About HOTE:

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My name is Gina Yates, I am an author, vintage store owner, and creativity enthusiast. My world was shattered in September 2021 by the unexpected death of my mother, Martha Speer. Though never one to seek recognition for her own accomplishments, Martha was an entrepreneur, psychologist, and lifelong artist who - after practicing Zen Buddhism for some 25 years - became a prolific haiku author in the final decade of her life. I created this website as a memorial, both to support my own healing and to share some of the hundreds of illustrated haiku she left behind with the world.

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While she resisted the 5-7-5 haiku structure that is taught in English schools, Mom was always faithful to the Japanese ideal; efficiently describing one moment in time in a way that awakens the senses. The name "Haiku on the Edge" was inspired by a two-line introduction found at the beginning of one of her countless journals. I think this introduction beautifully conveys the appreciation for simplicity that was always part of her unique essence: