Award-Winning Poet Zaneta V. Johns Releases Acorn: Mighty Haiku, 300 Poems on Nature, Grief, and Grace

Written in the wake of profound personal loss, the new collection from the 2026 Literary Icon arrives November 14 and includes Book Club Conversation Starters.

DENVER, CO, UNITED STATES, November 13, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Prolific Pulse Press LLC announces the November 14, 2026, release of Acorn: Mighty Haiku — 300 Poems on Nature, Grief, and Grace, the newest collection from international award-winning poet Zaneta V. Johns. The 160-page paperback brings contemporary vitality to the ancient art of haiku and will be available through Ingram and online stores.

Acorn invites readers to slow down, reflect and rediscover the calm in everyday life. Birdsong, sunlight filtering through foliage, the hush of deep sorrow, vibrant flowers and resilient butterflies become doorways to deeper understanding. Across 300 finely crafted haiku, Johns explores the persistent connections between nature, love, spirituality and the endless search for peace.

The title carries the book's central idea. An acorn is small, yet it holds the potential of a century-old oak. Johns' three-line poems work the same way, honoring personal and collective experience. Themes of grief and healing unfold alongside reflections on compassion, social justice and our responsibility to one another and to the natural world.

The collection was shaped by the author’s mindful eye then later expanded by unimaginable loss. Its vulnerability is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

Acorn reminds readers that wisdom and wonder often dwell in the smallest, and sometimes most painful, moments. The book closes with Book Club Conversation Starters for reading groups and classrooms.

Early readers have responded strongly. Poet laureate Chyrel J. Jackson calls the book "a testament to love, memory, and resilience" and writes that poetry can be "both sanctuary and bridge." Munmun Samanta, author of Yellow Chrysanthemum, notes that these small poems "carry within them the promise of endurance, growth, and grace." Emma L. Sembly, author of Mr. Krippet, says Johns "has written a graduate course on life."

About the Author

Zaneta V. Johns, also known as Zan Johns, is a celebrated poet with three poetry collections and a journal. Creative Beacons International Group named her the 2026 Literary Icon. In 2025 she received the Philippines' Gawad Pumana Literary Leadership Award, and Titanium Magazine nominated her as one of its "Top 50 Global Inspirational Women to Look Out for in 2025."

Her third collection, Encore, was a 2024 Finalist in Contemporary Poetry at the American Writing Awards and was submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration. Two anthologies she coedited with Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld, Cadence (2024) and Social Possibilities (2025), were American Writing Awards Finalists in the Poetry Anthology category.

Johns is a Lifetime Legacy Member of the Women Speakers Association (WSA) and served as its inaugural poet laureate, creating and leading the Women Poets SHINE Facebook community. Her poems open WSA's Voices of the 21st Century series (2021–2026) as the dedication page of each #1 international bestselling volume.

She is an editor for Fine Lines Literary Journal, coeditor of five poetry anthologies, and co-presented Women Who Lead with Pakistani poet and child advocate Anila Bukhari. Her poems appear in numerous anthologies and international publications. Johns lives in Colorado. Learn more at ZanExpressions.com

Lisa Tomey-Zonneveld
Prolific PulsePress LLC
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Poet Talk with Zaneta V. Johns