Cathy Drinkwater Better cbetter@juno.com English no personal website United States A freelance writer since 1976, Cathy Drinkwater Better is a longtime professional journalist and editor, and a widely published poet in many genres and forms. She has published haiku, senryu, haibun, and tanka in journals, magazines, and anthologies in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Japan since 1989, including Modern Haiku, Frogpond, Raw NerVZ, brussels sprout, Persimmon, Tundra, Presence, and others. Cathy is also the author of over 30 published books for both children and adults, including two collections of poetry, "the moon tonight" (Los Hombres Press, 1996) and "the sky is all there is" (Astute Platypus Press, 1999); "Don't Hit Your Brother With Your Mouth Full" (Acme Press, 1995), a collection from her long-running and award-winning humor column published in the Carroll County Times and affiliated newspapers; "Test Your Bible I.Q." (Random House Value Publishing, 1999), a fun and challenging book containing more than 1,200 bits of Bible trivia in Q&A and puzzle formats; and "Excuse Me!: A Book All About Manners" (Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001), a humorous picture book in verse, with a spiritual message. Her latest haiku collection is a tiny chapbook set, "cat and human" (Black Cat Press, 2002). Cathy recently ditched her full-time editing job to devote more time to her various writing projects. Then, because she can't seem to sit still for long without twitching, she agreed to be the new editor of The Medical Bulletin, a group of newspapers for doctors and hospitals. Somehow, she still manages to find time to write a humor column for two regional magazines and freelance as an editor for projects ranging from medical journals to children's books. A New York native and the mother of two grown sons and a daughter, with a six-year-old granddaughter, Cathy is also the wicked stepmother of another adult daughter. She lives in Eldersburg, Maryland, with her husband, Doug Walker, and their black cat, Raven Spirit Walker. Cathy also has a second-degree black belt in karate, and she's not afraid to use it.

each sinking step on the rain-washed path cry of the plover	last day of the year finally noticing the Monet on the calendar
scanning the skies for converging planets I grind the gears	topiary garden: an evergreen Buddha at the end of the path
snow overnight closing schools the mother's "damn"	katydids today counting on my fingers to first frost
broken dream from the moonlit windowsill cricket sound	heading into sunset the sister I don't talk to one year older today
closing time the barber combs his hair just so	Chinese grocery- beside the cash register blossoms float in a dish