riding the bull thistle
for more than eight seconds
the goldfinch
Jim Krotzman taught secondary reading and English for 36 years in Wisconsin, Colorado, and Minnesota. He started writing haiku and senryu in the 1990s when he wrote along with his students as part of writer’s workshop. His haiku have evolved from the 5/7/5 format to the American version. He uses irony, contrast, humor, puns and other wordplay in his haiku. As he has grown older, his need to publish has waned. Since his retirement in 2011 he has written haiku and a play based on an event that occurred in Juneau County, Wisconsin. Krotzman realized a lifelong dream when he purchased 3.5 acres of woodland on Ten-Mile Lake near Hackensack, Minnesota. The Chippewa National Forest is his backyard. With help from friends and family, he is building a cabin to live in part of the year and to use as a writing retreat. He and his wife Linda live the remainder of the year in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin near their three daughters.