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HSA Regional Announcements & News for 2007This section lists events which may be of particular interest to HSA members in one of these regions of the United States (or in Japan): Northeast | Northeast Metro | MidAtlantic | South | Southeast | Southwest | Midwest |
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If you are not an HSA Regional Coordinator but would like to publicize a haiku event that may be of interest to HSA members in your region, please contact the Regional Coordinator for your region. Northeast RegionWestern MassachusettsIn the first quarter of the New Year the members of the Haiku Poets' Society of Western Massachusetts have focused on an exploration of the elements of haiku construction with an emphasis on reading poetry of the haiku masters. Toward this end we are working on expanding our lending library. Wanda Cook and Karen Reynolds, once again, made donations of books and journals to the library. The group also voted to subscribe to three new journals: Bottle Rockets, The Nor'easter and Wisteria. Each member is making the commitment to read more this year. We are very happy to have Marilyn Gabel back with our group after a year's hiatus in Florida. She arrived with new poetry to share with the group. Our group has been busy building our lending library. Each of us has been working at integrating haiku with other talents and interests in our everyday lives. Barbara Farrington arrived at the June meeting with her new broadside, "Warming Sun." She had a copy for each of us. It was such a delight to have a collection of her haiku to enjoy at leisure. She is an avid bird watcher and this love is shown in many of her haiku about birds in the Western Massachusetts area. Gloria Ayvazian volunteers in the Jackson Street School in Northampton. The third and fifth grades have been working on haiku, and Gloria brought some of their haiku to share with us. It is incredible to see the wide range of topics they had chosen and the level of sophistication of these young poets! Our June meeting was a real treat. Marilyn Gabel held a one person artist's exhibition of some of her latest work. This was a multi-media retrospective she has been working on. She combines photographs she has taken all over the world, acrylic paint and natural materials in a collage to create the most extraordinary works of art. One of her latest contains a composite of photos of a Thai temple with gorgeous tones of ochre, gold and sunshine yellows, lush greens, and shades of blue acrylic and flower and plant petals. Patricia Harvey arrived at the June meeting with handmade haiku inspired bookmarks for each of us. This month she brought a new journal with one of her haiku as part of the cover art. She is our newest member with multiple artistic talents! September 2007 marks our 15th anniversary for The Haiku Poets' Society of Western Massachusetts! Wanda Cook suggested we get started on planning our 15th anniversary celebration. September 2007. The Haiku Society of Western Massachusetts held its 15th Anniversary Celebration September 8, 2007, with a luncheon at Chandler's Restaurant in the Yankee Candle Flagship Complex, South Deerfield, Massachusetts. Wanda Cook orchestrated the celebration and was Mistress of Ceremonies. After a warm welcome for all who were attending, Wanda gave a short history of HPSWMA. Unfortunately our founder, Alice Ward, who started the group with herself and one other person, was unable to attend. We recorded the day with an official photograph for our archive, after which Karen Reynolds read some of Alice Ward's poems to the group. It was wonderful that many of our current members, who do not know Alice personally, were able to get to know a little more about her through her poetry: While awaiting our luncheon orders we called Alice on a cell phone. Each of us had the opportunity to thank her for her years of hard work leading the group and to share an original poem or two of our own with her. The lunch was fabulous! Chandler's Tavern has been voted "The Best In The Pioneer Valley" by The Valley Advocate Advocate and awarded the designation for "Restaurant of the Year for Western Massachusetts" by the Massachusetts Restaurant Association. Each member of the group received a Fifteenth Anniversary Gift, an illustrated, 5X7 inch matted presentation of that member's haiku, designed and hand made by Patricia Harvey, a very talented greeting card designer and member of our group, who shares her talents as well as haiku with us. Each one is a unique work of art to be treasured long into the future. A fabulous time was had by all. We are now moving on with work and looking forward to a very productive period of poetry. —Respectfully submitted, Karen Reynolds Bangor Haiku Group (Maine)Astrid and Bruce hiked and climbed in Acadia National Park to the southeast of Bangor. On the summit of Gorham Moun-tain Bruce did a haiga of two small pine trees in the wind. On Canada Cliffs they saw up close three soaring bald eagles, their white heads and tails shining. On the way home in the beginnings of another blizzard they saw a still horse with unmelted snow on its back. Astrid wrote a haiku on this. All these activities, sort of, to prepare for a BHG ginko. Bruce taught his first win-ter term class in sumi-e (black ink painting), which centered on an overview of history and tech-niques and a calligraphy exercise. Next class is an exercise in bam-boo painting with a lucky bam bamboo plant and neo-traditional and modern bamboo sumi-e for reference. Bruce Ross We were going moon viewing and haiku writing for our October meeting, but it clouded up. Instead we read autumn moon haiku from Blyth's anthology, with some attention to one by Buson: The moon in highest heaven, A.B. Davidson from The Old South Beach area has agreed to do a reading at our spring event. One of our members, Ginger Graham, will read from our group's mini-chapbook at Lippincott Bookstore during Bangor's annual Poetry Stroll. Bruce Ross just finished teaching a course in Japanese painting at the Hammond Street Senior College. His next course will be on short fiction and short poetry and will center on haibun. He also just began teaching a course on haiku and related forms at Penobscot Valley Senior College. A Zen practitioner and the daughter and granddaughter of a Japanese-American World War II internee are in attendance. This led to a discussion of the current Ken Burn's documentary and a reading of Ross' Frogpond interview with Violet de Cristoforo. Another attendee said her husband remembers such a camp in New Hampshire. Still another attendee remembers seeing an internee while attending college in Minnesota. The daughter writes haiku and does sumi-e. —Bruce Ross Boston, MassachusettsThe Boston Haiku Society will be doing a haiku reading on April 21st at the Rolly-Michaux Gallery in conjunction with a photographic exhibit by Robert Castagna entitled The Art of Mystery, Photography, and Haiku. On May 7th the BHS is reading at the Yen-Ching Library at Harvard University, sponsored by The New England Poetry Club. Other activities include a workshop led by Raffael de Gruttola at Haiku Canada on May 19 entitled The Importance of Renku Training for Today's Haiku Poet: An Overview. vincent tripi and Raffael de Gruttola have organized a Haiku Circle Event in Northfield, MA on June 2nd. Workshop presenters and readers will include John Martone; Tom Clausen, who will read from Being There; and Judson Evans, who will conduct a haibun-writing workshop. In addition, James Ferris will conduct a workshop on holistic bee keeping; Ed Rayher of Swamp Press will conduct an all day workshop on letter press printing; a Naturalist Walk will be led by Sandra Jaquay-Wilson; and Larry Kimmel will read The Poetry of Carol Purington and his own Johnstown Flood. For June 29 Raffael de Gruttola and Bruce Ross have coordinated a joint meeting of the Boston Haiku Society poets and the Haiku Poets of Bangor, Maine in Bangor. This is a return engagement since the Bangor, Maine haiku poets visited with the Boston Haiku Society poets last Fall. Two renku groups met in July and one will probably meet again in August: The Immature Green Heron Group met at Karen Klein's house in Mashpee, MA July 13. Those present were: Karen Klein, Judson Evans, Allen LeVines and Raffael de Gruttola. TheMetroWestRenkuAssociation (MWRA) met on Saturday, July 14, at the home of host Paul Mena, to do another one of their bluenotes renku. The participants were Raffael de Gruttola, and Brett Peruzzi. The Boston Haiku Society paid a return visit to The Bangor Haiku Poets on June 23 at the Ecotat Gardens. They spent the day writing after a brief ginko. The two groups consisted of Bruce Ross, Astrid Andreescu, Ginger Graham, Christina Diebold, and Bob Seretny from Bangor, and Raffael de Gruttola, Karen Klein, Judson Evans, and Ken Carrier from the Boston Haiku Society. On June 2, the haiku circle group met in Northfield, MA. The event was coordinated by vincent tripi and Raffael de Gruttola. Over 35 poets were in attendance to participate in a nature walk led by Sandra Jaquay-Watson, a bee keeping workshop by James Ferris, a haibun workshop by Judson Evans, a full day workshop by Ed Rayher of Swamp Press, a meditation workshop by John Martone, and readings by Tom Clausen and Larry Kimmel. Larry's reading was preceded by an historical talk of Larry's new book, Johnstown Flood, with a talk by Wanda Cook. Larry also read the haiku and tanka of Carol Purington. Food and music included a jazz accompaniment of Larry's reading. Because of the success of this first haiku circle event, another will be planned for next year. September. The Boston Haiku Society enters its twentieth year of existence this September. One of the founding members, John Ziemba, who was away for ten years working on his degrees in Asian Studies and living in Japan, has returned. John is excited about being with us once again and has become a regular at our monthly meetings. Along with John, Sonia Cristina Comans, who was instrumental in the founding of the Romanian Haiku Society, started a four year program in Studio Arts at Harvard College. Sonia received a four year scholarship to Harvard and also has become a regular at our monthly meetings. Sonia was delighted to be selected to attend Dr. Edwin Cranston's new Freshman Seminar Class in The Pleasures of Japanese Poetry: Reading, Writing, and Translation. Dr. Cranston is the preeminent scholar in Japanese Studies and Renku in the world. Sonia Comans' level four proficiency in the Japanese language was an added plus in her selection. The Boston Haiku Society meets on the third Saturday of each month at the Kaji Aso Studio from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. A haiku workshop is conducted and members receive a monthly broadside of their haiku that have been discussed at the workshop. Poems printed in the monthly BHS News Broadside are for members only and not considered published; however, poets are asked to confer with editors who might consider the BHS News a published event. Judson Evans, a member of the Boston Haiku Society, is a featured poet in the Fall 2007 edition of the magazine of the American Academy of Poets. The article by John Yau, a noted poetry and art critic in New York City, presents the other side of Judson's talents. The article, under the emerging poets category, is entitled The Transitory and the Infinite. One of Judson's featured poems is The Seventh Samurai. In the article Mr. Yau mentions Judson's predilections for the Japanese forms, including haiku and renku. For those of you who google for information on the Net, be careful of erroneous information that sometimes creeps in because of errant entries or poor editing. There are two Boston Haiku Society websites. The one placed there by members of the Boston Haiku Society <http://www.bostonhaikusociety.org>is accurate. The other website is under Richard Krawiec's mindspring.com and the information is inaccurate. It says that Richard was the founder of the Boston Haiku Society. I emailed Richard and he says he had nothing to do with it and that it's probably an editing mistake. Whoever made the entry should edit it for corrections, since there is also information about the Haiku Contest of the Kaji Aso Studio there as well. The correct information is that the founders of the Boston Haiku Society were: Kaji Aso, Raffael de Gruttola, and John Ziemba in 1987. January 2008. The Boston Haiku Society continues to meet on the third Saturday of each month at 2 p.m. at the Kaji Aso Studio. All are welcome who may be visiting the area. The BHS will be reading at the upcoming New Year's Celebration at the Studio on January 26th. The theme for this year's celebration is "Unexpected Visitor" and will feature paintings, drawings, ceramics, with poetry readings and new music performances inspired by the theme. Raffael de Gruttola, Judson Evans, and Tadashi Kondo have been invited to an International Poetry Conference in Cesenatico, Italy from June 8th to 15th. The Conference will highlight over three days the various Japanese poetic forms including renku, haiku, haibun, and haiga. The Conference at this small fishing village on the Adriatic Coast is sponsored by the University of Bologna at Forli and the Reggio Emilia Region of Northern Italy. The Haiku Circle Group of Western Massachusetts will again sponsor a one day event of workshops and readings in the lovely area of Northfield, MA near the Vermont and New Hampshire borders on June 17, 2008. Last year’s coordinators, vincent tripi and Raffael de Gruttola, will be augmented with the able assistance of Wanda Cook, replacing Raffael while he is in Italy. Raffael de Gruttola and Carlos Colón self-published a small 8 ½” x 11” book entitled Wall Street Park. It's a new approach to renku following the concrete poetry genre. It is available from either poet for $10 (postage pd.). An explanation of the linking patterns by the two poets is included. The BHS will be reading sometime in late Spring at a new poetry series at the Boston Center for the Arts as well as at the Yen Ching Library at Harvard College. In addition, Judson Evans, Karen Klein, and Raffael de Gruttola have cross-adapted a one act play by Katherine Snod-grass, Director of the Boston Playwrights Theatre, called HAIKU. Music and dance will be written for a renku perfor-mance in the near future. Raffael de Gruttola was recently selected as one of five editors for a new online magazine called Modern Haiga. At the final Quarterly 2007 HSA meeting in NYC, the Nick Virgilio Haiku Association made a presentation to the HSA EC concerning a Haiku Archives at a Writers’ House on the campus of the University of Rutgers in Camden, New Jersey. Developments are underway to name the new Writers’ House after Camden haiku poet, Nick Virgilio. . . . Members present from the NVHA who made the presentation were Henry Brann, Chairperson of the NVHA, Kathleen O'Toole, past Chairperson of the NVHA, Professor Geoffrey Sill, Chair of the Liberal Arts Department at Rutgers, Camden along with Raffael de Gruttola, who serves on HSA's Archives Committee, the NVHA's Board, as well as the Advisory Board of the Writers’ House along with the above members. Raffael will continue to report on the progress of this endeavor and keep the new President, Lenard D. Moore, informed of the progress at the Writers’ House. —Raffael de Gruttola —Raffael de Gruttola Northeast MetroRochester, New YorkThe Rochester Area Haiku Group (RAHG) has had a busy and varied first quarter. To get ready for the new year, we gathered to write a nijuin (a 20-stanza renku). We plan to repeat the exercise as it was so much fun to do together. One of our first tasks of the new year was to put a little bit of structure around our group – not too much, but enough to better define who we are and give us a little seed money for future chapbooks and events. If you’d like a copy of our mission statement, email me at Deanna@tiefenthal.com In February we became better acquainted with a couple of American Black haiku poets, Richard Wright and Lenard D. Moore. We liked their poetry very much and want to look at them in more depth in a future program. In March, Jerome Cushman presented the paper he’s giving at the Haiku Pacific Rim Conference in Japan on the topic of two Japanese deaf poets, Sampu and Murakami Kijo and their influence on the deaf culture in the US and Japan. Sampu (1647-1732), a student of Bashô, was known to be deaf but it wasn’t talked about until Kijo wrote about it. Kijo, born in 1865, became deaf at age 18, which dashed his dreams of a military career. Despite several crushing sadnesses in his life (or because of them?), he’s given us many haiku. We look forward to a report of Jerome’s experiences at the Conference. The Rochester Area Haiku Group (RAHG) visited a bonsai show in May. After appreciating the exhibits and arrangements and watching a demonstration of turning a small pine tree into a work of art, members wrote a few haiku poems about the experience. These we shared aloud to an appreciative audience towards the end of the show. September 2007. The Rochester Area Haiku Group were thrilled to host the HSA quarterly (annual) meeting on September 15 and 16. Many thanks to Barnes & Noble for allowing us to use their Community Room for the whole day on Saturday, and to RAHG member Jerome Cushman for organizing the events. In addition to the executive and business meetings, there were displays, a workshop, a panel discussion, book displays, a couple of readings and a ginko. Displays of bonsai and viewing stones augmented a panel discussion of how the essence of various Japanese arts is related to haiku. The panel included experts not only in bonsai and stones, but also ikebana and Japanese gardens: Mark Arpeg, Dennis Burns, Wil Hebert, and Jerome Cushman. Pamela Miller Ness inspired us with her workshop on "Prosody in Haiku", something we would like to explore further. Two members of the Rt. 9 Poets attended the weekend and “performed” poetry by members John Stevenson, Yu Chang, Hillary Tann and Tom Clausen. In the evening we had an open mic. Rochester’s historic Mt. Hope Cemetery is famous geologically and botanically as well as for the many noteworthy graves, such as those of Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass. On Sunday morning, Tom Painting and his daughter Sarah led us on a ginko there, which inspired many haiku. We returned to our homes smiling.
The Rochester Area Haiku Group has been continuing its monthly gatherings with a variety of topics or activities. In October Jerome Cushman shared things he’d done and learned at several conferences and workshops he had recently been to. Tom Painting in November led us in hearing and writing Veterans Day haiku. He also displayed examples from his collection of self-published haiku works. There is a wide variety of ways to do it – not only chap-books but bookmarks and cleverly folded one-pagers, even perfect-bound publications. We should have no excuses now not to publish something of our own.
In December we partied and enjoyed Jerome Cushman’s and Dennis Burns’ new book, Amidst. We looked at some haiku from a recent contest and then voted on our favorites. Our January meet-ing started with a look at Stephen Addiss’ book, Haiku Humor. One thing we learned from it was the difference between observing and participating in a poem. If it calls you to participate in the moment, it’s a haiku. If you stand apart and observe, it’s most likely a senryu. As always, we shared our recent poems. Here are a few –
—Deanna Tiefenthal, Coordinator RAHG New York, New YorkOn March 23, 2007 we gathered at Tenri Cultural Institute in a lively spring meeting,“Haiku Into Tanka,” exploring the relationship between haiku, tanka and art, and were ultimately inspired to create our own tanka. In "NY-Ku: Urban Tanka and Photography," poet and photographer An Xiao used power point to walk us through her own creative process. She began with a discussion of traditional Japanese haiga and Japanaese painting and shared her own struggles in merging the aesthetics of the camera lens with that of the brush. In addition to her tanga, she shared with us the nature haiga of Ron Moss. From him, she was inspired to create her more urban-based tanga, as she began to understand the relationship of representation to both photography and poetry. As she stated, "The poem completes the picture. The picture completes the poem." Her presentation included a discussion of layers, in photography and poetry, and the importance of negative space. Ms. An Xiao is of Chinese and Philippine descent. One of her lovely tanga (with the photo of a child statue before autumn foliage, plus negative space) includes the Philippine word "lola," which means "grandmother": every year, lola After group voting on our efforts, three of us came away with prizes: Easter baskets Brenda Gannam, "Spring" a long wait John Stevenson, "Movement" after the party Cor Van den Heuval, "Open" In attendance on March 23: Miriam Borne, Janet Brof, Miriam Chaikin, Bill Cullen, L.A. Davidson, Anne Elizabeth Evans, Sylvia Forges-Ryan, Brenda Gannam, Marilyn Hazelton, Doris Heitmeyer, Fran Hersh, Scott Mason, Dorothy McLaughlin, Mari Morimoto, John Stevenson, Arlene Teck, Jaxon Teck, Cor van den Heuval, An Xiao. A leisurely dinner followed at our favorite French bistro. Additional Metro Northeast activity includes the wonderful news that Doris Heitmeyer recently was one of the two top winners of the British Haiku Society's James W. Hackett International Award: scudding ahead of me Doris Heitmeyer We have some great upcoming events, too. The weekend of April 28 and 29th, members of NE Metro will be reading both afternoons as part of the blossom-filled Sakur Matsuri, held annually at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. This year’s reading was organized by Pamela Miller Ness. On Tuesday, May 22, 2007, Cor van den Heuval will be reading from his recently published Baseball Haiku at the prestigious National Arts Club, at 8 p.m. This night, Billy Collins will also be reading from his own chapbook of haiku. Quite a haiku evening, for which we locals plan to turn out in celebration. June 21, Tadao Okazaki will have the opening night of his art exhibit at Tenri Cultural Institute. On June 23, we hold our next NE Metro meeting, which includes a reading by Cor van den Heuval, from his Baseball Haiku followed a “play ball” workshop in creating ball-related haiku, led by John Stevenson. It was a lovely summer day, as we of Northeast Metro gathered at Tenri Cultural Institute to celebrate Cor van den Heuvel’s Baseball Haiku. It was just the sort of perfect day for a baseball game. Our theme was “Play Ball!” And we did. First Cor not only read from his wonderful new book, he also graced us with an historical tour of this genre. Shiki And later a modern blues haiku feel in this one: Empty baseball field Jack Kerouac Cor van den Heuvel then shared some of the evolution of his haiku writing. In 1958, he first began writing his evocative haiku. Those of us who know him have compared his work to what Edward Hopper reveals in paint. Nature, small town America, and lighted buildings at the end of lonely roads are often the subject of his haiku. So it seems destined that Cor would write about the all-American game of baseball, played out of doors, and frequently under the lights at night. His first baseball haiku written in the early 90s: through the blue sky conference on the mound He was followed in this reading from Baseball Haiku by his able “Designated Hitters.” Brenda Gannam began by leading us in a group singing of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” One of her crowd pleasing baseball haiku: Batting clean-up, Alan Pizzarelli gave us a good history of the game of baseball. For example, we learned the earliest games were decided by whichever team scored 21 runs first. We also learned that baseball in Japan began in 1872. This baseball haiku from 1889: beyond the hedge Shiki Alan kept a baseball journal in his youth. One of his senryu: struck out -- Another element of baseball haiku mentioned by both Cor van den Heuvel and Alan Pizzarelli is the role of memory. It was somehow fitting that the exhibit on display at Tenri Cultural Institute (June 18 to July 18, 2007) was "Three Japanese Masters." One of these masters is the artist and long time Haiku Society of America member Tadao Okazaki, whose lyrical abstract paintings were created from memories he had of Central Park, NY thirty years later. The fruits of his use of memory to create beautiful images were vividly around us. The gallery opening of the “Three Japanese Masters” exhibit was only two days earlier, on June 21. Several members of NE Metro attended. Tadao Okazaki and his wife, Atsuko, had to return to Japan the next day, but Tadao contributed a baseball haiku to our meeting: day moon After the June 21st gallery opening, several of us took the Okazakis to dinner, where he wrote (after being introduced to American whiskey by Cor): breaking bread After a leisurely intermission, during which Cor sold out all the copies of Baseball Haiku he had with him, we all enjoyed goodies, including some wine and small chocolate baseballs. Then John Stevenson playfully led us in a "Play Ball!" Workshop. He was assisted by his able teammates, Arlene and Jackson Teck, who had brought in a huge assortment of balls, including basketballs, golf balls and even a play eyeball. The balls were distributed by one of our newer members, Jorma Loci, assisted by her small daughter. We felt each ball and passed it on. Later we lined up according to how important we believed baseball to be in our lives. After a bit of sharing, John rearranged our lines and we found ourselves in pairs sharing a memory of a baseball (or sports) experience and wrote our own haiku. Our winners included: from the top of the hill 1st prize, Cor van den Heuvel high ball 2nd prize, Pud Houstoun squishy blue balls 3rd prize, Rita Gray We also had two honorable mentions: Jorma Loci and Toyoshigi Mizuno. It should be noted that Mr. Toyoshigi Mizuno is one of the three masters exhibited in the “Three Japanese Masters” show. He is a master potter and a National Living Treasure. Even though his English is limited, he decided to join us, having met some NE Metro members at the June 21 opening. Afterward, many of us went on to Café Loup, and had a wonderful French dinner. In attendance: Harterjy Anderson, Marsha Bikales, Larry Bole, Miriam Borne, Bill Cullen, Roberta Curley, L.A. Davidson, Rita Gray, Brenda Gannam, Barry Goodman, Doris Heitmeyer, Pud Houstoun, Jorma Loci, Pamela Machoda, Dorothy McLaughlin, Toyoshigi Mizuno, Al Pizzarelli, Arlene Teck, Jaxon Teck, John Stevenson, Cor van den Heuvel, and Pauline Rooney Yeargans. September 2007. Our Northeast Metro Haiku Society of America meeting on September 15, 2007 was a very special one. We celebrated the life and legacy of our beloved member, L.A. Davidson, who died suddenly this past July 18. We were honored by the presence of L.A. Davidson’s daughter, Laura Tanna and her husband, Dhiru, who reside in Jamaica. The meeting’s theme, “Reach for the Stars,” was created and led by our esteemed members Penny Harter and Bill Higginson. Possibly with some premonition, they chose this focus upon the heavens prior to L.A. Davidson's leaving us. Our September meeting was held at Tenri Cultural Institute, where its walls normally hold the art of a current exhibit. On this day, they were appropriately empty. Here, our theme “Reach for the Stars” recalled her famous haiku
We opened our meeting with a read -around of our favorite L.A. Davidson (“Agnes”) poem from ones we prepared ahead, or from a beautiful small selection of favorites in a pamphlet thoughtfully prepared by Doris Heitmeyer, or from a grab bag of “Agnes” poems. We also took time for those who wished to relate special memories of L. A. Davidson. We wrote our “Agnes” favorites, and whatever else we wished in our ongoing meeting log. The empty walls also reminded us that the last exhibit at Tenri House was that of “Three Masters,” one of whom was Tadao Okazaki, the poet and painter friend of L.A. Davidson, whose theme for the show was her famous haiku:
L.A. Davidson was delighted to see this haiku on the wall, written large, as a part of that exhibit. It was still up at our summer meeting June 23, in what turned out to be the last one we shared with her. Her daughter Laura and son-in-law Dhiru Tanna brought what copies they had of Jamaica Moments and The Shape of the Tree. We sold many, but still have a few left for our December 1st National meeting. Edward Rayher of Swamp Press also kindly printed more copies of bird song more and more, of which we still have plentiful copies for sale. Just for this meeting, Laura Tanna kindly brought a large photo of L.A. Davidson as a young (and very beautiful) woman, which graced our book table. Meanwhile, Dhiru Tanna videoed everything. Penny Harter and Bill Higginson began their lovely presentation with a reading of “Japanese Sky Haiku,” which included an historical progression, ranging from Bashô: wild seas… to the famous, still living, Kayoko Hashimoto: at moonrise Penny Harter and Bill Higginson did not simply read an historical collection of Japanese heavenly haiku. They generously prepared beautiful bound booklets which each particpant received. The booklet not only contained the poems they read. It also shared two lessons they had created for students: “Haiku in Space: A Five Minute Haiku Lesson,” and a longer “Poems on Hubble Space Telescope Images” classroom lesson. Besides sharing these approaches to writing sky haiku, they also included in their booklet, and in their presentation, the poems of children, which they took turns reading. A few examples: released into space disappear An important part of their presentation was the display of stunning Hubble Space Telescope color photos. During intermission, while we browsed and bought L.A. Davidson books, we were also free to pick up and take back to our seats a favorite space photograph which might inspire a poem. These photos are also visible online at: http://hubblesite.org The rest of our afternoon was devoted to making our own stellar haiku (or tanka) in honor of L. A. Davidson, followed by a group sharing. Here are some: white dandelion Jackson Pollack – a mysterious light grief becomes sapphire even the sky a ring of fire in that arc identity theft great bird out in farthest space what is one poem stepping off the edge where it’s not In attendance, twenty–one participants: Mykel Board, Larry Bole, Miriam Borne, Charles Brainard, Miriam Chaikin, Rita Gray, Penny Harter, Marilyn Hazelton, Doris Heitmeyer, Bill Higginson, Pud Houston, Sachiyo Ito, Scott Mason, Dorothy McLaughlin, Dhiru Tanna, Laura Tanna, Arlene Teck, Jaxon Teck, Al Pizzarelli, Cor van den Heuvel, and An Xiao. Most of us went on to a delicious Japanese dinner in a private room at nearby Ariyoshi Restaurant. Those who are attending our big December 1st National meeting, please let me know, as we will be having our dinner in the new elegant French “Village Restaurant,” and I will be submitting the numbers later in November. Do also book your hotel and travel arrangements well in advance. This poem of L. A. Davidson was among those in the handout created by Doris Heitmeyer: In New York City we festively celebrated the holidays at our December 1st National Meeting. First, we had a pre-meeting ginko, led by Marilyn Hazelton at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Sackler Wing of the Gal-leries for the Arts of Japan. It was attended by several of our members, whose haiku appear below. Our Haiku Society of America afternoon meeting at Tenri Cultural Institute was both thought provoking and exuberant. John Stevenson announced Frogpond's first-place winner, Scott Mason. Then President Pamela Miller Ness gave the Executive Committee Report. She introduced our new HSA President, Lenard D. Moore and then a special report on the Virgilio Writers’ House Haiku Project. We learned that Rutgers University is opening up haiku to the educational community, and that a three way partnership between the Haiku Society of America the Virgilio Haiku Association, and Rutgers University would enhance that effort. Rutgers is inaugurating an MFA in creative writing and the Virgilio Writers’ House is high on their list of projects. Then came our featured presenters—Brenda Gannam and Bill Cullen. (This year they will be editing the 2008 Haiku Society of America Members’ Anthology.) Bill Cullen spoke to our hearts and minds in his “Contemporary Haiku: Notes on the Passing Scene.” He gave us a thoughtful reflection on Amer-ican Haiku in the 21st century. One of his major points was whether or not too much homage is still paid to traditional Japanese haiku poets, without much looking to our American scene for homegrown contributors. Is it a relevant question, he asked us: “Can American haiku rise to the level of Japanese haiku?” He brought up a crucial point – just what standards do we judge our haiku by: ancient or modern art ideals. Certainly our modern haiku scene invites our thought and future discussion about exactly how we view modern American haiku. This was clear from the buzz in the room. He closed with the important reminder to all who write: “Spend as much time as possible reading the haiku of others as well as in writing. This keeps us in sync with the haiku community.” After an intermission, in which we shared greetings, wine, and Christmas delicacies, Brenda Gannam led us in “Winter Won-derland: A Seasonally Themed Interactive Kukai”—a wonderful series of themed activities, replete with prizes. First, our group had to find the missing half of a haiku held by other members. This was quite lively, with grown-ups dashing madly about with child-like glee to get theirs completed first. The winners: First place: Scott Mason and Keiko. Second place: Marilyn Hazelton and Scott Metz. Next, we tested our knowledge of classical haiku by matching ten of them—each with its proper Japanese author (Shusai, Sho-u, Issa, etc.). This proved a humbling experience for most of us. Our winners here: Arlene and Jaxon Teck. Finally, as a grand finale, we each selected from a hat, a holi-day-themed word (pine, choir, chestnut, cider …) with which to create our own haiku: Tied for 1st place:
3rd place:
4th place:
Here are haiku and tanka inspired by our ginko at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In attendance at our NE Metro National Meeting were 33: Roberta Beary, Larry Bole, Miriam P. Borne, Henry Brann, Miriam Chaikin, William Cullen, Jr., Raffael de Gruttola, Brenda J. Gannam, Barry Goodman, Rita Gray, Penny Harter, Marilyn Hazelton, Doris Heitmeyer, Bill Higginson, Jacqueline Johnson, Keiko, Michele Laroche, Doro-thy McLaughlin, Scott Mason, Scott Metz, Justin Michaels, Lenard D. Moore, Paul Miller, Pamela Miller Ness, Kathleen O’Toole, Robin Palley, James Paulson, Rich Schnell, John Stevenson, Johnye Strickland, Arlene Teck, Jaxon Teck, and Cor van den Heuvel. Afterwards, 17 of us enjoyed a beautiful French dinner at the Village Restaurant. — Respectfully submitted, Miriam P. Borne Mid Atlantic RegionTowpath February 2007. Towpath members Ellen Compton, Lee Giesecke, Kristen Deming, Mary Wuest, Laquita Wood, and Roberta Beary met on February 14 in Fonda Bell Miller's home—just a stone's throw from George Washington’s Mount Vernon and a brief walk from the Virginia side of the Potomac. Tei Matsushita Scott joined us in spirit. During potluck lunch we enjoyed the views of the surrounding woods and were treated to the sight of three winter finches who were searching for their lunch on a nearby branch. Fonda’s husband, Sam, joined us for the potluck. Sam talked with us about some of his artwork, which is displayed throughout the house. Tei reported by e-mail that she has completed her translation of the letters of the late Kiyoshi and Kiyoko Tokutomi, founders of the Yuki Tekei Society in California. Tei looks forward to publication this year. Tei also has been preparing a presentation on fusion of music and poetry for the 2007 Pacific Rim conference in Matsuyama. Roberta and Ellen have been asked to return as guest presenters to this year’s Haiku Holiday, hosted by the North Carolina Haiku Society. Haiku Holiday is traditionally held on the last weekend in April on a farm near Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The web team presented and the group approved recommendations for a Towpath web site. Web Master Donna Foulke was authorized to move ahead with setup preliminaries. A major purpose of the site will be to showcase members' work and news, but the site will also display information on Towpath background, history, and past events as well as contest information, artwork, and similar items of interest. April meeting. A threatened storm held off, and Lee Giesecke, Kristen Deming, Laquita Wood, Fonda Bell Miller, and Audrey Olberg gathered at Ellen Compton's for the second Towpath meeting of 2007. We began with a pause to remember Kristen's father-in-law, Olcott Deming, in whose Georgetown home Towpath had sometimes met. Kristen explained that Ambassador Deming had died quietly on March 20 after a long and varied life of service. And the workshops produced an unusual number of haiku in the "good as is" category, so we had time for a hereto unheard of three rounds. After discussion of possible program events for upcoming meetings, Kristen agreed to a June presentation on the Museum of Haiku Literature in Tokyo. She also suggested future presentations on some of the contemporary Japanese poets, including Haiku Master Yatsuka Ishihara. We also plan to expand our knowledge of each other's work, so we will schedule occasional readings by one or more Towpath members. June meeting. The summer day was sunny and, rare for Washington, neither hot nor humid when Towpath met at Audrey Olberg’s condo in Chevy Chase. Present with Audrey were Kristen Deming, Lee Giesecke, Mary Wuest, Fonda Bell Miller, Ellen Compton, Roberta Beary, and guest poet Penny Showell. We learned that Tei Matsushita Scott is leaving the mid-Atlantic for Long Island. New York poets take note! Tei has been coordinating Towpath's regional season word collection, so Towpath will need a new kigo keeper. Kristen gave a brief talk on Tokyo's Museum of Haiku Literature, giving us copies of an article she had written for The Japan Times during her years in Japan. Kristen explained that the museum maintains a comprehensive and constantly growing collection of publications relating to haiku, mounts exhibits of haiku-related art and calligraphy, and houses a collection of rare letters, manuscripts, scrolls, and other materials by famous haiku poets, including Basho, Shiki, and some of the moderns. Tokihiko Kusama, the museum's director at the time of the article, called it a "mecca for haiku poets." The museum's international division promotes cultural exchange between Japan and other countries. It is this division that gives the awards for best works published in Frogpond. Kristen pointed out that "Japan may be the only country with a museum dedicated to one kind of poetry." Those of you who are not familiar with the museum might enjoy a visit to the web site: http://www2.famille.ne.jp/~haiku/index-e.html Kristen also turned out to be a resource on the subject of fireflies. Past discussion of firefly poetry had led some of the poets to wonder which sex flashes and which sex responds. Having researched the topic for two Japan Times articles (copies handed out), Kristen reported that (as you might expect) the males are usually the flashers, and the females respond with a flash. A male will then fly down to meet the female only if she gives the right response. Sometimes a female from a different species will mimic the wanted response in order to consume the male. Don't know what all this means for haiku, but it does liven up a meeting. Towpath highlights. Roberta Beary, Ellen Compton, Donna Foulke, and Lee Giesecke attended a gathering at Jim Kacian's in Winchester for Richard Gilbert's discussion of his current research. The event was one of several planned as part of Richard's tour of American universities and haiku groups. Also present were poets Robert Bauer, of the Shiki Kukai team, and Dave Russo, from the North Carolina Haiku Society. Richard has a source of dynamite doughnuts. After a brief update on HNA, Dave read a selection of haiku, including: autumn afternoon Roberta is this year's winner in the snapshot book publication competition. Her collection, the unworn necklace, is expected be out in August. Ellen and Roberta were guest speakers and workshop leaders at the North Carolina Haiku Society's Haiku Holiday on the last weekend in April. As part of the program, each poet gave a brief reading of her haiku. August 2007. The summer day was hot and steamy on August 4th when Towpath met at Ellen Compton’s place in Northwest Washington, DC. Present with Ellen were Kristen Deming, Lee Giesecke, Mary Wuest, and Fred Donovan. Cathy Drinkwater Better and Elizabeth Fanto sent regrets by email. The introductory round robin included Ellen's the spreading sunrise— from bottle rockets (No. 17, 2007). A highlight of the meeting was Lee's reading. Examples from the selection follow. Originally published in Modern Haiku (36:2, summer 2005): state dinner — The Party Winner in South by Southeast (8:1, 2001): turkey released — And from A New Resonance (Red Moon Press, 1999): somehow the horse after joining reading Jane Austen The small group size meant we had time to consider three haiku by each poet. Mary's second poem generated a great deal of interest: our guide points out Lee could see the worker's involvement with the guide’s descriptions. Mary pointed out it was a young cathedral worker who listened; the older workers were not interested. She liked the group's suggestion to add “of a frieze” to the second line, resulting in our guide points out October 2007. For October we had planned a ginko along the canal towpath near the locks at Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Park. (Yes, the C&O towpath is the historic nature trail that gave our group its name.) But, of course, after months of severe East Coast drought, rain settled in early in the week and continued right through the morning of the meeting. With everything soggy, we gave thanks for the much-needed rain, gathered at Roberta Beary's, and had a super meeting anyway. Joining Roberta were Kristen Deming, Ellen Compton, Lee Giesecke, Mary Wuest, and Fred Donovan, as well as guests Lenard D. Moore and Dave Russo from the North Carolina Haiku Society (NCHS). In the traditional round robin readings we heard Lenard's
which appeared in the autumn 2007 issue of Frogpond, and Ellen's
from late walk, published in the Jack Stamm Anthology in 2004 by paper wasp in Queensland, Australia. As always, workshop discussions were lively. Lee had submitted "the baby's gas— / to such emotion / we all turn." We thought the second line didn't seem to fit, and it was not clear what was being turned to: the baby's emotion? Comments and questions led to:
Lenard and Dave read a brief selection from NCHS' beautiful new member anthology, Beneath the Willow Tree (Rosenberry Books, 2007). Two from this reading:
Dave is among the haiku poets fea-tured in this year's edition of New Resonance (Red Moon Press). He read a selection that included
Rain-out notwithstanding, October's meeting was rich in haiku experience. December 2007. We met at the home of Mary Wuest in Nor-thern Virginia. A severe winter storm had been forecast (snow and possibly worse), but this time the fates were kind and we experienced only a sprinkle or two. Also attending were Roberta Beary, Ellen Compton, Kristen Deming, Donna Foulke, Lee Giesecke, Fonda Bell Miller, and new member Kathleen O'Toole. Patricia Rogers participated in absentia. In the introductory round, Fonda read this haiku from the winter-spring 2000 issue of Modern Haiku:
Roberta read a selection of haiku and senryu from her recently published The Unworn Necklace. In honor of the storm that didn't happen, Roberta chose poems that in some way touched on snow. A brief sampling:
Kristen displayed a copy of Today and Today, which introduces Issa's haiku to children. The book is charmingly illustrated by G. Brian Karas. Mary is continuing the work begun by Tei Matsushita Scott on the Towpath Kigo Collection. Mary notes that we will try to be alert to local kigo that emerge in our own poetry. Our goal is that we might be-come more attuned to the seasonalities in our own Towpath country, and that our haiku might be enriched by such awareness. Kathleen introduced us to the Nick Virgilio Haiku Association, and told us something of the work that is being done to preserve this major poet's legacy. To visit their website, go to: http://www.nickvirgiliohaikuassociation.org/ Donna exhibited copies of interpretive cartoons she had created for several senryu by Al Pizzarelli. The cartoons and poems appear in the current issue of Simply Haiku. View them at http://www.simplyhaiku.com/ [Archives: vol. 5, no. 4; Senryu. Ed.] Towpath highlights. Roberta Beary's entry placed first among the Kyoto Museum for World Peace Awards at the 41st A-Bomb Memorial Day Meeting. Ellen Compton was awarded first prize in the 2007 Tokutomi Memorial Haiku Contest, sponsored by the Yuki Tekei Haiku Society. Roberta Beary received an honorable mention in the contest. Lee Giesecke received the Modern Haiku monthly senryu award for his poem in the autumn 2007 issue of the journal. —Ellen Compton Central MarylandMarch 2007. The most recent meeting of the Haiku Poets of Central Maryland was held on Saturday, March 10, 2007 at the Eldersburg, Maryland home of Cathy Drinkwater Better. Also in attendance were: Tim Singleton and daughter Julia; Nancy Rouse; Elizabeth Fanto; and new member Susan Sanchez-Barnett. Members (e)mailing poems to share or workshop were: Joan Murphy; Maria Steyn; Beth Edelstein; Edith Bartholomeusz; and new member Marilyn Cramer. Members Ion Codrescu and Kirsty Karkow both sent greetings and wishes for a successful meeting. In addition to welcoming new members Susan (in person) and Marilyn (via email, though she was only up the road aways, in Westminster), we shared news of literary gatherings and events including the newly released first edition of the Little Patuxent Review out of Howard County, Maryland, with which Tim is involved; and the upcoming Haiku North America 2007. The winners of the 2007 Anita Sadler Weiss Memorial Haiku Awards were announced to the members present along with the winning poems and Billie Wilson's comments. This year's winners are: 1st Place, Kate Bosek-Sill, Rochester, New York; 2nd Place, Ron Moss, Tasmania, Australia; 3rd Place, Karen Sohne, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 1st Honorable Mention, Vanessa Proctor, Pymble, New South Wales, Australia; 2nd Honorable Mention, Wanda D. Cook, Hadley, Massachusetts; 3rd Honorable Mention, Bill Pauley, Dubuque, Iowa; 4th Honorable Mention, Desireé McMurry, Franklin, Missouri; and 5th Honorable Mention, Scott Mason, Chappaqua, New York. Congratulations to all! After a brief discussion of Jane Reichhold's article "Circling the Pivot Again," in which she touches on the idea of the pivot in tanka becoming more of a "twist" in the shorter haiku form, we ended the afternoon with a fun and fruitful haiku workshop. We felt one poem in particular needed no changes at all: glint and sparkle ~Edith May 2007. The most recent meeting of the Haiku Poets of Central Maryland was held on Saturday, May 19, 2007 at the home of Elizabeth Fanto, in Timonium, MD. Also in attendance were: Nancy Rouse (Baltimore); Cathy Drinkwater Better (Eldersburg); and recently joined member Marilyn Cramer (Westminster)—this was Marilyn's first time attending in person; she had been participating in meetings via email)—as well as new member Denis Garrison, of Baltimore. Marilyn and Denis told us a little bit about their backgrounds, both personally and in regard to poetry. We're very happy to have them in our midst! Members sending notes or poems to share were: Tim Singleton and daughter Julia (Columbia, MD); Joan Murphy (Fairport, NY); Maria Steyn (Johannesburg, South Africa); Beth Edelstein (Timonium, MD); Edith Bartholomeusz (Phoenix, AZ); Kirsty Karkow (Waldoboro, ME); and Susan Barnett (Glen Burnie, MD). June 2007. In Member News: Kirsty's new book, shorelines: haiku, haibun, and tanka, was released in mid-June 2007. It has already garnered praise, including this from poet Hortensia Anderson: "[shorelines is] a book of wisdom, written with compassion and skill by one who has followed her own path, both in life and in poetry. Readers will be delighted to accompany Kirsty on her 'long walk of wet ink.'" For ordering information, contact Kirsty at September 2007. The most recent meeting of the Haiku Poets of Central Maryland was held on Saturday, September 29, 2007, at the home of Cathy Drinkwater Better (Walker) in Eldersburg, MD. Members present were: Elizabeth Fanto and Beth Edelstein, both residents of Timonium, MD; Nancy Rouse and Denis Garrison, both residents of Baltimore, MD; Alexis Rotella (Arnold, MD); M Kei (Elkton, MD); Ellen Compton (Washington, DC); and new member Roberta Beary (Bethesda, MD). Also attending were Alexis’ husband Bob Rotella and guest Fred Donovan (Rockville, MD). An introductory round of poems included the following. Indian summer village has grown old— We ended with a haiku workshop, in which all present participated. The deadline for the Fourth Annual Anita Sadler Weiss Memorial Haiku Awards is January 31, 2008. See elsewhere in this newsletter for full information; or send email to: cbetter@juno.com or to: haikupoetscentralmd@yahoo.com. Also: 2008 membership dues for HPCM are due from now through December 31. Dues remain at $5.00/year. Send to Cathy Drinkwater Better, 613 Okemo Drive, Eldersburg, MD 27184 USA. Membership includes The Dragonfly, HPCM’s bi-monthly newsletter, and copies of HPCM’s annual poem sheet, due out by the end of the year. The next meeting of HPCM will take place on Saturday, December 1, 2007, from 1:00 to 3:30 p.m., at the home of Beth Edelstein in Timonium, MD. For more information, contact Elizabeth at 410-252-8531 or efanto@bcpl.net; or Cathy at 410-795-0703 or cbetter@juno.com. December 2007. The Haiku Poets of Central Maryland met on December 1, 2007, at the home of Beth Edelstein in Timonium, MD.
The 2007 HPCM poem sheet, luminous whiskers, was distributed at the meeting. The four-fold broad-side was edited by father-daughter literary duo Tim and Julia Singleton and features haiku and tanka by 12 HPCM members and terrific photography by Tim’s son, Dylan. The project was produced by Black Cat Press, professionally printed and folded. It has been distributed free of charge to all HPCM members, as well as to the public, to poetry friends, editors, and fellow regional and national haiku and poetry societies in the US and abroad. Copies of luminous whiskers are available, free of charge, upon request. Please share them with your friends, community libraries, schools, poetry clubs, etc. For each three copies, send an SASE (or SAE + IRC, if outside the US) to: HPCM Poem Sheet, Black Cat Press, 613 Okemo Drive, Eldersburg, MD 21784 USA. For larger quantities, email Cathy at: cbetter@juno.com Subject Line: “Poem Sheet.” We read aloud and discussed (and enjoyed) the poetry of guest haikuist Rajib Phukan, of Mumbai, India. He emailed us several of his poems to share, including:
The deadline for the Fourth Annual Anita Sadler Weiss Memorial Haiku Awards was January 31, 2008. Questions? Email either cbetter@juno.com or The meeting concluded with an enjoyable, enlightening haiku workshop. For information about future meetings, email either efanto@verizon.net or —Respectfully submitted by Cathy Drinkwater Better Richmond Haiku WorkshopAt a recent meeting of the Richmond Haiku Workshop, we once again discovered how much poems can be improved by discussion, often leading to a small change that makes a big difference. For example, this poem by Angela Detlev merely had the first line moved to the bottom so that "colors" and "creeping" could be adjacent: — Stephen Addiss SouthHot Springs, ArkansasNovember 2007. The HSA South Regional Conference was held November 2-3 in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Attending were Dr. Susan Del-phine Delaney, Rev. Howard Lee Kilby, Donna Pohlman, Christine Spindel, Johnye Strick-land and Celia Stuart-Powles. We were joined briefly on Saturday by Karen Schmidt who was waiting for an airplane. Susan opened the conference on Friday with a presentation on modern haiga which included examples culled from Reeds, and envelopes she had decorated with haiku, stickers and complementary stamps. We later enjoyed lunch at Fuji’s, and indulged in a round of Green Tea ice cream for dessert. Duly rested and satisfied we returned to the conference room for a workshop on Haibun facilitated by Johnye, and shared our results. Saturday, Howard shared a letter from Horst Ludwig who was unable to attend, and haiku submitted to his column (and contest) “Haiku Lines” which appears in the monthly publication Ouchita Life. Commentary on the winning poems was by Sonja Coman, and we enjoyed his sharing them with us. We returned to Fuji’s, and topped the dessert with our annual “Haiku Friends Autumnal White Elephant Gift Exchange," facilitated by Susan. We were thrilled to have Father Alan Rosenau participate in absentia with the assistance of Howard.
—Celia Stuart-Powles, Conference Chair On Monday, April 16, members of the New Orleans Haiku Society took yet another small step toward post-Katrina 'normalcy': we met, for the first time since The Storm, in Latter Library on St. Charles Avenue. After nineteen months of absence, after fifteen months of convening in noisy cafes, we were finally back on cushy chairs in our pink sitting room with cherubs on the ceiling. The library, which is housed in one of St. Charles Avenue's vintage mansions, has been open for months but with limited hours that prevented us from meeting there. The fact that it now has the budget and clientele to stay open past seven in the evening is a very good sign for our recovering city. All through the meeting I couldn't stop grinning: it was like we had all stepped through a time warp. Our last gathering under the cherubs seemed eons ago . . . seemed like yesterday. Anyway, we're thrilled to be back in our St. Charles Avenue headquarters. If you come to New Orleans on the third Monday of a given month, at 6 p.m., you'll know where to find us. Yippee! Hurray! The New Orleans Haiku Society is five years old and we are currently planning an Anniversary celebration slated for the fall. The party will include a reading from our Katrina-ku – storm poems book, a haiku exhibit and refreshments. Check out our Blog for updated information about the event at: neworleanshaikusociety.blogspot.com. Also, check out a new haiku and music website for children at http://www.twodragonflies.com. Poems for and by children can be submitted via the online submission form. If you wish to submit lesson plans or activities for the website, please contact me at johnettemusic@aol.com. In June, NOHS hosted a haiku information table at Japan Fest at the New Orleans Museum of Art. This cultural event is a highlight for our group each year. Now that we are settled back into our home meeting location at the Latter Library, we invite you to join us on the third Monday of each month from 6:00-7:45 p.m. —Johnette Downing, Cofounder, New Orleans Haiku Society September 2007. On Saturday, September 29th, the New Orleans Haiku Society celebrated our fifth year anniversary with a party at Latter Library on St.Charles Avenue. The public was invited, and all guests received a little fold-out booklet of haiku written by members of the Society. December 2007. The New Orleans Haiku Society commemorated National Haiku Day on December 21, 2007 by sharing haiku from our 5th Year Anniversary Booklet on our Blog at http://neworleans-haikusociety.blogspot.com/. Please visit our Blog for information about our group.In January, the Latter Library will be closed for a holiday on our regular meeting date; there-fore, NOHS will meet at my house for our meeting and annual holiday party. The party will begin with haiku readings and group business and will end with music, merriment and a holiday gift giving game. Our monthly meetings at the Latter Library on the third Monday of each month from 6:00-7:45 p.m. will resume in February. Kudos to NOHS co-founder David Lanoue for the recent Serbian translation of his book Haiku Guy. —Johnette Downing The Shreveport Haiku Group hosted the 1st HSA Quarterly Meeting on March 31, 2007. The program consisted of the following items: "Brief Introduction to Haiku/Senryu," Carlos Colón. In "Mindfulness, Epiphany, and the Haiku Moment," Susan Delaney, MD posited subtle physiological changes our bodies experience when we encounter a haiku moment. "Basic 'Rules' for Renku," Johnye Strickland. A ginko beside the bayou. "The Use of Haiku in Public Art in Shreve-port," by Carlos Colón, focused on the use of haiku in and on city buses, on billboards, murals, and other public art displays, including the Electronic Poetry Network. Created for Haiku North America 2005, the Shreveport debut of this power point presentation occurred at the HSA Quarterly Meeting, March 31. "What Haiku Editors and Judges Look For," again by Carlos, based on his co-judging experiences in the 1998 and 2005 Gerald Brady Memorial competitions and on Jim Kacian's article "What Do Editors Really Want?" from Haiku Reality (used by permission). In our round robin reading of ginko poems, we made it full circle at least 6 times before Carlos called a halt. August 2007. Carlos Colon received a $1,000 Arts Ambassadors grant from the Shreveport Regional Arts Council [http://srac.pixelfusionhosting.com], with funds from the City of Shreveport, to attend the Haiku North America Conference where he and Raffael de Gruttola did a presentation entitled "Concrete Renku: Linking Words and Images." Laura Flett, a non-HSA member who attended the March 2007 HSA Quarterly Meeting in Shreveport, had a large article and photo in the Shreveport Times on August 19 about a haiga project she displayed in her front yard. Thiry-four haiku were burned into tree cookies (thin slices of trunk) and arranged in a spiral. Flett's Heart Journey haiga were later exhibited at the All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church on Artist Sunday. —Carlos Colón and Johnye Strickland SoutheastNorth Carolina Haiku SocietyFall 2007. After a successful Haiku North America Conference in Winston-Salem, organized by NCHS members Dave Russo, Bob Moyer, and Lenard D. Moore (HSA President-Elect), members of NCHS read haiku at a local festival and launch our new NCHS Anthology, Beneath the Willow In addition to the NCHS activities, Lenard spent 4 days at the Soul Mountain Writing Retreat in Connecticut, where he managed to write 20 poems in free verse, bop, epistle, sonnet, terza rima, dramatic monologue, tanka, haiku, and experimental forms, and read poetry (including haiku) at a museum in Connecticut. — Lenard D. Moore North Georgia Haiku SocietySeptember 2007. Pinecone, the North Georgia Haiku Society, met Saturday, September 29 at Japan Fest in Metro-Atlanta, GA. Those representing Pinecone at the Japan Fest were Zhanna P. Rader, Marilyn Appl Walker, Denis Holmes (Chibi), and new member Akiko Fujikawa. Denis Holmes conducted the haiku reading and workshop for a small group of attentive listeners. For the introduction he presented a five minute movie as homage to his late haiku teacher, Fujita Akegarasu sensei, with whom he studied for three years in Japan. After introductions, Marilyn, Zhanna, and Akiko each read a few haiku. Members answered haiku questions and shared brochures and literature. After the workshop/reading, Pineconers enjoyed sushi and the sights and sounds of Japan Fest. A special thanks to Peggy Willis Lyles for assisting with the organization of the gathering. We missed you, Peggy! —Marilyn Appl Walker Robert Frost Poetry Festival 2007 at Key West, FloridaHaiku was well represented among the "longpoetry" at the 13th Annual Robert Frost Poetry Festival in Key West, Florida, April 11–15, 2007. A haiku contest, two full-length workshops, and several public readings were spotlighted during five days of activities in the warm, sunny artists' community at the tip of the Florida Keys. The international haiku contest, coordinated by local Key West haiku poets Janelle Barrera and Fran Masat, drew 95 entries from across the United States, England, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand. Janelle and Fran screened the entries, and contest judges Charles Trumbull and Barry George selected three winners for cash prizes of $75, $50, and $25, respectively, plus three honorable mentions. First place: Scott Mason, Chappaqua, N.Y. last day of summer … Second place: André Surridge, New Zealand holding my breath Third place: Bruce Ross, Bangor, Maine impending rain On Friday afternoon Charlie led a three-hour workshop on the topic "Is Haiku Really a Poem?" The answer, of course, was "no," because haiku differ from Western poems in most aspects of history, purpose, subject matter, aesthetics, and poetics, not to mention form. The following afternoon Barry conducted his workshop, "Haiku and Human Nature," which focused on senryu. He combined writing exercises with a detailed examination and lively discussion of senryu written on various aspects of the human condition, such as interpersonal relationships, family interactions, and workplace situations. Workshops on longpoetry were held by Michael Wyndham Thomas of Worcestershire, England, and South Floridians Rosalind Brackenbury, Cricket Desmarais, and Richard Grusin. Well-attended public events included a cigar smoker/open mic, a showing of the film Dead Poets Society, an outdoor show of visual poetry and performance art, a poetry slam, a teen poetry workshop, a poetry presentation in a retirement home, a sunset sail and reading aboard a catamaran, an evening of sea shanties and pirate poetry, and a closing Festival celebration with announcements of contest awards and, of course, more poetry. Skillful juggling of participants and public, multiple venues, refreshments, rain-avoidance techniques, and other logistical maneuvering was coordinated by Roberta DePiero, president of the Board of Directors of the Key West Heritage House Museum. For more information on the Robert Frost Poetry Festival past and future, visit the Web site at <http://www.robertfrostpoetryfestival.com/> —Charles Trumbull MidwestChi-ku, the Chicago area haiku group, broke all records at its May 6 meeting. Nineteen poets and significant others crowded into the meeting room of the Winnetka Public Library to read and discuss haiku. They were Charlotte Digregorio, Bill Eiden and Lavonne Mumford, Scott Glander, Bud Goodrich, Cindy Engvold, Heather Jagman, Sung Kyu and Cindy Kim, Eliot Landau, Michael Nickels-Wisdom, John O'Connor, Christopher Patchel, Natalie Rudychev, Dan Schwerin, Catherine Theis, Charles and Margret Trumbull, and Jeff Winke. Because there were so many new faces in the group, a round of introductions preceded the usual round reading during which each poet got to read three haiku. Charlie Trumbull, chairing the meeting, reported on recent and future haiku activities, including the Robert Frost Poetry Festival that he had attended in Key West, Florida in April, the upcoming HSA Quarterly Meeting in Portland, Oregon in June, and Haiku North America in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in August. Charlotte Digregorio, who had made the excellent arrangements for this meeting, announced a public haiku reading and workshop to be held in the Winnetka Library on September 30 and asked for volunteers to handle various tasks. Charlie noted the impressive publishing activities of Chi-ku members in recent months. Winnetkan Bud Goodrich was the first poet featured in Cor van den Heuvel's new book, Baseball Haiku, and haiku by Lee Gurga and Randy Brooks was included as well. He pointed out that he had noticed haiku by Chi-ku members published in the following journals: Acorn (Patchel), Bottle Rockets (Rudychev, Digregorio, Kirschner, Brooks, Trumbull, Winke), Frogpond (Patchel, Rudychev), Haiku Harvest (Rudychev), Heron's Nest (Patchel, Winke), Modern Haiku (Glander, Goodrich, Gurga, Kirschner, Patchel, Rudychev, Schwerin, Theis, Winke), Paper Wasp (Rudychev), Simply Haiku (Rudychev), Roadrunner (Trumbull, Winke), Tinywords (Trumbull, Winke), Wisteria (Brooks, Trumbull), as well as in the Red Moon Anthology (Gurga, Patchel). Following a break, the group spent about an hour workshopping haiku offered by the gathered poets. With just about 15 minutes remaining, Sung Kyu Kim skimmed over the high points of his paper titled "The Origin of Haiku: Korean 17 character gag poem was the Origin of Haiku," which asserts that haibun as well as the 17-syllable haiku format were derived from earlier Korean models. Over the past six years Kim has developed a Korean variant of haiku that he calls "zoomsi." They are featured on several Web sites in Korea and celebrated by the Korean Zoomsi Society, of which he is founder and president. Cor van den Heuvel was a featured poet at the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Tent at the 23rd Annual Printer's Row Book Fair in Chicago on Saturday, June 9, presenting his book Baseball Haiku. Attending the reading were Scott Glander, Lidia Rozmus, Christopher Patchel, and Charles Trumbull. Michael and Beth Nickels-Wisdom joined the group for lunch and excellent conversation with Cor afterwards. Somehow, a "wordless poem" seems a very good way of sizing up the standings of Chicago's own Cubs and White Sox! September 2007. The Chi-Ku Group gave a haiku program, Sunday, Sept. 30, at the Winnetka Public Library. There were short presentations on the art and history of haiku by Charlotte Digregorio and Charlie Trumbull, respectively, along with a presentation on haiga by Lidia Rozmus. There were excellent readings by poets Sung Kyu Kim, Michael Nickels-Wisdom, Natalia Rudychev, John O'Connor, Dan Schwerin, Christopher Patchel, and Scott Glander. The poets answered questions for the audience about how they write haiku and what inspires them. Audience members had the opportunity to write a haiku, and the winner received a copy of bottlerockets. The poetry judges were Sung Kyu and Michael. Natalia's husband, Igor, had the winning entry. Michael, who is a librarian, composed an extensive bilbiography of haiku resources for everyone to take home. The program lasted three hours. As of October, the Chi-Ku group has gathered four times this year. It is a very large and active group. —Charlotte Digregorio September 2007. HAIKU WRIGHT NOW. Lidia Rozmus and Charles Trumbull sallied forth to Springfield, Ohio, on September 29 to bring the haikai gospel to the Wright Now Festival, a celebration of the life and work of Frank Lloyd Wright organized by Westcott House, a foundation for the preservation of the architectural gem believed to have been designed about 1904, shortly after Wright’s return from Japan. Springfield is a charming, historic city located between Dayton and Columbus with many fine residences, among which the Westcott House enjoys pride of place. Lidia led a two-hour haiga workshop at the Springfield Art Museum and attracted an overflow crowd of 10 attendees, including faculty members and students from Wittenberg University. Meanwhile, Charlie held forth in a two-hour haiku workshop at the public library in Yellow Springs, reviewing the history and practice of haiku and leading six participants—at least three of them seasoned veterans—in writing and critiquing haiku. December 2007. Chi-ku Holiday Party. December 16 witnessed the haiku party of the year, the annual get-together of Chi-ku and other Midwest area poets at Lidia Rozmus’s apartment in Vernon Hills, Ill. New records were set for number of attendees (21), distance traveled to attend (Jeanne Emrich, all the way from Minneapolis), and aggregate amount of fun (immeasurable). Participants included Charlotte Digregorio; Scott Glander; Heather Jagman and Arik Dreyer; Joe Kirschner and Beverly Bloom; Eliot and Eileen Landau; Ted May; Beth and Michael Nickels-Wisdom; John S. O’Connor; Christopher Patchel; Anna Poplawska; Natalia and Igor Rudychev; Charles and Margret Trumbull; and Jeff Winke. Lee Gurga and Rosemary Eller could not attend but sent in works to be read. Sandwiched in among the consumption of Lidia’s Polish delicacies and sweets brought by the poets, plus the guzzling of Glüh-wein and hot mulled cider, were rounds of haiku readings. We were having so much fun we never made it to the planned workshopping. A handful of the haiku offered by a few of the merry band of poets:
Natalia and Igor Rudychev, along with Charlotte Digregorio, recently read their haiku at Bor-ders Books in Highland Park, IL (suburban Chicago). They also briefly spoke about what haiku is. Natalia's husband, Igor, won the haiku writing contest at Chi-Ku's September reading at the Winnetka (IL) Public Library. —Charles Trumbull and Joseph Kirschner Mississippi Mud DaubersJune 2007. The Mississippi Mud Daubers Haiku Group met on June 29 at Sacred Grounds Coffee House in Edwardsville, Illinois. Our agenda included selecting a project that will facilitate our bonding as a group while enabling us to introduce area residents to haiku. We decided that each member will create some haiga for a public exhibit and possible inclusion in a chapbook produced by Second Reading Publications, which is owned by group member John Dunphy. We will share our haiga with each other at the next meeting and take it step-by-step from there. —Submitted by John Dunphy SouthwestHaiku Poets of North TexasHaiku Poets of North Texas has had its first three meetings: February 17, March 17 and April 21, 2007. HSA members Susan Delphine Delaney MD; Ruth Eshbaugh; HSA Roshi Award winner Jeanne Lowenthal; Lainey Grace; Wynell Hosch; Linda Pieper; and Madeline Harford, MD were in attendance. Lainey and Wynell had taken Susan's course, "Mindfulness, Epiphany and the Haiku Moment," at their church. At the February meeting Susan gave her paper "Visceral Perception in the Perception of the Haiku Moment." A haiku party with the theme of 'blossoms' was held and enjoyed by all. At the March meeting, Susan gave her paper "72 Seasons in North Texas," a result of a challenge by Tadashi Kondo to develop a calendar of 72 five day seasons describing the unfolding of the year in Texas. At the April meeting a haiku party with the theme of new leaves was planned, but an impulsive renga happened instead with much good fellowship and cheer. The group looks forward to two summer workshops by Jeanne: one on sumi-e and the other on binding the sumi-e and haiku into handmade books. Jeanne showed a handmade book that she had made of a renga, "One Persimmon," written by herself, Susan, and several HSA members. The May program will be a presentation on renga by Wynelle. Everyone in the group is a teacher and/or an artist. Watch this space for tales of incredible creations! Haiku Poets of North Texas had 3 meetings this quarter. The May 19 meeting was a presentation by Susan Delphine Delaney MD on renga, using materials developed by Johnye Strickland for the recent quarterly HSA meeting in Shreveport. Susan was a last minute sub for Wynell Hosch who was called out of town. The June 16 meeting was a workshop at Wynell's on covering books. Jeanne Lowenthal, HSA Roshi award winner, taught the group to cover handmade books. The group plans a passalong art journal project with a haiga emphasis for the fall. The July 21 meeting was a presentation by Susan on the history of haiga, modern haiga and the use of stamps or seals to 'sign' the haiga. The August 18 meeting will be a workshop by Jeanne on sumi-e painting to equip the members to begin their passalong haiga journals. Members continue to take turns creating ikebana for the meetings and bringing novel and delicious treats. October 2007. Haiku Poets of North Texas met on September 15 and October 13. September's meeting consisted of a presentation on modern haiga by Susan Delphine Delaney MD, followed by a haiku workshop. Jeanne Lowenthal crystalized the following two haiku moments from the past:
October's meeting was a discussion of the haiku in a renga in which Susan was a participant. It will be published in the November issue of Simply Haiku, Vol. 5, No. 4. In addition, Susan previewed haiga-envelopes she will show at the South Region Conference in Hot Springs, AR, Nov. 1. The group also helped new member Terrie Meider formulate three haiku about her beloved, one of which appears below:
Susan mudwrestled this moment into a haiku:
November & December 2008. The Haiku Poets of North Texas met on November 17 and December 15. The November meeting was a haiku workshop, enjoyed by all. Lainey Grace crystallized this haiku:
Wynell Hosch crystallized this one:
The December meeting was a warm and joyful gift exchange. Even our east Texas member, Tony Thompson participated by post. Later, we workshopped haiku. Lainey Grace, a very promising haiku poet who has been a little shy about sending in haiku to journals, crystallized this one: —Respectfully Submitted, Susan Delphine Delaney, MD Forth Worth Haiku Society (Texas)Fort Worth Haiku Society once again took part in the Spring Festival at the Japanese Garden. In addition to Michael Moore, Bre and Cliff Roberts at the table were Shirley Crow, Christi Davenport-Lewis, and Carrie Mabry (two of them new members). Saturday was miserably cold and we ended up going home a little early but Michael stayed and manned the FWHS table until the end of the day. Sunday was PERFECT. It was not too hot, too cold, or too wet. And we had over 19 people there. Cliff and Bre held a class on "What is Haiku" for a group of 10 people and about 20 others stopped and listened for a while and proceeded to the table for handouts. Helen Jones, VP for FWHS, reports that she will be reading her poetry at the Optimist Club in May and that she is the featured host at Barnes and Noble at the end of May. Cliff and Brenda will be the featured speakers at Texoma Poetry Society and will be interviewed and taped for a program that runs several times a month on the Sherman, Texas local cable access channel that is hosted by Leona Welch, founder of TPS and FWHS member. Long distance member Patty Mager says she has been notifed that 2 of her poems have been accepted for publication in SpinningS magazine. Fort Worth Haiku Society lost its old email address when the phone company closed it to us after the person whose name the account was in changed services and we lost poetry, addresses and everything that was in there. Our new email is fwhaiku@yahoo.com and if you sent in poetry or letters to Cliff or Brenda Roberts, please resend them to the new address. Jim Applegate, New Mexico, also a FWHS member and active member of Southwest Region plans to do another anthology for Southwest Region members only. He states that their group's elections in Albuquerque will be next month and that he is the First Vice President of that group. If you are interested in contributing to the anthology project and live in the Southwest Region, contact Jim at japple@dfn.com or email Brenda Roberts at brephoenix@aol.com for more information. Fort Worth Haiku Society and Southwest Region members Jim Applegate and Helen Jones attended the National Federation of State Poetry Societies convention in Oklahoma City in June. Helen won 2 first place prizes and several other places as well. Jim has been named a vice president in his New Mexico Poetry Society. Shirley Crow is the new 2nd Vice President for Fort Worth Haiku Society. Other officers are: Cliff Roberts, President; Helen Jones, 1st VP; Brenda Roberts, Secretary/Treasurer, and member at large Carrie Mabry. October 2007. Fort Worth Haiku Society has a new vice president after the resignation of Helen Jones. Shirley Crow steps up from 2nd VP to the position. September's meeting was on Death Haiku presented by Cliff Roberts. Our guest haijin was Peter Webber, who shared haiku written from his last visit to Alaska this summer. The kukai was on geese. October 10th, the Fort Worth Star Telegram re-ran in the "Cultural District" section an article based on the interview with Cliff and Brenda Roberts about the Fort Worth Haiku Society. It originally appeared, with a photo of Cliff and Brenda, in August in the local "In Our Neighborhood" section. The FWHS will once again be in the meditation gardens to participate in the Japanese Garden Fall Festival October 27-28. This is the 6th year that we have participated in the Fall Festival. Robin Polizzi has agreed to serve as chairwoman for hospitality for the upcoming HSA Spring Quarterly meeting to be hosted by FWHS. Robin is a new member and we are delighted to have her. The committee for the HSA Spring Quarterly meeting consists of: Brenda Roberts, chair; Cliff Roberts, Shirley Crow, Dave Crow, Carrie Mabry, and Christi Davenport-Lewis. Dave has agreed to be our transportation coordinator and pick up and deliver people to the airport as needed. —Bre Roberts NorthwestWashington State Region The January meeting was held at the Bellevue Regional Library. Present: Ida Freilinger, Nu Quang, William Scott Galasso, Angela Terry, Helen Russell, Michael Dylan Welch, Ruth Yarrow, Curtis Manley, Jay Gelzer and Marilyn Sandall. Discussion was held about the haiku submission deadlines for the Francine Porad Award at the Washington Poets Association and the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival. We'll be reading the Four Elements at the Seattle Poetry Festival, April 21st. The February meeting was held at the Bellevue Regional Library. Present: Helen Russell, Jay Gelzer, Dejah Leger, Dave Baldwin, Connie Hutchison, Ida Freilinger, Wini Jaeger, Marilyn Sandall and Michael Dylan Welch. Michael Dylan Welch brought a group of haiga to share that he is collaborating on with Gary Lebel. Gary has haiga in the winter/spring issue of Modern Haiku. Discussion was held regarding the indirect relationship between image and haiku. Discussion was also held about the 90 degree relationship between the two parts of a haiku with one part being oblique to the rest of the haiku. The March meeting was held at the home of Wini Jaegar. Present: Ruth Yarrow, Connie Hutchison, Marilyn Sandall, Wini Yaegar, Ida Freilinger, Helen Russell and Terran Campbell. Crones Night Out. We discussed plans for the upcoming Seattle Poetry Festival, April 20-22. Also, the Burning Word Poetry Festival is April 28th on Whidbey Island. There will be no section on haiku, but some of us will be attending. We will be performing a memorial reading for Francine Porad at the HSA Quarterly Meeting in Portland, Oregon, June 30th and locally in September called Hundreds of Wishes. Connie Hutchison is looking for a place for this to be held locally and will report back. The April meeting was held at Wini Jaegar's home. Present: Dejah Leger, Marilyn Sandall, Angela Terry, Curtis Manley, William Scott Galasso, Helen Russell, Connie Hutchison, Michael Dylan Welch, Nu Quang, Ida Freilinger, Jay Gelzer and Terran Campbell. Angela Terry announced that she won in the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival haiku competition and placed in the Suruga Baika Literary Festival with this haiku: watch as Angela Terry Curtis Manley announced that some of his longer poems were being danced at a performance called Phrasings the weekend of April 20th in Bellingham, Washington. Michael Dylan Welch will be teaching workshops for youth and adults at the Cedar River Watershed Visitors' Center June 10th and at the Seattle Cherry Blossom Festival in Seattle the weekend of April 20th. Connie Hutchison is still working on finding a site for A Hundred Wishes in memory of Francine Porad. The Bellevue Botanical gardens are out. She will check out Kubota Gardens and The Japanese gardens at the Washington Park Arboretum. The May Washington monthly meeting was held at the Bellevue regional library. We finalized plans for our local tribute to Francine Porad, A Thousand Wishes, which is set for Sunday, September 9th at the Bellevue Botanical Garden from 2-4 pm. Connie Hutchison has put much effort into arranging this and we are very grateful for all her hard work. She is also coordinating the reading of A Thousand Wishes at the HSA Meeting in Portland June 29 - July 1. Those present included Curtis Manley, Ida Freilinger, Anne Machonis, Michael Dylan Welch, Helen Russell, Jay Gelzer, Marilyn Sandall, Connie Hutchison, Mary Fran Meter and Terran Campbell. We shared and gave feedback about our haiku. Michael Dylan Welch is curarating the Haiku Garden readings at the Washington Park Arboretum this summer. They are the 2nd Monday of the Month--June 11th, July 9th and August 13th. On June 11th Billie Wilson from Alaska will be the guest reader. Michael will also be offering two haiku workshops at the Cedar River Watershed Institute on June 16th for adults and June 17th for youth. The June 7th meeting was also at the Bellevue Library. The first part of the meeting was a potlatch/give away of haiku books/periodicals from Francine Porad’s collection. It was great fun rummaging through the treasures. Many folks went home with goodies. This was especially fun since we had a number of new folks who were able to access haiku resources immediately. We will be selling some of the books at the upcoming Portland event to benefit our local chapter. Those who participated included: Dave Baldwin, Joshua Beach, Angela Terry, Marilyn Sandall, Curtis Manley, Helen Russell, Ida Freilinger, Ruth Yarrow, Michael Dylan Welch, Mike Myers, Jeannie Boag, Jay Gelzer, Kitty Jospe, Connie Hutchison and Terran Campbell. We managed to even get a couple of rounds of haiku and feedback done as well. The Highlight of this year's Haiku Garden readings at the Japanese Garden, curated by Michael Dylan Welch, was Billie Wilson's reading on July 9th. On August 25th at the annual Moon Viewing Ceremony at the Japanese Garden, Michael Dylan Welch gave an introduction to haiku writing and then invited audience members to write themselves. Later in the evening haiku were read and prizes given for the best haiku of the over seventy submitted. All poems were put up for display in the garden’s entry kiosk. The September meeting was held on the 6th at the Bellevue regional library. Those present included: Heb McCleese, Helen Russell. Michael Myers, Shona Milne, Anne Machoines, Ida Frelinger. Joan Stamm, Angela Terry, Curtis Manley, Marilyn Sandall, Connie Hutchison, Dejah Leger, Mary Fran Meter, and Michael Dylan Welch. Haiku and feedback were shared. Our regional memorial for Francine Porad, "A Thousand Wishes," was held at the Bellevue Botanical Garden on Sunday, Sept 9th. Those present included: Jeanie Boag, Robert Major, Curtis Manley, Ida Frelinger, Mary Fran Meter, Michael Dylan Welch, Christopher Herold, Marilyn Sandall, Terran Campbell, and Laurie Porad and Connie Hutchison who worked hard planning and facilitating the event. In this simple but elegant tribute each person first told a story about Francine or how she had influenced their lives. We then each read some of our favorite haiku by Francine. The participants then read their own works and other haiku by Maggie Chula, William Scott Galasso, Jay Gelzer, Herb McClees, Carol O’Dell, Mas Odoi, Helen Russell, Ruth Yarrow and their favorite of Francine’s haiku and ones they had written for her. The haiku had been written on beautiful handmade strips of paper. We then tied them to willow branches. We finished by taking pictures to commemorate the event. It was a lovely sunny September afternoon and we clearly felt Francine's spirit among us. Respectfully submitted,Terran Campbell, Washington Regional Coordinator Oregon State Region Portland, Oregon—Margaret Chula Was invited to read at the Looking Glass Books book launch on April 6 for the anthology Deer Drink the Moon, Poems of Oregon. Among her poems was a haiku series entitled “Soliloquy on Rain.” On March 22, Ce Rosenow gave a haiku and haibun workshop at the University of Oregon for students from Oak Hill School in Eugene. Harriot West, from the Eugene area, was the "featured haijin" in the spring issue of moonset, and an'ya from the Bend area was "featured poet" of April at Poetic Portal.net. Other than that, Central Oregon reported snow on the ground as late as mid-April. The HSA quarterly meeting in Portland, Oregon began on Friday, June 29 with a reading in the Pearl Gallery at Powell's Books. Amelia Fielden and Pamela Miller Ness were the featured readers and shared selections of their tanka and haiku. An open reading followed and approximately twenty additional poets read their work. The reading was well-attended by poets and members of the Portland community. On Saturday, the Executive Committee held its meeting at the Marriott Hotel at 8:00 a.m. while everyone else gathered at the Hoyt Arboretum for a round robin haiku reading and introductions, followed by a memorial tribute to Lorraine Ellis Harr and Francine Porad. Oregon and Washinton poets read their favorite poems by Lorraine and Francine followed by a humorous or poignant story. The Executive Committee arrived in time for Patrick Gallagher's workshop, "Inspirational and Enlightening Quotations," in which he presented everyone with a booklet of quotations about haiku and poetry in general. Audience members responded to the quotations and evaluated sample haiku. After a short break and time to shop at the book tables, the meeting reconvened for the Book Review Panel. Randy Brooks, Ce Rosenow, Johnye Strickland, and Michael Dylan Welch gave short presentations and then engaged in a lively discussion with members of the audience (please see the additional description at the end of this overview). After lunch, President Pamela Miller Ness gave the Executive Committee's report to the membership which included the previous quarterly meeting's minutes read by Stanford Forrester. Margaret Chula began her haibun workshop, "Scents and Sensations," with an overview of the haibun form and then handed out black film canisters, each containing a different scent. She then led everyone through a series of steps designed to inspire a haibun, prompted by the scent in their container. Her workshop was followed by a ginko along the paths of the beautiful Hoyt Arboretum. The meeting concluded with people sharing their poems from the ginko and from the haibun workshop. Saturday evening sake and conversation flowed as participants enjoyed a banquet at Bush Garden, a Japanese restaurant in downtown Portland. Sunday morning, Margaret Chula led a two-hour tour through the Portland Japanese Garden and then brought everyone together for lunch and goodbyes at Pazzo's, an Italian restaurant in Portland. The Book Review Panel produced a number of interesting suggestions and comments about reviews of haiku books, which I've summarized here at the suggestion of newsletter editor, Johnye Strickland:
The Portland Japanese Garden has created a Japanese garden exhibition at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington D.C. Four of Margaret Chula's haiku will appear on a publicity poster announcing a national haiku contest. Anyone wishing to enter the contest is welcome to submit their haiku to the Portland Japanese Garden by completing the online haiku entry form at: www.japanesegarden.com/culture/haiku Or entries may be sent by mail to Portland Japanese Garden, PO Box 3847, Portland, Oregon 97208. The 1st Prize winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to the online Garden Gift Store and two runners-up winners will receive $50 gift certificates. Samples of haiku and full instructions can be found at www.japanesegarden.com/culture/haiku. The contest runs from July 21 through October 8. An Oregon based publication edited by an'ya called moonset (which was originally a journal) has now become /moonset/, THE NEWSPAPER. It has been met with fantastic enthusiasm and everyone seems to be enjoying the user-friendly format. For subscription and subscriber information, please visit http://moonsetnewspaper.blogspot.com and for mini reviews, see http://b-oki.livejournal.com/ and http://origa.livejournal.com/. In the current issue, the featured haijin is Harriot West from Eugene, Oregon. There is also an article on FAN, Oregon's non-profit Feline Assistance Network, run by Larisa Worthington from Westfir, Oregon. The November issue will include an article on the OhtS. September 2007. Oregon Poets met in September, with Maggie Chula as featured reader at the Second Sunday Reading Series in Stayton, Oregon. Oregon Haiku and Tanka Society (OhtS). The OhtS welcomes our two newest members, Norla Antinoro, who moved to Estacada and also has the Haiku in MyTown zine, plus Kent Clair Chamberlain, a well known poet from Medford, Oregon. There is a great review by Patricia Prime for the spring/summer issue of our Oregon bas |
