. . . My poems and short fiction have appeared in Duck & Herring Co.'s Pocket Field Guide, Monkeybicycle, Pindeldyboz, and Bellowing Ark, as well as the online journals Lily, Cross Connect, Word Riot, The Centrifugal Eye, The Heron's Nest, Contemporary Haibun Online, and Roadrunner Haiku Journal among others. I live on a small farm in Yamhill, OR with a menagerie of animals including a rescued potbelly pig named Odious. I teach creative writing and literature at George Fox University, south of Portland, OR. Thanks for your consideration, Ed Higgins

. . . PS - I've just published my first collection of tanka with Modern English Tanka Press, The Salesman's Shoes, and Lynx is credited in the acknowledgements. James Roderick Burns, Edinburgh, UK

Dear haiku friends, An hour ago I received the sad news that two days ago Wim Lofvers died. I knew he was ill and the end was inevitable, but still such news comes hard. Wim has made important contributions to haiku, nationally in the Netherlands as well as internationally, as a poet, as president of the Haiku Kring Nederland and as a publisher. Many of you have known him in one or more of these capacities. For seven years his biannual journal Woodpecker was one of the most important platforms for haiku poets from all over the world to show their work. Wim's small but ever so delicate series of Radish haiku books were highly appreciated. Wim was a kind man with a deep love for haiku. A funeral service will be held next Saturday, April 28th. Should you want to send your condolences to the family, the address is: Rijsterdijk 25 / 8574 VW Bakhuizen / Nethrlands. Max Verhart

. . . Thank you so very, very much. I am humbled and ecstatic. Lynx deserves whatever praise it receives and it is a true joy to know that I will be a part of it. Also, I would like to thank you for giving the ghazal a place to exist. As a western individual I have found it a completely edifying form to explore. The ghazal's middle eastern spiritual history can be a bridge between peoples in our current times. Again, thank you, for your kind words and for the work you both are doing. Shawn Bowman

. . . Any Lynx reader interested in purchasing my book of tanka, but then you danced (favorably reviewed by M. Kei in the winter issue of Lynx), should send a check for $10 to Jeanne Lupton, 2692 Sacramento Street, Berkeley, CA 94702-2336. Thank you! Jeanne Lupton

. . .Tanka Online which premiered February 1, 2007, is a website teaching poets new to the form how to write tanka.  A collaborative effort by poets Jeanne Emrich, Michael McClintock, Tom Clausen, Margaret Chula (all of the USA), Amelia Fielden (Australia) and Mariko Kitakubo (Japan), it features essays and articles on writing and appreciating tanka, a tanka gallery, recommended reading, and more. Jeanne Emrich

. . .All my best wishes for a great haiku year. Please find attached the latest issue of our newsletter. Do not hesitate to send us any haiku and/or information relating to haiku for the next issue. Previous newsletter may be downloaded via our web site. In haiku spirits, Gilles Fabre

. . .I have just completed the 1000th haiga. At this time, I would like to thank all those who contributed haiku to my haiga project, and those who have been viewing my website. Kuniharu Shimizu

. . .The International Japanese Short Form Journal read by over 6,000 people worldwide SIMPLY HAIKU. The SPRING Issue.

. . .On 2/26/07, Jane Reichhold  wrote: Just to let you know the books (The 5^th Season) arrived in perfect condition! You are a good packer of packages.
Robin Gill: Not me, Lightning Source! I ordered from "My Orders" inside of Paraverse Press inside of Lightning Source. Sending "basic shipping" rather than UPS was an experiment, so i am glad it went OK. Unfortunately, it means i could not make corrections! So be sure and peek at the Errata for Cherry at my site – i am afraid the style of the page re epiphany right up front (sob!) needed some work and a few hundred pages later, i turned the god of wisdom into a stupa – a truly stupid mistake i vaguely recall catching and then i guess i got a phone call or something else happened and i forgot until my friend bill found it. Luis the scholar feels there is far too much me and stuff about the book in cherry though he praised it and me profusely and explained what i was doing better than i can in an online forum and may put something up on amazon soon. Copying some egs of composite translations from the book, i find alot of improvement can be made to it = i need to put in two months of editing – about a dozen pages / day – to get the right words, to change some first-person sentences into aphoristic statements (not because there is too much me in them but for purely stylistic reasons). But i want to put in more natural history even more and, for that, need to work with the right biologists and fill in other areas and add pictures . . . i really need a team for it and my other books, and so my aim is to get to a japanese university with good links to a US or English university or vice-versa.  With the 5th season, my biggest fear was how another bill (higginson) would react to my pointing out the real significance of his poetic but slightly off translation; but i was real careful how i treated it (and i did really like it or i would not have put it up front - bill would do well to mistranslate more like that!) and he has written me after reading it and all is fine!

JR: What a tome!
RG: It is the exact same length as the large Topsy-turvy 1585, the Lightning Source limit of 740 pp – that makes about 3000 pp total in my 3 years and 3 months of publishing. How many publishers can say they have ten times more pages in their books than they have readers?

JR: I will review both books in the June issue of LYNX! [Sorry, Robin, I was simply not good enough to do your books justice in reviews this issue! jr]
RG: Wonderful! And LYNX, i have noticed, results in more sales than Simply Haiku.

JR: Completely impressed with your work. You are a genius! Now everyone will know it. What a gift you have given haiku literature!!!
RG: I would like to give a lot more, but i was serious about needing some funding (and more access to things like J-Stor over here or Iwanami's searchable Taikei, etc.) – i must concentrate on other writing more likely to sell or i will never be able to settle down. With the reviews, if you can get drafts out with a wee bit of time to spare and bounce them off me, i am sure i can make some improvements – in Japan, i did this for magazine and newspaper reporters who wrote about me and/or my work. I promise i never try to change anything said about me but only help to make certain points are made more effectively and beautifully – i try to imagine whether someone who does not know my work will get what is written and sometimes suggest little changes that make a large difference.  (Robert did not bounce his cherry blossom epiphany review off me as was the case with fly-ku! and you might note it is not quite as well-written). Oh, and i just thought of something –please excuse a chumon for a review! – since LYNX, thanks to Ah Ha!  is read by people who have one foot in the world of poetry outside of the japanese, i would so much like them to introduce my books – or try them out on – people who have no particular interests in Japanese poetry – i know next to nothing of that world of poetry and wonder if they would like reading my books even though i do not like reading much of their work!  I do not know how to induce people to introduce books to others, though i am trying myself now – i have written a number of people who like borges for i think they will surely like me, but it is hard for i always poop out on these forums for i really want time to write my books . . . sorry if i have been a bit incoherent. Robin Gill

. . .The premiere issue of Shamrock Haiku Journal, the new online magazine of the Irish Haiku Society, is now available. Shamrock is an international quarterly online journal that publishes quality haiku, senryu and haibun in English, and has a home page. Shamrock is calling for submissions from local, national, and international haiku poets for the next issue, which will be out in early June 2007. Please submit your work to Dr. Anthony Anatoly Kudryavitsky, Editor, at The deadline for submissions is May 31st, 2007. See submissions guidelines. We wish you a pleasant reading. Anatoly Kudryavitsky

. . . A small photo album of  Constanta National Haiku Festival that includes photos of some noted haijin, including David Cobb (ENG), Colin Blundell (ENG), Jean Antonini (FRA), Sam Canarrozi Yada (FRA), Catherine Mair (NZD), Marcel Smets (BEL), Ion Codrescu (ROM), Florina Dobrescu (ROM), and James W. Hackett (USA). • • Two haiga by Origa (Russian-American) poet & painter are New Year and Valentine.. Have You Read: Letters Between R. H. Blyth and J. W. Hackett? Pat Hackett

The Second European Haiku Conference in Vadstena, Sweden 8-10 June 2007The Swedish Haiku Society (Svenska Haiku Sällskapet) plans to organize the Second European Haiku Conference in the medieval town of Vadstena 8-10 June 2007. Vadstena is located by lake Vättern between Stockholm and Gothenburg. It can be reached by train from Stockholm or Copenhagen to Linköping, where a chartered bus will meet to transport the participants to Vadstena (45 minutes). The conference will take place in the premises of Vadstena Folkhögskola (The Vadstena College for Adult Education). The conference hall and the dining room are in the same building just by the lake. Across a lawn are the lodging-houses. Registration fee per person is 1.800 kronor (165 €uro), including a single room with shower and toilet for two nights and the following meals: Friday 8 June dinner and evening coffee; Saturday 9 June breakfast, lunch and dinner; Sunday 10 June breakfast and lunch. Double rooms are available, costing 1.650 kronor (145 €uro) per person. The fees also include the use of the conference hall with coffee, fruits, writing materials. Participants who wish to stay over an extra night can do so at the price of 500 kronor (45 €uro)
which includes breakfast.The conference language is English.
Those who wish to participate in the conference are asked to inform me and the local organizer of the College, Ms. Anna Andersson, before 10 April. The early dead-line is requested by the College so that rooms can be reserved well in advance, as many conferences take place in the summer at Vadstena. The e-mail address of Anna Andersson is anna@vadstena.fhsk.se
The name Vadstena means "stones by the water" and refers to a manor building from the 13th century. In 1346 King Magnus Eriksson made a donation of the manor to a convent for Birgitta Birgersdotter, who in 1391 was canonized by the Pope as Sancta Birgitta. Since then Vadstena became an important centre for catholic pilgrims. In 1545 King Gustav Vasa built a castle in Vadstena which still stands by the lake.
The medieval town plan with its narrow, twisting streets have been preserved. The centre of the town lies 5 minutes walk from the College. The closest train station is Linköping, which can be reached by train from Stockholm´s airport Arlanda, for instance from Arlanda at 14.10, reaching Linköping at 16.57. The same train leaves from Stockholm at 14.40. Linköping can also be reached by train from Copenhagen´s airport Kastrup, for instance at 13.56, arriving at Linköping 16.55.The Stockholm airport for cheap flights (Ryanair, Wizzair) and chartered flights is Skavsta south of Stockholm. It has direct bus connections with Linköping, for example leaving Skavsta 14.30 and 17.25, arriving at Linköping 90 minutes later. A train from Nyköping close to Skavsta leaves at 15.02, arriving at Linköping 16.28.The Swedish Haiku Society has chartered a bus which leaves Linköping at 17.00, reaching Vadstena 45 minutes later. The bus will also be used for return transport to Linköping on Sunday 10 June, leaving Vadstena after lunch at 13.00 hrs so that participants can take the train to Stockholm and Arlanda at 13.58, arriving in Stockholm 15.40 and at Arlanda 16.07. Trains from Stockholm to Arlanda leave every 15 minutes. The first train to Kastrup and Copenhagen after lunch leaves Linköping at 14.00 hrs, arriving at Kastrup 17.23 and in Copenhagen 17.37. Further information about the timetable of Swedish Railways (Statens Järnvägar, SJ) is available on internet. The postal address of Anna Andersson is Vadstena Folkhögskola, Box 181,
S-59 224 Vadstena. Telephone +46 (0)143-157 00.My postal address is Rindögatan 42, S-115 58 Stockholm. Telephone + 46 (0)8 661 76 47. Mobile +46 (0)70 910 9971. email 
The Swedish Haiku Society hopes that many haiku poets from Europe will come to the conference as well as some special guests from Japan and USA.