Best known for his tanka, Gerard John Conforti is also a fine haiku poet. The title of his selected haiku, Pale Moonlight (1999), suggests the romantic, lyric sensibility that makes him such a good tanka poet. It also tends to tinge much of his poetry with a Poe-like melancholy, as in his haiku sequence “From the Mental Ward.” Conforti started writing haiku in 1978 and wrote his first tanka in 1986, learning about the latter from William J. Higginson’s The Haiku Handbook.
The sensibility he brings to his poetry was hard won. Conforti was born in New York City on February 26, 1948. When he was four years old, his mother had a major breakdown and was confined to Rockland State Hospital. Gerard and his brothers were put into the Mount Loretto Orphanage on Staten Island, where he would stay until he was nineteen. Though unhappy at the orphanage, he found comfort in the woods and fields surrounding it. His love for nature would later attract him to poetry. He also enjoyed sports and played in the outfield for the Mount Loretto baseball team.
When Gerard left the orphanage he went into the armed services, but was discharged as not suitable. He has had mental problems over the years and attempted suicide at least twice. After being homeless on the streets of New York City, he was helped by his brother to get a job and a room in a rooming house on Staten Island. There he began to write poetry. In 1971 he entered Staten Island Community College and later graduated from Richmond College with a BA in English. He continues to live on Staten Island.
with a full count
the batter misses a hard fastball
dust from the catcher’s glove
rain delay
the fans put up umbrellas
of different colors
as he winds up
the pitcher’s long shadow
covers first base
night game
the glare of the lights
on the outfielders’ glasses
a blimp
above the baseball stadium
floats by the moon