Honorary Curator LeRoy Gorman
LeRoy Gorman
Honorary Curator, 2012–2013
Appointment Announcement
The American Haiku Archives advisory board is pleased to announce the appointment of LeRoy Gorman as the 2012–2013 honorary curator of the American Haiku Archives at the California State Library in Sacramento. This honor is in recognition of his devotion to and enthusiasm for haiku development and exploration in Canada, with exemplary influence upon all English-language haiku across North America and abroad through his publications and editing, and his decades-long support of the Haiku Canada organization. His poetry consistently shows admirable creativity, courage, and range, embracing both traditional and visual/minimalist approaches to haiku and related genres of poetry. We are pleased to bestow this honor from the American Haiku Archives, which seeks to preserve and promote haiku and related poetry throughout the North American continent.
The American Haiku Archives, which includes the Haiku Society of America archives, is the largest public collection of haiku materials outside Japan. Each year since the archives were established on July 12, 1996, the AHA advisory board, currently chaired together by Garry Gay and Randy Brooks, appoints a new honorary curator (an idea suggested by the former California state librarian, Dr. Kevin Starr). Past curators, in order starting from the first year, have been Elizabeth Searle Lamb, Jerry Kilbride, Cor van den Heuvel, Robert Spiess, Lorraine Ellis Harr, Leroy Kanterman, William J. Higginson, Makoto Ueda, Francine Porad, Hiroaki Sato, H. F. Noyes, George Swede, Stephen Addiss, Gary Snyder, and Jerry Ball.
The AHA advisory board is delighted to pay tribute to LeRoy Gorman as the sixteenth honorary curator of the American Haiku Archives.
—Michael Dylan Welch
Biography
LeRoy Gorman lives in Napanee, Ontario. He was born in Smiths Falls, Ontario, in 1949 and raised on a farm near Merrickville. After graduating from Carleton and Queen’s universities, he embarked on a thirty-eight year teaching career, beginning with the Ontario Ministry of Correctional Services and ending with the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board. His poetry, much of it visual (mostly minimalist and haiku, or haiku-like), has appeared in print since 1976 in various presentations worldwide, and has garnered numerous awards. His visual poetry has also been displayed in exhibitions, internationally. In addition to writing, he edits Haiku Canada publications, including Haiku Canada Newsletter from 1996 to 2006, followed by Haiku Canada Review, beginning in 2007, as well as various annual anthologies broadsides. Since 1998, he has also published poetry leaflets and postcards under his pawEpress imprint. In addition to writing under his own name, he has published under at least fifty pseudonyms. He is a member of the Writers' Union of Canada, the Science Fiction Poetry Association, the Haiku Society of America, and is a life member of Haiku Canada.
Books by LeRoy Gorman
if I could trust the moon. London, Ontario: Killaly Press, 1977.
only shadflies have come. Oneonta, New York: Swamp Press, 1979.
whose smile the ripple warps. Toronto: Underwhich Editions, 1980.
wind in the keys. Battle Ground, Indiana: High/Coo Press, 1981.
heart’s garden. Montreal: Guernica Editions, 1983.
beautiful chance. London, Ontario: South Western Ontario Poetry, 1984.
bad news. Sterling, Virginia: Mockersatz Zrox, 1986.
where sky meets sky. Toronto: Nietzsche’s Brolly, 1987.
parallel journey/voyage parallele (with André Duhaime). Hull, Quebec: Editions Asticou, 1989.
dandelions& dreams. Goderich, Ontario: Moonstone Press, 1990.
glass bell. Montreal: King’s Road Press, 1991.
heavyn. Port Charlotte, Florida: The Runaway Spoon Press, 1992.
a haiku alphabet in celebration of spring. Aylmer, Quebec: Proof Press, 1994.
a haiku alphabet in celebration of summer. Aylmer, Quebec: Proof Press, 1995.
a haiku alphabet in celebration of fall. Aylmer, Quebec: Proof Press, 1996.
a haiku alphabet in celebration of winter. Aylmer, Quebec: Proof Press, 1997.
seasons on the run. Enfield, Connecticut: Tiny Poems Press, 1997.
prisoners. Charleston. Illinois: tel-let, 1999.
flurries. Fulton, Missouri: Timberline Press, 1999.
The Poems of Sherlock Holmes. Shelburne, Ontario: The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2000.
nothing personal. Aylmer, Quebec: Proof Press, 2001.
fast enough to leave this world. Edmonton, Alberta: Inkling Press, 2011.
Selected Haiku by LeRoy Gorman
aces & eights
another Junebug
hits the glass
Modern Haiku 28: 2, Summer 1997
no one for miles
the billboard declares
SIN IS EVERYWHERE
Raw Nervz Haiku 7: 2, Summer 2001
sp
ring
th
awe
her
zip
purr
Modern Haiku 34:1, 2003
hurricane near
she gets her nails done
the color of the sea
South by Southeast 12:2, 2005
no
way
to see
the
mountain
(((((((((((((((((sombrero)))))))))))))))))
Modern Haiku 38:3, Autumn 2007
old vinyl
In My Life
is the B side
Frogpond 29:2, Spring/Summer 2006
in full view
of the homeless
The Museum of Civilization
Modern Haiku 41:2, Summer 2010
sculpted in ice
the politician changes state
with the weather
Raw Nervz Haiku 9:1, Spring 2003
at the end of the rainbowat
Frogpond 32:2, Spring/Summer 2009
unsold at dusk
morning-picked corn’s
deeper yellow
Haiku Spirit 19, March 2000
no way out
Death’s at the door
demanding candy
The Heron's Nest, March 2010
a day to Christmas
the endless blinking
of brakes
Frogpond 27:3, Autumn 2004
snowmelt on a familiar road
strangers' names return
to mailboxes
The Heron’s Nest, May 2000
cometailover
Scifaikuest, May 2011
Web Links
Profile at Millikin University
http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/MillikinHaiku/writerprofiles/LeroyGorman.html
Reader Appreciation Essay
http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/MillikinHaiku/writerprofiles/TuckerOnGorman.html
The Writers’ Union of Canada
http://www.writersunion.ca/member/leroy-gorman
Haiku at Haiku Presence
http://haiku-presence.50webs.com/haiku/gorman.html