Elizabeth Searle Lamb (January 22, 1917 – February 16, 2005) was an American poet. She is known for writing

English-language haiku A haiku in English is an English-language poem written in a form or style inspired by Japanese haiku. Like their Japanese counterpart, haiku in English are typically short poems and often reference the seasons, but the degree to which haiku in Engl ...

Raymond Roseliep Raymond Roseliep (August 11, 1917 – December 6, 1983) was a poet and contemporary master of the English haiku and a Catholic priest. He has been described as "the John Donne of Western haiku." Early life Born on August 11, 1917, in Farl ...

called her the "First Lady of American haiku". Her work has been translated into other languages.

Biography

She was born in

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeastern Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 cen ...

. She attended the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

and studied music and, in particular, she played the harp. She married F. Bruce Lamb in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

in 1941. They lived in several places in South America due to her husband's job as a forester. They moved to New York in 1961. She served as president of the

Haiku Society of America The Haiku Society of America is a non-profit organization composed of haiku poets, editors, critics, publishers and enthusiasts that promotes the composition and appreciation of haiku in English. Founded in 1968, it is the largest society dedicate ...

in 1971. She died in 2015 in

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , literal translation, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city, capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fourt ...

Honors and awards

She was the honorary curator for the American Haiku Archives in the California State Library in Sacramento from 1996 to 1998.

Bibliography

* ''The pelican tree, and other Panama adventures'', 1953 * ''Today and every day'', 1970 * ''39 Blossoms'', 1982 * ''Across the windharp: collected and new haiku'', 1999

References

1917 births 2015 deaths English-language haiku poets American women poets University of Kansas alumni 21st-century American women writers {{US-poet-1910s-stub