low tide
I walk to you
across the sky

On 2nd October Jeanette Stace died peacefully after suffering a stroke. She was one of New Zealand’s leading haiku poets and made an important contribution to English language haiku, not only through her own poetry, but also by encouraging others to write and enjoy haiku. She received many awards for her work, but was always modest about her achievements. Jeanette was an invaluable member of the New Zealand Poetry Society committee for many years, co-edited two NZPS anthologies and judged the NZPS junior haiku competition. She was involved in the Windrift and Zazen haiku groups and helped organise several haiku projects, such as the Ikebana, Haiku, Bonsai exhibition in Wellington earlier this year. She was still leading haiku workshops in her late 80s.

Jeanette touched many people’s lives. She was warm, energetic and had the most wonderful sense of humour.

grandson’s visit
we compare notes
on his parents

by Vanessa Proctor