The Haiku Society of America honors “excellence in published haiku, translation and criticism” every year, through its Mildred Kanterman Memorial Merit Book Award. The 2007 HSA Merit Book winners were just announced, and the 2007 Award Report posted by this year’s judges, our f/k/a Honored Guest friend Ed Markowski and well-known haijin Yvonne Cabalona. The f/k/a Gang is proud to report that members of our family of guest poets has again been remarkably successful, with awards for haiku publishing excellence going to Carolyn Hall, Paul Miller (a/k/a “paul m”), Jim Kacian, and Roberta Beary.
Congratulations to Jeanne Emrich and the Reeds haiga organization. At $16, their First Place winning anthology Reeds: Contemporary Haiga 2006 must surely also be the Best Haikai Value for 2006. The contest judges say: “Beautifully arranged, this collection of haiga from 35 contributing poets and painters delivers inspiration, surprise and delight from cover to cover.”
Here is the official list of all the 2007 HSA Merit Book winners:
First Place: Reeds: Contemporary Haiga 2006, edited by Jeanne Emrich
Lone Egret Press. 6566 France Avenue South. Suite 1210. Edina, Minnesota USA 55435. $16.00
Second Place: Water Lines by Carolyn Hall
Snapshot Press. P.O. Box 132, Waterloo, Liverpool England L22 8WZ US $14.00 UK 7.99 (pounds) Canada $17.00Third Place: called home by paul m.
Red Moon Press P.O. Box 2461 Winchester, Virginia 22604-1661 USA $12.00Fourth Place: paperweight for nothing by vincent tripi
Tribe Press 42 Franklin Street. Grenfield, Massachusetts 01301 USA $20.00Special Category Honorable Mention For Haibun: Business in Eden by David Cobb
Equinox Press. Sinodun Shalford Braintree Essex CM7 5 HN Great Britain. 7.95 (pounds)
fish in love
Special Category Honorable Mention for Anthology: fish in love, edited by Roberta Beary and Ellen Compton. The Haiku Society of America Members Anthology 2006. Available from and published by The Haiku Society of America. [ed. note: fish in love is apparently sold out; let’s hope this honor results in a 2nd printing.]
Special Category Honorable Mention for Best International Collaboration: Presents of Mind by Jim Kacian. Translation into Japanese by The Kon Nichi Haiku Circle, Kumamoto University. Red Moon Press. P.O. Box 2461 Winchster, Virginia 22604-1661 USA $20.00 US 22.00 yen Japan
(see cover) In awarding Carolyn Hall‘s Water Lines Second Place, the Kanterman judges said “From first poem to last, one is taken on a smooth journey marked by ordinary scenery that becomes extraordinary by virtue of the poet’s keen and guiding eye.” We previewed Water Lines when it was still a manuscript and was a winner in the 2005 Snapshots Press haiku collection contest. The book was reviewed at Modern Haiku (Summer 2007), by Paul Miller. Here is a sample of Carolyn’s fine haiku from Water Lines:
cremated
in her favorite kimono—
small green plums
twilight
the poultry truck returns
with empty cages
grosbeak’s song
I brush on one more
wall color sample
frost-bitten hydrangeas
all afternoon
her closed door
mammogram waiting room
she rips a page
from a magazine
morning shower—
finding just the word
I was looking for
floor sweepings
crawl back out of the dust pan
April rain
hot as blazes
a sinkful
of cat
………………………. by Carolyn Hall from Water Lines (Snapshot Press 2006)
called home by paul m (a/k/a Paul Miller)
Here’s how the Kanterman judges described the poetry in paul m’s Third Place winner called home:
“Paul m’s poems are simple and expertly crafted. One can literally slip into the author’s emotional longings and expectations as they travel down the highway of called home…”
We featured five poems from Called Home in a posting on May Day 2007. The Kanterman Judges’ Report included a few more stops in Paul’s transcontinental journey home:
fog on the bridge
this small truck
for all our belongings
as if 
it had spilt the boulder
pine seedling
meeting the neighbors
the shapes of things
hidden by snow
California behind us
my feet dangle off the edge
of the motel bed
among the graves
of strangers
forsythia
……… by paul m. from called home (Red Moon Press 2006)
fish in love: Haiku Society of America Members’ Anthology 2006 
We agree with the Kanterman judges that fish in love (edited by Roberta Beary and Ellen Compton) “is an anthology to return to time and again.” f/k/a welcomed this expertly-edited collection of 228 poems by 228 HSA members in September 2006. Here are poems from fish in love by its two editors, one of the Kanterman judges, and your f/k/a editor:
white lie
the mirror doubles
the white chrysanthemum……………………………… Roberta Beary
sundown
he hands her
the folder flag……………………………. Ellen Compton
first day of spring
retouching
her roots………………………….. Yvonne Cabalona
the sway
of plantinum blondes–
cattails in the snow…………………………….. David A. Giacalone
Finally, the deluxe re-issue of Jim Kacian’s Presents of Mind, in 2006, which includes translation from Jim’s English into Japanese by the Kon Nichi Haiku Circle, is indeed “a unique and fascinating presentation” that is structured to give you the sense of “reading Japanese.” The poems are presented in English, Kanji and Romanji. Jim was f/k/a‘s first Honored Gust Poet and selections from Presents of Mind have graced this website for more than three years. Here’s a tiny selection:
sharp wind
the metal gate bangs shut
bangs shut
flag up
on the mailbox
mockingbird
gentle rain
the new seabed
smoothed over
caterpillar
spins a mid-
life crisis
something dead,
something blooming
spring breeze
a blue ceiling
where the roof-beams
have collapsed
walking in
the orchard suddenly
its plan
…………………………………………………. by Jim Kacian from Presents of Mind (1996, 2006)
p.s. Yes, we have been too serious today. To remedy that, I shall point out that our post “getting goosed to the polls” was the first result this morning when someone Googled [getting goosed etymology]. Click our link if you are in dire need of goose-related haiku prodding.
at our pond
the geese you shooed
from your pond………………………………. dagosan
Meanwhile, in a day or two, the July/August edition of the DC Bar Washington Lawyer magazine should be online (why the hardcopy arrives before the issue is cyber-accessible is an irksome mystery). When it is, please check out the latest Jacob A. Stein “legal specator” column, which is entitled “Advice to a Lawyer 80 Years Old (or Older) Who Wishes to Try a Civil Jury Case.” Stein points out that by that age, your “so-called reputation . . . has come and gone.” Thus, “Winning or losing has nothing to do with your future. You are free at last.”