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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I’m happy to have two poems out in the July issue of Presence, an independent journal of haiku and other short form poetry in the UK.

breathing spell / an acorn cap full / of still wind

the soft footfalls / of salamanders / night rain

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

I’m happy to have two poems out in the summer issue of #FemkuMag. Thanks to editor Rowan Beckett Minor for giving these poems a home.

waking light / the baby’s milky breath / brushes my cheek

the soft circumference / of my newborn’s head / honeysuckle

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

It was such an honor and delight for our Charlottesville Homeschool Art Club to take part in Let There Be Light at PVCC last night.

A scene of preparation before our winter solstice mystical beings parade: a lighted sun, moon, and star on poles rest upright against a table, while people in lighted costumes stand in the background preparing for the parade.

The parade in progress, as the participants form a circle at its conclusion. Lighted figures carry a sun, moon, and star lanterns. People are dressed in various lighted costumes, some with lighted wings.

My child and I, after the parade. I am dressed as the Green Man, with a mask made of leaves and a green cloak, and I’m wearing a large star lantern (which hangs in front of my chest) and holding a large lighted sun on a tall pole. My child is dressed as Harriet from Ursula LeGuin’s Catwings, with a a cat mask and lighted wings that she made herself, and she is holding a large star lantern that hangs by a string from a stick. In the background, you can see other various lighted mystical beings.

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Currently locked down with my youngest child in the UVA area. Hoping that everyone at UVA and Shannon Library are safe!

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

I’m happy to have two poems out in the latest issue of Presence, with thanks to retiring editor Ian Storr, who will be much missed.

A haiku by Meredith Ackroyd, printed in the journal Presence, with dramatically lit hellebores in the background:

juniper needles
in the baby’s fist
the scent of rain

A haiku by Meredith Ackroyd, printed in the journal Presence, with sunlight and shadows softly falling on the page:

deer trail
the pasture gate
left long ajar

The cover of the journal Presence, Issue 81, March 2025, with sunlit grass and trees in the background. The cover, in black and white, shows a photo of what appears to be pigeons sitting on a wooden fence.

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

I’m so honored to have two poems on the Long List this year for The Haiku Foundation’s Touchstone Individual Poems Award. I’m grateful to editors Vandana Parashar and Rowan Beckett for publishing these poems in #FemkuMag and to the panelists at THF for selecting my work for the Long List.

Two poems by Meredith Ackroyd, published by the amazing, kind, brilliant, and gentle editors Vandana Parashar and Rowan Beckett at #FemkuMag, in Issue 35:

caesarean section—
what it costs the river
to move a stone

and

snowberry clearwing
the mouthfeel of a name
for our baby

A screenshot of the header and title for The Haiku Foundation’s webpage for the Long List for the 2024 Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems.

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Smoke (not clouds!) billowing down the mountain. Helicopters are making water drops on the fire with water collected from a local pond.

Smoke billows in the blue sky over trees and a house.

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

I’m happy to have a poem on display as part of the Golden Haiku competition in Washington, D.C. #goldenhaiku

A poster for Golden Haiku, decorated with cherry blossom branches, with a poem by Meredith Ackroyd that reads “homecoming / a name for every wildflower / in the meadow”

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

I’m happy to have two poems out in #FemkuMag today, with thanks to editor Vandana Parashar. This spring issue comes out on International Women’s Day each year, and it is filled with the beautiful, powerful voices of women-identifying poets.

Image shows a haiku by Meredith Ackroyd: “northern lights / the invisible glow / of our body heat”

Image shows a haiku by Meredith Ackroyd: “borrowed milk / the small o of my newborn’s mouth / and the pale moon”

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

I’m happy to have a new poem out in the latest volume of Modern Haiku (56.1), with thanks to editor Paul Miller.

A page from Volume 56.1 of Modern Haiku, overlaid with a large philodendron leaf. A poem on the page, by Meredith Ackroyd, reads “milkweed pods / a man at the pick-your-own / starts to whistle”.

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

The deep snow that blanketed our mountain hollow for the past month has finally melted, and somehow, beneath all that cold, packed ice, the snowdrops were still making their way up through the dark earth, toward the coming sun. 🌱

Snowdrops growing by the base of a maple tree.

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

Two poems of mine from the latest issue of Presence (Issue 80). In case you needed to see something good and beautiful today.

A poem by Meredith Ackroyd: warm spell / the dogwood’s bare branches / strung with rain

A poem by Meredith Ackroyd: a drop of milk / on the baby’s lips / falling star

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

For a while today, I know not how long, I gave myself over to despair and the still lingering dread from a sleepless night. But then I heard that Michael Longley had passed away from this world, and I pulled his book of poems down from the shelf, and the reading brought me home to myself.

Michael Longley’s poem “The Meteorite” from his Collected Poems.

Michael Longley’s poem “The Hut” from his Collected Poems

Michael Longley’s poem “The Ice-Cream Man” from his Collected Poems

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

I’ve been feeling lately that, if I am going to survive the horrors of the current moment with my spirit intact, I need to make more time for making beautiful things with my hands. This is the old maple tree that grows near my house. It has seen far more winters than I have and survived them all.

Pencil sketch of the old, twisting maple tree that grows near the artist’s home

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Post a picture you took. No description.

Wingstem or crownbeard wildflower seed heads against a backdrop of a fence, pasture, trees, and a mountain

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

so the old year ends, and a new one begins … here’s hoping that the world we make together is a better one, despite all that looms on the horizon. This poem appeared in issue no. 145 of hedgerow this year, edited by Caroline Skanne.

Photo of an old rusted hinge on a weathered barn door. There is a haiku that reads “new year’s eve / a rusted hinge / on the barn door.” Poem by Meredith Ackroyd, published in hedgerow, no. 145, edited by Caroline Skanne.

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

an embarrassment of riches, so many good books to read as this year comes to an end and a new one begins 📚

A stack of books in front of a Christmas tree: Magnolia Diary by paul m., Narrow Road to the Interior by Basho, The Ink Dark moon translated by Jane Hirshfield, A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher, Feather Leaf Bark and Stone by Jackie Morris, You Are Here edited by Ada Limon, One Week in January by Carson Ellis, Ruth Asawa Through Line, and The Sculpture of Ruth Asawa: Contours in the Air

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

I’m happy to share that editor Michael Dylan Welch has made a video of all of the haiku that appeared in @pulsevoices.org this year. I was so pleased to be able to contribute a poem to Pulse. It’s lovely to see all of these moving haiku together in this video. pulsevoices.org/haiku/haiku-...

Haiku poem on image of blue sky with white tree. The poem reads “wide open sky / the doctor lifts our newborn / into the light” Meredith Ackroyd, Afton, Virginia

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

Solstice day, solstice night. Welcome light!

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 14/12/2024

Let There Be Light at PVCC in Charlottesville has been and still remains one of my favorite nights of the year. It’s such a beautiful way to celebrate the upcoming solstice and the return of the light.

Art installation of large glowing flowers with moving connected lights

Art installation of a glowing willow tree with glowing globes suspended from the trailing branches

A close up of one of the globes on the glowing willow tree. This one contains a tiny house.

Art installation of glowing fungus-like spheres in woods

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 27/10/2024

I voted this weekend: against right-wing fascism; for freedom, diversity, ethics, healthcare, safety, education, and human rights; for a world in which we choose to love and trust each other; for a world of beauty and creativity; for a world in which we care for this earth and all who inhabit it. 🌎☮️

Photo shows an I Voted sticker on a background of fall leaves.

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Meredith Ackroyd @meredithackroyd.bsky.social · 19/10/2024

Well, I’m giving this place a try as an alternative to the other place, though I expect that I will continue to be more active on Threads for now. To kick things off, here’s a poem of mine that just won a Sakura Award in the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival’s Haiku Invitational.

Image reads: Sakura Awards
the baby’s / soft babble . . . / blossom wind
Meredith Ackroyd
Afton, VA

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