Special Issue - Remembering Bruce Ross

My beloved husband and haiku luminary Bruce Ross, the founder of this journal, passed away in January 2026.
I am publishing below a few testimonials of variable length from fellow poets, in this special issue remembering him.
But this great loss as well as more family emergencies happening in my life will delay the publication of the Spring/Summer issue (and the response to your submissions may be delayed until the beginning of June), please be patient.
Astrid Andreescu, March 2026
 
Testimonials:

I was really shocked to receive the news of the death of Mr. Bruce Ross. Kōko Katō and I send our sincerest condolences to you. I remember his soft voice and his speech at the Kō  30th anniversary meeting held in Nagoya 10 years ago. I understand how he loved haiku and the nature of Japan. I inform belatedly that his haiku was awarded by the Nagoya city board of education last November through the selection of Kōko Katō.

The moon smaller
at the top of its arc
autumn begins

You have already succeeded with “Autumn Moon” in his spirit. He must have been very happy with you.
I pray his soul may rest in peace and wish your good health.

Kyoko Shimizu, Editorial Staff, Kō (Japan)

******
It is a summer morning in New Zealand. The sky is blue but there are no sounds when I read an email with the sad news that a writing friend in the US has passed away. Although we never met, Bruce and I  became acquainted through poetry. The natural scene and the details of humanity are the common focus of the haiku poet and draw people together from most parts of the world. It was a pleasure to know Bruce through our poetry and he will be sadly missed by all who knew him.  

Patricia Prime, New Zealand, co-editor of A Vast Sky

******
 I only met Bruce Ross a few times. He was a poet of such attention to what he was sensing, whether a leaf caught in rain, or a spider caught, not just in morning light, but in a specific kind of morning light, a morning teapot light. I was struck by his modesty. There he would be, not putting himself forward, and I’d be thinking But that’s Bruce Ross! He embodied an incredible modesty, this poet whose haiku were so direct, such treasures. I know his work remains, but I will be remembering Bruce as a kind and gentle poet who captured his world so particularly, I could almost look at a group of poems and know which had been written by him. Of course, we will miss him very much here in Canada.

Claudia Coutu Radmore, Canada

******
Bruce’s book, Haiku Moment, opened a door for me when I first began writing haiku. I met him in person at several Haiku Canada conferences, and appreciated his teaching and insights. His haibun workshop inspired me. After reading my 2011 chapbooks, I received a postcard from him saying they were “both from the heart.” That note could only be written by someone living from the heart. Bruce will be deeply missed as poet, educator, and friend.

Philomene Kocher, Canada

******
I never had the pleasure of meeting Bruce in person and our exchanges in the early 90’s were infrequent and brief. That said, they were enough to make a lasting impact on me as he did on English-language haiku. He cared for the form and substance of haiku. In a sea of egos Bruce was a quiet, unassuming force. His poetry simple, unassuming, yet with a rich, deep resonance.

Japanese garden ...
a bamboo staff left
in the bamboo
(haiku by Bruce Ross)

Tony Pupello, New York City, USA

******
The haiku community mourns the passing of Bruce Ross—Past President of the Haiku Society of America, distinguished poet, author, editor, and founder of Autumn Moon Haiku Journal. His work carried both scholarship and stillness, inviting us to see the ordinary moment with awakened eyes.
Bruce’s generosity as an editor was well known; he received haiku submissions with kindness and gave them a home. He created a welcoming space where poets from across the world found learning & encouragement.
Alongside his wife, Astrid, he nurtured a community rooted in attentiveness and haiku aesthetics. His absence is deeply felt, but his legacy shall continue to shine and inspire. 

Neena Singh, India

******
Such sad news: Bruce Ross left us last January, a time conducive to memories, he is on my mind for his poems both simple and profound as successful haiku always are.
Certainly his books and theoretical works will remain in the history of Haiku Poetry.
We have had the opportunity to exchange viewpoints several times over the years about the evolution of this literary genre and I remember that the professor considered e. e. cummings the ultimate innovator within the realm of poetry, in the broad sense. I learned a lot from him. I’m close to Astrid in this hard, distressing moment, but I am sure she can continue the professor’s work . I wish her peaceful days as much as possible.

Luciana Moretto, Italy

******
Bruce Ross had an abiding interest in haiku, haibun, Zen Buddhism and animal rights that focused his life as a teacher, mentor, scholar, poet, writer, editor and author. He was simply caring and intellectually curious with a warmth and indelible fun sense of humor. I met Bruce in the early 1990's at a Haiku Society of America retreat at the Dai Bosatsu Zendo in the Catskills of New York. It was a great pleasure to subsequently meet at other haiku events and I will always be grateful to Bruce for his many contributions to the haiku community and for his bringing sensitivity and awareness to nature and all life through his writing and haiku. He was a much-beloved friend to many and no doubt his light travels far. 

Tom Clausen, USA

******
We met with Bruce Ross many times in Bucharest, organizing together several roundtable discussions regarding trends in contemporary haiku, and we also collaborated on two bilingual Romanian/American anthologies, one of haibun (Travelers through Seasons) and one of senryu (Senryu Therapy). We deeply regret the passing of the poet Bruce Ross, who was a collaborator, a source of inspiration, and a close friend to haiku poets in Romania, and we extend our sincere condolences to his wife, Mrs. Astrid Andreescu, as well as to his entire family.

Valentin Nicoliţov, president of the Romanian Haiku Society and Editor, Haiku Journal

******
I was extremely saddened to learn of the passing of Bruce Ross, a friend, and important figure to me personally and to many in the haiku community. When I first met Bruce in one of his visits to the Boston Haiku Society in the mid-90’s, I was immediately impressed by his erudition and range of literary and philosophical knowledge. Besides his Haiku Moment, An Anthology of Contemporary North American Haiku (1993), and haiku collections, his work in the vanguard of English language haibun had greatest impact on my own writing, and he was always a generous advocate for my work in haibun.
I came to know Bruce better when he presented a Forum on Haibun at the 2001 HNA, which I took part in hosting with Raffael DeGruttola and Karen Klein in Boston. Bruce was a forceful early practitioner, editor, and ambassador of haibun, and I will always be grateful to him for publishing two of my early haibun—probably two of the most personal and emotionally raw pieces I had ever written in any form —in his pathbreaking Journey to the Interior: American Versions of Haibun (1998). With these haibun of mine, written out of grief for the death of my first lover, Bruce was also publishing some of the earliest “queer” haibun and helping open the form to alternate voices. Likewise, Bruce also included one these pieces “Haibun for Dennis” in his How to Haiku (1999, updated in 2022) Guide to writing haiku and related forms. This generous championing of my work was crucial in my focus on haibun as a means of poetic expression to the present.
Later, I often met Bruce for lunch at a vegetarian restaurant in Cambridge, MA, when he would come to town for a Conference on Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy. He was always brimming over with enthusiasm and intellectual ambition, mining the space between Buddhist aesthetics and the western philosophical tradition. I appreciated his cosmopolitanism and curiosity, which was balanced by a gentleness, and care for all of non-human nature, shown in so many of his haiku:

spring thaw
a new spider
in the mailbox

I was reminded of the pleasure with which he offered me a tour of his and his wife Astrid’s beautiful garden in Maine and the carefully placed Buddha statues there, when I recently re-read this haibun:

The Inmost Solution

I have been contemplating the wall in every season. Watching the Buddha statue set on it changing. This cold autumn day has its own clarity.

old stone wall
one of its sunlit rocks
a key to it all
( Haibun Today, Vol. 5, no.4, Dec. 2011)

It feels appropriate to end this personal reflection with Bruce’s own words:

without me
my shoes on the floor
so still
(Terebess Asia Online)

Judson Evans, USA

******
Although we communicated about haiku by email whenever I submitted to Autumn Moon and I was familiar with many of his books, I only met Bruce in person a couple of times. He generously invited me to join him, Astrid, and some other Maine haiku poets for two ginko / haiku walks on the coast. What struck me then was his passion for and deep knowledge of haiku. He gave so much to the haiku community; I often dip into and reference his books when I teach haiku workshops. It’s an honor now to be helping Astrid carry on his legacy with Autumn Moon Haiku Journal. 

Kristen Lindquist, USA,  Co-editor, Autumn Moon Haiku Journal

******
I met Bruce through haiku in 1994 (we were introduced by Liz Fenn, who was friends with my aunt, Romanian haiku poet Manuela Miga, as I was coming to the US as a young Romanian poet), and we have been kindred spirits ever since. I remember his gentle spirit and his unyielding desire to uphold haiku standards. He always carried a tiny book and jotted down at least one if not ten haiku every day, and he would read them all to me in the evening. I miss him, but his spirit remains with me always. For those interested, I am honoring him by reading one of his haiku almost daily on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@tanchomethod
​
Astrid Andreescu, co-editor, Autumn Moon Haiku Journal
 
​
A few favorite haiku by Bruce Ross:

migrating monarchs
cluster along the shoreline.
thousands of wet stones
(from: thousands of wet stones, his first chapbook of haiku, 1980s)

steady spring rain –
a tree takes shape
at dawn

not minding one bit
a loon in the choppy waves
beyond the pier

so brave
the small tree
in the flooded field

spring dusk . . .
two kittens stare out the window
into it

late summer wind –
the shimmering green wings
of the dead dragonfly

morning sprinkles . . .
a whole slug family crosses
the country road

a mallard beak glistens
among floating duckweed –
first October chill
               (from among floating duckweed, 1994)

autumn drizzle –
the slow ticking
of the clock

summer pond –
wild yellow irises lean
in the shadows

a field mouse
on a crinkly elm leaf
breathing

so quiet
by the roadside
Queen Anne’s lace

late afternoon light:
the shadows of pebbles
on the road

spring morning –
a goose feather floats
in the quiet room

silence
the snow-covered rocks
under winter stars
(from Silence collected haiku, 1997)

October daybreak . . .
a leaf on the skylight
brightens

steam rising
from my favorite cup
early spring clouds

old conglomerate
filled with bright pebbles
this sadness

in the dream
my dead friend has to go
winter solstice

a solitary crow
from tree to tree
first snow

spring morning
a bird leaves the pond
leaves the ripples
​
the memorial candle
lasting longer than a day
autumn clouds
(from spring clouds    haiku, 2012)