Walking Close

M. R. Defibaugh is a Virginia-based poet and haiku enthusiast whose work is influenced by love, loss, disability, and compassion for others and the environment. His poetry is as matter-of-fact as it is romantic, employing imagery that is plain yet sometimes provocative. Diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, he suffers from severe muscle weakness and relies on a wheelchair. He has degrees in mathematical sciences (BA, University of Illinois at Springfield) and operations management (MS, University of Arkansas). Defibaugh's book Hurricane Warning (2019) was featured in the May 2020 Kirkus Reviews issue and received the bronze medal in the Readers' Favorite annual book contest. His latest chapbook, the cuckoo always mid-song: haiku & haiga (2021), was done in collaboration with artist Penney L. Mellen and is available from Barnes & Noble Press. His work is also included in various haiku and senryu publications. For the past few months, he has been working with Malaysian writer and fellow haiku poet Christina Chin on collaborative forms of haiku poetry, including rengay, renku, split sequence, and tan-renga. They're written around 400 poems together as of June 2022.

Christina Chin is a painter and haiku poet. Four-time recipient of mDAC Top 100 art contest. She is 1st prize winner of the 34th Annual Cherry Blossom Sakura Festival 2020 Haiku Contest. 1st prize winner in the 8th Setouchi Matsuyama 2019 Photohaiku Contest and won two City Soka Saitama's 2020 haiku prizes. She is published in numerous journals, multilingual journals and anthologies including Japan's haiku monthly magazine, Haikukai (俳句界).