Stanford M. Forrester is a past president of the Haiku Society of America and editor and founder of bottle rockets: a collection of short verse, which is now in its second decade of publishing. Like many haiku poets, he has been widely published in journals and anthologies here and abroad. He is perhaps most proud being included in the anthology Haiku edited by Peter Washington in the Everyman’s Library Pocket Poetry Series published by Knopf and American Zen: A Gathering of Poets edited by Larry Smith published by Bottom Dog Press.

Though I write about many things, I believe my focus is has always been on the spiritual connection between man and the world. My work celebrates the ups and downs of trying to stay on the Buddhist path, whatever that is. Since I am not perfect and have fault, my work follows suit. But as William S. Burroughs said it is the fault which makes the poet. To me the fault glimpses into the soul and exposes the truth. A good poet needs to be insightful and you can’t have insight without truth. I prefer to be a wild grain of rice, rather than a grain of white rice that has had all its imperfections, its flavor and nutrients polished off. I examine/meditate on the imperfect, if not how could one celebrate what truly is? So to me haiku and Buddhism are both paths of awareness that allow us to see the beauty and truth in our daily lives and that is a cause for celebration.

www.bottlerocketspress.com