First

haiku conference
I meet an old friend
for the first time

Written in Santa Fe NM, where I have been attending Haiku North America, a bi -annual conference of haiku poets from North America and elsewhere. Another attendee was writing almost exactly the same poem, at almost the same time, as I was writing mine. The only difference was that she wrote "gathering" where I wrote "conference." This experience, of meeting in the flesh for the first time someone one has known for years through their work and sometimes through correspondence, provides some of the most powerful moments of the conference. The rest of the stuff is good, too.