Self-portrai
Melissa Leaf Nelson (born Melissa Jane Leaf, September 11, 1960, Webster City, Iowa, U.S.A.), former social worker and retired quality improvement director for a healthcare organization, and active poet, essayist, and photographer. Her haiku, senryu, and tanka have been published since 1994 in print journals, notably Haiku Headlines, Brussels Sprout, Modern Haiku, Frogpond, Mayfly, Black Bough, Persimmon, and Point Judith Light, and online in Enchanted Garden Haiku Journal, Shadow Pond Journal, and Seashores. Nelson published four haiku sequences, two titled “China” (in Black Bough and in Modern Haiku, both 1995), and two titled “Hong Kong” (Modern Haiku, 1996, and Black Bough, 1997). Her haibun “Verdun” was accorded the Richard M. Imig Memorial Award from Modern Haiku and republished in the 1998 Red Moon anthology. She resides in Madison, Wisconsin.
Note: This is an abstract of a longer biographical article to come.