This web site is a celebration of springtime, an interplay of photographic an digital images of spring blooms with haiku poems.

The web site is a collaborative project of Ray Rasmussen [RaysWeb] and the World Haiku Club [WHC] which held a kukai [a competition] to select ten of the haiku haiku placed on the site. Christopher Herold, Managing Editor, The Heron's Nest served as judge. In addition, 7 Special Mention Haiku selected by Debra Woolard Bender, Editor-in-Chief of World Haiku Review, are posted on the site.

Also on the site are the spring-related haiku of a number of the haiku Masters and the invited contributions of some current haijin [haiku poets].

Persons interested in the haiku notion of "kigo" [season references] and haiku written with seasonal themes throughout the year are encouraged to visit Denis Garrison's web site [Haiku Cycles] which was developed as a collaboration between the Webzine Haiku Harvest and the World Haiku Club.

A personal Note:

Spring arrives late where I live in Northern Canada, and thus, when it comes, there is a noticable change both in our physical bodies and in the body of the Earth. Right now, it's early May and the plants are just awakening from winter's stillness. The intensity of the change of season and the feeling of renewal has inspired me to make a web site devoted exclusively to springtime.

In selecting images, I have deliberately not tried to create a literal match of image and haiku. To do so, I believe, would distract attention from the haiku. This follows from the tradition, as I understand it, of Japanese haiga in which haiku and image were not always directly matched.

I am grateful to the poets who submitted haiku for this site, to Christopher Herold for judging the competition and for his insightful comments on the selected haiku, and to Debi Bender for her always willing and thoughtful guidance,

Ray Rasmussen

Copyright:The haiku on this web site are the property of the poets. All images and the design of this web site are the property of Ray Rasmussen. Permission to use a poem must be obtained directly from the cited poet. Conditions for the use of images can be found on this copyright page.

For matters related to this web page, contact: Ray Rasmussen