Land Sea Earth Sky

This collection of haiku poems is written to inspire audiences to further investigate biblical scripture that accompanies each haiku. Haiku is a Japanese poetic form that originated in 9th Century Japan. It is a three line, seventeen-syllable poem that conveys deep emotion using metaphors, similes and nature. It is like a camera's close-up, expressing a moment in time and yet telling a larger, deeper story. Haiku is a perfect conduit for close-ups of biblical events and truths and is used in this collection to impel the reader to open the Bible and hunger for more. Although haiku traditionally has five syllables on the first line, seven on the second, and five on the third, American and English poets have used several syllabic variations. This haiku collection is an original variation of 7-9-3 with 19-syllables.
Tracy Ann Johnson, Ed.D, is a native of the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. Although born and raised in D.C., she has lived in Prince George's County, Maryland for over 35 years. She is a born-again Christian, wife, mother and grandmother. Having retired from Prince George's County Public Schools, Dr. Johnson continues teaching as an adjunct professor at Prince George's Community College. In past years, she has performed her poetry in local churches, schools, and libraries and has published some of her poems on-line and in church and college literary magazines. For a long time, she has promised herself and God that she would publish at least one book of poetry. She has written many poems over the years and has enough to fill at least two volumes. However, for this book, Land Sea Earth Sky, the Lord inspired her to write all new poems in the haiku genre - putting "new wine in new bottles".