Francine Banwarth lives in Dubuque, Iowa, and has been a member of the haiku community since 1988, when she attended a haiku memorial in honor of Raymond Roseliep. Banwarth was a cofounder of Haiku Dubuque, which has joined the haiku community in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, a gathering place for monthly workshops and meetings. She served as Haiku Society of America second vice president for 3 years and on the board of Modern Haiku for 4 years. In 2012 she was named editor of Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America. She is grateful for haiku mentors near and far, many whose names appear in the Mann Library daily haiku archives, and to editors, judges, and peers who accepted and rejected her work because both are necessary for the learning process. Haiku is a tiny but powerful art form that calls us to slip into a moment of awareness where connections reveal themselves and communicate some essence there, in the mystery and magic of being.