The first issue of a new Haiku publication, Hermitage, contained a review of Upstate Dim Sum by Michael McClintock, a leading writer and critic of English-language haiku for well over thirty years. He describes Upstate Dim Sum as “. . . a brilliant idea, and a very important model in the development and evolution of English-language haiku and related literature.” We are very grateful for this and would be delighted to see other groups formed along the lines of Upstate Dim Sum.

Perhaps the biggest news for this issue is that we are privileged to have Cor van den Heuvel as our guest poet. The pioneering era of English-language haiku and its most contemporary developments are connected through the work of this one individual. Highlights of his extraordinary achievements in haiku include: editor of three editions of The Haiku Anthology, winner of the Shiki Award, former president of the Haiku Society of America, and an active and influential haiku poet for approximately forty-five years, so far.

And finally, there is now an Upstate Dim Sum web site. The address appears on the opposite page or you can simply Google ® “Upstate Dim Sum.” We will use the web site to give you a way to contact us and to show sample work from each issue.

a cicada cuts through

the heat

the photographer

moves us closer

branches in the window

wave wildly

a kinglet rises

from the sumac

turns around

a lily