Cirrus@Austlit

''Judith EP. Johnson's haiku are a quiet seam of gold. Time and again she offers finely seen acclamations of the ordinary and everyday, in celebration of the quotidian. She sees the earth not just from the moon, with the distance of objectivity, but also intimately, with subjective touches, from close at hand. These are poems to roll on your tongue, to taste with the heart.' - Michael Dylan Welch, Founder of National Haiku Writing Month'  (Publication summary)

''Each haiku is not a mere poetic sketch, but a journey to explore the mysteries hidden behind. Day Moon Fading suggests the secrets in familiar matters. The midday moon, not lying on the surface, is watching over the poet from the sky throughout in the collection. Day Moon Fading is a fantastic haiku collection.' - Toshio Kimura, Professor of English, Nihon University, Tokyo' (Publication summary)

'‘True to the grandmasters of times now past (like Issa), rather than projecting herself onto her subjects, Judith E.P. Johnson allows her subjects to breathe new life through her haiku and senryu. Precious cowrie shells culled from sparse windswept Tasmanian seascapes across a lifetime coolly reflected upon, her poems - in a slow burn of sly wistfulness and whimsicality - help us rediscover what will be lost within what has always, perhaps inescapably, been close at hand.’ - Adam L. Kern, author of The Penguin Book of Haiku'  (Publication summary)

'‘One feels accompanied by the poet in these pages; through gardens, along country roads and city streets, along windswept coastlines and out on the water. You will encounter many invitations to pause, to share an observation of something tiny close-up or to admire some distant expanse. We also ponder occasional memories and wonderings about times long ago. There is karumi here, that delicate quality of lightness and simplicity where things are presented without embellishment, subjects without interpretation, where the wonder of things is allowed to speak for itself. And in judicious balance, other haiku indulge in subtle suggestion, offering hints of the extraordinary within the ordinary and even allude to the numinous. Most delightfully we meet the poet in these words as we find ourselves moved by that which moves her, sharing a few moments along this winding path, where it leads…’ - Simon Hanson'  (Publication summary)

'“Judith E. P. Johnson has that crucial characteristic for haiku poets, an ability to notice the minor miracles of ordinary existence – a blackbird bathing in a dog’s bowl, daisies ankle-deep on a lawn, the reflection of a jasmine flower in a rain puddle – these are acute observations that transform everyday life into fine haiku. When she writes, ‘running along the beach the wind and I’, she invites us on a poetic journey where we can share her experience of Waking from Dreams.” – Stephen Addiss, author of The Art of Haiku'

''‘Between Two Moons is a delightful gift by Judith E.P. Johnson from Tasmania, an island far in the south. The scenes she captures with her warm-hearted and observant eyes in her daily life, and also in nature, are quite charming and agreeable. This collection will be my favourite for a long time.’ – Satoru Kanematsu, author of Hazy Moon

'‘Judith E.P. Johnson’s haiku sparkle with the quiet intensity that is characteristic of the best of the form. Their quirky images draw our attention to unexpected meanings hidden in the trivial, the eve-ryday, or the minutiae of nature, forcing us to contemplate and see anew. Exquisite miniature paint-ings, they continue to resonate in the mind’s eye long after the page is turned or the book closed.’ – Robert Cox, co-editor of Behind the Masks: Gwen Harwood Remembered by her Friends ' (Publication summary)