Kristen Lindquist

Country of Residence: USA

Website: https://www.kristenlindquist.com/

Blog:  Book of Days, www.kristenlindquist.com/blog/

Current Occupation: Bookkeeper; museum assistant; editorial assistant (for my novelist husband); occasional birding guide/naturalist; occasional freelance nature writer. (You aren’t a real Mainer unless you have at least three jobs.)

Past Occupations: Development director for a land trust; retail store manager; writing instructor for gifted students

Education: BA English, Middlebury College; MFA Poetry, University of Oregon

Experience: I’ve written poetry since I was a kid; started writing syllabic “haiku” on a daily basis in 2009 and achieved haiku enlightenment a few years later; first haiku published in 2018. I’ve been a haiku instructor/workshop coordinator for community adult ed and various other organizations throughout Maine; was a two-time participant in the Belfast (Maine) Poetry Festival; and I’ve participated in poetry readings for years throughout New England, sometimes with my husband Paul Doiron, a best-selling crime novelist.

Interests/Hobbies: I’ve lived most of my life on the coast of Maine and have long found joy and inspiration in exploring the local landscape. I especially enjoy sharing my observations, via writing and photography, to help counteract the endless stream of bleak news on social media—and also with the hope of encouraging others to pay closer attention to the living world around them. I post nature photos regularly on Instagram, @kelindquist (and less regularly, photos with haiku: @pinetreestate_ofmind). The meditative aspect of nature photography, as well as its attention to detail and season, feeds my haiku practice and also helps keep me sane.

An avid birder and nature enthusiast since childhood, I guide bird outings around Maine for various organizations and for the annual Acadia Birding Festival, so birds inevitably fly into many of my haiku!

When & how were you introduced to haiku & Japanese-related poetry? 

A grad school obsession with the literary classic The Tale of Genji led in a roundabout way to my discovery of early Japanese poetry, including the haiku of Bashō. Later, the gentle mentorship of poet and editor Peter Newton opened up to me the wider world of contemporary English language haiku, into which I dove deep.

What do you enjoy the most about haiku?

I love the minimalism of haiku, and the fact that I can be working on one in my head while I’m driving somewhere or hiking or doing the dishes. They’re short, but just a few words have the power to convey so much.

I love that haiku are meant to be open to the reader, that there’s an implicit relationship between reader and writer, unlike the opacity and solipsism of so much contemporary poetry. There’s something so exciting as a reader when you feel like you’re inside someone’s head experiencing their haiku moment for yourself.

And I love how writing haikai has long been a community activity, a social event (and I love that haiku are easy to share). When I attended my first haiku gathering, Haiku Circle, in 2019, I had this real, tangible sense of having found “my people.” I went to my first Haiku North America conference in Cincinnati last summer and had that same feeling.

What do you enjoy the most about tanka? 

I don’t really write or read tanka; they just aren’t my thing.

What do you enjoy the most about haibun?

With haibun I love the challenge of crafting lyrical, interesting prose, then the even bigger challenge of digging deep for just the right haiku, and then coming up with a killer title: it makes me feel like my creative mind is firing on all pistons. There’s something so satisfying—as both a writer and reader of haibun—about finding/recognizing that balance among the form’s three parts, which, when successful, have contributed something different to the overall piece, yet work together implicitly to expand the whole on a new dimension.

The various ways writers experiment with haibun is inspiring and gives me heart for the future. We’re combining haiku with fiction, memoir, travel writing, nature writing, and other forms of poetry, playing with structure, collaborating. I believe the creative choices inherent in the form’s hybrid aspect contribute to its ongoing kinesis. Something old is being continually made new and contemporary, and familiar stories are being told anew in fresh and exciting ways.

You serve as the coordinator/instructor for the Midcoast Haiku Study Group. What are the main responsibilities of this role? What do you enjoy the most about being a coordinator/instructor?

The Midcoast Haiku Study Group is a tiny, local, private haiku group that arose from an adult ed class I taught just before the pandemic hit in 2020. During the pandemic, as so many haiku groups did, we began to meet monthly by Zoom. I’ve brought in some great guest speakers/readers—Bryan Rickert spoke with us about senryū, for example, and Brad Bennett talked about euphony—and I share articles and information, give them prompts, and coordinate workshopping for them. Each of them, I think, is into it for different reasons—one participant is a Zen priest, another has been writing haiku for decades, another is an artist and free-verse poet, etc. We’re starting to fit in some in-person meetings now too. Overall, I think we continue to meet as much for the social aspects as the creative; the group chemistry has kept it all going and I enjoy being able to foster that in this small way.

In 2022, you served as a co-judge for the Haiku Society of America Rengay Award in Honor of Garry Gay. What do you enjoy the most about being a co-judge?

I served as co-judge with Captain Haiku himself, Michael Dylan Welch, who is one of the charter practitioners of the form, as it were. So it was a wonderful opportunity to learn from and work with someone who was there when the rengay was invented. It’s generally a playful form as well, so what’s not to enjoy? Co-judging really helps you appreciate the different perspectives and experiences you each bring to a poem; you each gain something from the other’s insights that enables you to home in together on what you especially value in the piece at hand.

Another positive aspect of judging an award, or guest editing, as I did recently for Drifting Sands Haibun, or even collating the 200+ nominees for a Touchstone Award for Individual Haibun, is being exposed to a tremendous diversity of work from all around the world. There’s so much good, interesting, fresh writing out there, and it’s exciting to tap into that energy and help share it with the larger haikai community.

You are also a member of the Broadmoor Haiku Collective. You edited What Weathers, What Returns: An Anthology of the Broadmoor Haiku Collective. What do you enjoy the most about the Broadmoor Haiku Collective?

The Broadmoor Haiku Collective is my “home” haiku group and a true wellspring of haiku inspiration and support for me. We meet monthly by Zoom and, among other things, share haiku that we’ve written to prompts. We’ve tried a wide range of prompts: photographs, paintings, Japanese wood-block prints, videos of dance performances, free-verse poems, excerpts of fiction and non-fiction, songs, nature videos, quotations, experimental film clips, etc. I really enjoy the challenge of responding to each month’s prompts, some of which can be quite weird, as well as seeing what the other poets bring to the table. The high quality of their work really pushes me to do my best and try new things. But most importantly, I enjoy the deep camaraderie and trust that’s developed among us from putting ourselves out there for each other, creatively, for the past four years.

Because haiku is such an inherently social form, I think it’s important for haiku writers to connect with others, whether it’s trading poems with one person, workshopping with a small group, responding to prompts in a Facebook group, attending the virtual meetings of an organization like Haiku Poets of Northern California (HPNC), or better yet, attending an in-person gathering like Haiku North America, Wild Graces, or the Seabeck Haiku Getaway. I belong to several private and public groups and get something valuable from each.

You mentioned you were reading The Tale of Genji in grad school. What do you enjoy the most about The Tale of Genji?

I’ve read, I think, four different translations of Genji since grad school, as well as several ancillary books, and recently listened to the whole thing (over many months) on Audible. What I enjoy most is the sense of being immersed in the very different world of the Heian Era in Japan (about 1,000 years ago) and getting a glimpse—through a woman’s eyes, no less!—of the highly developed aesthetics of that period (at least among the nobility featured in the saga). Writing and reciting poetry, for one, was highly esteemed in that culture, and the book includes almost 800 poems (waka, or tanka). People who never saw each other fell in love on the basis of exchanged poems. Of course, women got a raw deal in this patriarchal, polygamous society, and many of the relationships feel very problematic as seen now through the lens of contemporary standards. But the emotional and psychological depth of Murasaki Shikibu’s story is keenly portrayed, evoking interest and empathy even in translation, centuries later.

You also participated in the Belfast Poetry Festival a few different times. What were some of the main activities in this poetry festival? What did you enjoy the most about it?

The small city of Belfast, Maine has an active arts community. They’ve long had a Belfast Poet Laureate, and one of the tasks of that role is to help coordinate and oversee the Belfast Poetry Festival, which has been happening for almost 20 years. One of the main activities of the festival is to feature works created by poets and artists working together (you apply as a pair). In 2021, I teamed up with photographer Anna Strickland to create a set of photo haiga, something I hadn’t really done before. I loved working closely with Anna and gaining insights into her artistic vision, while intuitively finding ways to enhance and complement her work with my haiku.

Who are your top 5 favorite poets?

For haiku poets, so many, all of them! I can’t pick just five, and I certainly can’t pick favorites because I would inevitably leave out someone I love. Everyone in my haiku group, the Broadmoor Haiku Collective, wows and inspires me every time I read or hear their poems, so I’ll go with the eight of them: Brad Bennett, Alan Bridges, Judson Evans, Hannah Mahoney, Jeannie Martin, Paul Miller, Tom Sacramona, and Mary Stevens. And there are so many other wonderful and inspiring haiku poets out there!

(For non-haiku poets, I especially enjoy the work of Jane Kenyon, Ada Limon, Sharon Olds, Jill McDonough, Linda Gregg, Arthur Sze, Philip Levine, Li-Young Lee, Robert Wrigley, and many others.)

What are some haiku books you’ve read recently (or are currently reading)?

• The Dry Bones, Paul Chambers (which I carry with me everywhere in my purse)
• Unmended Fences, Carolyn Hall
• Where Rain Would Stay, Peggy Willis Lyles
• Home Again, Rick Tarquinio
• Desert Hours, Marian Olson
• Walking Away from the Sunset, Julie Schwerin
• The White Buffalo, Chad Lee Robinson

What haiku/writing projects are you currently working on?

I’ve recently agreed to become the HSA Regional Coordinator – Northeast, so I’m trying to come up with something interesting to engage the New England members on a regular basis. I’m also in the middle of coordinating the Touchstone Awards for Individual Haibun; final results will be posted on April 17, International Haiku Poetry Day. And I’m still writing at least one haiku a day for my haiku blog, Book of Days!

Haiku-Related Volunteer Positions/Affiliations:  

• Coordinator, The Haiku Foundation’s Touchstone Awards for Individual Haibun
• Haiku Society of America Regional Coordinator – Northeast
• Book reviewer, Frogpond et al.
• Guest editor, Drifting Sands Haibun Journal, February 2022 & November 2023
• Co-judge, HSA Rengay Award in Honor of Garry Gay, 2022

Book Publications:

• What We Tell Each Other (Snapshot Press, forthcoming 2024), haibun; winner of the 2023 Snapshot Press eChapbook Award

• Island (Red Moon Press, 2023), haiku

• It Always Comes Back (Snapshot Press, 2021), haiku; winner of the 2020 Snapshot Press eChapbook Award

• Tourists in the Known World: New & Selected Poems (Megunticook Press, 2017), free-verse poetry

• Transportation (Megunticook Press, 2011), free-verse poetry; finalist for a Maine Literary Award

• Invocation to the Birds (Oyster River Press, 2001), free-verse poetry

Anthologies & Collaborations (contributor):

What Weathers, What Returns: An Anthology of the Broadmoor Haiku Collective, ed. Kristen Lindquist (Red Moon Press, 2023)

Time’s Shadow, ed. Scott Murphy (Befuddled Press, 2023)

bird whistle: A Contemporary Anthology of Bird Haiku, ed. Stanford Forrester & Johnette Downing (bottle rockets press, 2023)

The View Arcade: Two Autumns Anthology 2022, ed. Nathaniel Tico (Haiku Poets of Northern California, 2022)

The Haiku Way of Healing: Illness, Injury, and Pain, ed. Robert Epstein (Middle Island Press, 2022)

A New Resonance 12: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku, eds. Jim Kacian & Julie Schwerin (Red Moon Press, 2021)

Window Seats: A Contemporary Anthology of Cat Haiku and Senryu, ed. Stanford Forrester (bottle rockets press, 2021)

Helping Hand Haiku Anthology, ed. Robert Epstein (Middle Island Press, 2020)

The Signature Haiku Anthology, ed. Robert Epstein (Middle Island Press, 2020)

Gratitude in the Time of COVID-19: the Haiku Hecameron, ed. Scott Mason (Girasole Press, 2020)

My work has also been included in the Red Moon annual anthologies (2019-2022); Contemporary Haibun (Volumes 16 – 18); Haiku 21; and various member/event anthologies

Anthologies (editor):

What Weathers, What Returns: An Anthology of the Broadmoor Haiku Collective (Red Moon Press, 2023)

Journal & Online Publications:

My haiku, senryu, and haibun have been published in many journals around the world, from Acorn to Whiptail, from Asahi Haikuist to Wales Haiku Journal.

Awards & Honorable Mentions:

• Winner, Hueston Woods Haiku Trail Contest, 2023

• Laureate, Frost Entomological Museum’s 2023 Hexapod Haiku Challenge

• Runner-up, 2024 Haiku Calendar Competition (Snapshot Press, 2023)

• Honorable Mention, Haiku Poets of Northern California Haibun Contest, 2023

• 3^rd Place winner, HSA Garry Gay Rengay Award, 2023 (with Alan S. Bridges)

• Winner and three runners-up, 2023 Haiku Calendar Competition (Snapshot Press, 2022)

• Museum of Haiku Literature Award, Blithe Spirit, 2021

• Two runners-up, HSA Garry Gay Rengay Award, 2021 (with Alan S. Bridges)

• Runner-up, 2022 Haiku Calendar Competition (Snapshot Press, 2021)

• Longlisted, Touchstone Award for Individual Haiku, 2021

Featured Poet / Other Publications:

My work was featured at Cornell University’s Mann Library Daily Haiku Page (October 2020)

Garrison Keillor has read three of my poems on National Public Radio’s The Writer’s Almanac. Maine State Poet Laureate Stu Kestenbaum has read several of my poems, including some haiku, on Maine Public Radio’s Poems from Here.

Additional links:

Kristen Lindquist’s bio at Haikupedia.

Kristen Lindquist’s page at the Living Haiku Anthology.

Please share 3 of your recent haiku and/or tanka (with publication credits if they are in a book, journal or anthology):

vernal pool . . .
the version of the story
she hopes I’ll pass down

—Presence 76

***

each of us chooses
to be here
seaside goldenrod

—The Heron’s Nest 25.3

***

winter waterfall
imagining how cold
the moon

—Wales Haiku Journal Autumn 2023


© Kristen Lindquist