Poetry & Publications

A smiling man with a beard wearing a gray cap, black leather jacket, and brown shoes, crouching next to a memorial stone with engraved text in an outdoor natural setting with trees and bushes.

Nathan Hassall Honored with 1-Ton Poetry Stone in Malibu Legacy Park

On April 7th, 2026, the City of Malibu unveiled a new permanent tribute to the literary arts in the heart of the city. A one-ton basalt stone, engraved with the poem "In the Present" written by Nathan Hassall, was ceremonially placed in Malibu Legacy Park, marking the culmination of Nathan Hassall’s term as Malibu Poet Laureate (2023–2025).

Using an excavator to lift the 2000+ stone which was supplied by Art City Studios of Ventura, California—the city nestled the poetry stone under a holly tree in the heart of downtown Malibu. At age 35, Hassall is the youngest poet laureate in the city's history to have his work commemorated in Legacy Park.

Hassall is the fifth Poet Laureate to be honored in this way, joining the ranks of former laureates Ricardo Means Ybarra, Ellen Reich, Dr. John Struloeff, and Dr. Ann Buxie.

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dregsongs from blab catilage gendai haiku by Nathan Hassall

Nathan Hassall featured in the Haiku Foundation’s “Book of the Week”!

July 31st, 2023, Nathan’s gendai haiku collection, dregsongs from blab cartilage, was featured as the “Book of the Week”!

To quote The Haiku Foundation,

“Nearly every important haiku poet has published at least one collection (and in some cases, scores) at one time or another, but given their short runs…they end up not being seen by a huge majority of the literary or haiku world. This archive will bring some of these interesting efforts to a larger audience…”

Read here

Nathan Hassall Wins My Haiku Pond's Academy (MHP) May 2018 Quickie Challenge

My Haiku Pond's Academy (MHP) was judged by Luca Cenisi, former President of the Haiku Association of Italia and former founding President of the European Haiku Society, and Michael Smeer, Former Vice President of the European Haiku Society.

From MHP: "The prompt for the haiku was May 5th, Liberation Day in The Netherlands, the date in 1945 on which The Netherlands was finally freed from the 5-year German occupation during World War II. The challenge was to write only one new haiku or senryu, to any of the given prompts: “Liberation, Oppression, or Freedom“. This the commentary from the judges:

pivoting jackboots
more than the snap
of tulips

- Nathan Hassall

Judge Commentary:

An evocative piece of work, where the juxtaposition between human and natural elements (the military boots and the tulips) produces a vibrant scene and a captivating sense of surprise. The “snap“ of the flowers represents the pivot element in the scene, a twist that leaves the reader in a state of suspension and dismay.
.

— Luca Cenisi, former President of the Haiku Association of Italia and former founding President of the European Haiku Society

There is a very strong contrast between the soldier's boots and the fragile tulips. The soldier’s boots, a symbol of oppression, and the tulip, an obvious symbol of The Netherlands. This senryu is clearly taking us back to World War II. The Netherlands - a barely armed country at the time Germany invaded Poland in 1939. - The Netherlands (my homeland) expected to remain neutral like it had been during The Great War. - I see the all-destructive war machine disregarding a defenseless civilian population. The Netherlands was just one of the countries where so many suffered so much during WWII, and where countless souls never lived to see freedom again, including a large part of my own family. It is for this reason that this poem touches me deeply.

The poem shows me a scene, similar to the march of the hammers from the movie “The Wall“ (Pink Floyd). Militarism and suppression! Finally, I realize I haven’t even mentioned that the ku is skillfully written. So much to see, so much to say! By the way, great work on revising from your original version! I shall remember this poem for a long time, Nathan! My choice for First Place, without a doubt!

— Michael Smeer, Former Vice President of the European Haiku Society.

A smiling man with a beard wearing a gray cap and a black t-shirt standing outdoors near the coast with a ocean view and green hills in the background. He is holding a closed book or notebook.

Meet Nathan Hassall

Nathan Hassall is an English-American poet and educator based in Malibu, California. Originally from Horsham, England, Nathan relocated to the U.S. in 2018 after finding love while earning his Master’s in Creative Writing with Distinction from the University of Kent. As Malibu’s youngest Poet Laureate (2023–2025) and the founder of the poetry education platform, The Poetry Vessel, Nathan continues to champion and support the literary community worldwide.

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