]