National Haiku Poetry Day

April 17, National Haiku Poetry Day, is a celebration of the genre of haiku, a kind of poetry whose origins date back a millennium in Japan; and more specifically, of English-language haiku, which has now been written for more than a century. Registered by Sari Grandstaff in 2007 and implemented as a project of The Haiku Foundation in 2012, it occurs in the heart of the United States’ celebration of National Poetry Month. The Foundation encourages public events, including readings, exhibitions and competitions on this day, and culminates the celebration with the announcement of winners from our annual HaikuNow! Contest.

Here are reports from all the venues for National Haiku Poetry Day 2012. We hope they will inspire you to participate in one next year, or even host one of your own. Let us know what you’d like to do and we’ll be happy to help.

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Atlanta (Tom Painting, Coordinator)
Junior high school students in classes at the Paideia School in Atlanta have recently read Haiku Guy by David G. Lanoue as part of a unit on English Language haiku. A “haiku a day” bulletin board features a student each day at the school as a way to recognize student work and further interest at in the form. In addition to composing haiku of their own for both the Nick Virgilio Student Haiku Contest and the United Nations International Haiku Competitions, students wrote to David with their thoughts about the book and questions for the author. Student reviews are posted on David Lanoue’s Haiku Guy web site. Students Skyped with David on Friday, Feb 24. At that time they presented a haiku reading of their haiku and furthered the discussion with David.

—Tom Painting

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Baltimore: (Cathy Drinkwater Better, Coordinator)
Site: Renaissance Institute, Notre Dame of Maryland University
Address: Fourier Hall Room 108, 4701 N. Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21210
Date: April 17, 2012
Time: 12:15 – 1:15 PM
Further Information: Cathy Better mededit@comcast.net
Report: Haiku Poets of Central Maryland Celebrate the First Annual National Haiku Poetry Day
on Notre Dame of Maryland University Campus

As part of National Poetry Month, on Tuesday, April 17, Haiku Poets of Central Maryland (HPCM) members took part in a nationwide celebration of the first annual official National Haiku Poetry Day—an effort spearheaded by The Haiku Foundation—with a carefully prepared presentation at Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDM) in Baltimore. Members Tony Nasuta, Ginny Leidig, Elizabeth Fanto, Tim Singleton, and Cathy Drinkwater Better presented the hour-long program in Fourier Hall, home of the Renaissance Institute, a life-long learning institution located on the NDM campus.

The NHPD presentation, which was open to Renaissance members, other students on campus, and the public, was both publicized and emcee’d by Elizabeth.

Tim started the party with a layman’s introduction to the haiku form, including a bit of historical background and some discussion of the writing of haiku in English. During Tim’s talk, a PowerPoint presentation consisting of translations of haiku by the Japanese masters, matched with illustrative photographs, played on a screen behind him. Tim was able to use many of those poems as examples during his talk.

After a few Q&A’s, Tim took a brief break while Elizabeth introduced Tony, Ginny, and Cathy; each read some of their own haiku aloud for an appreciative audience. Elizabeth and Tim also took the podium to read from their own work. After the haiku readings, Ginny and Tony both shared some of their haibun with the crowd and gave a brief explanation of that form. Doug Walker acted as official HPCM photographer for the day, in order to record the event for posterity.

In the days following our NHPD observance, Elizabeth—who teaches haiku, among other courses, at the Renaissance Institute—received several positive comments from Renaissance members about the National Haiku Poetry Day presentation and observance.

Having focused on the life-long-learning crowd for this 2012 National Haiku Poetry Day, HCPM is planning to hit another segment of the population next year…and the year after that…and the year after that…. We’ll get around to everybody, eventually. You too, kindergarteners. You can run…but you can’t hide.’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

—Cathy Better

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Bangor (Bruce Ross, Coordinator)
Site: Bangor Public Library
Address: 145 Harlow, Bangor, Maine
Date: April 17, 2012
Time: 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Further Information: from the BPL (207) 947-8336.
Report: The celebration of National Haiku Poetry Day was a success, with haiku poets from as far away at Eastport and Friendship to join those from the greater Bangor area.

After greetings and introductions, Bruce Ross, founder of the Bangor Haiku Group which sponsored the event at the Bangor Public Library, gave a brief history of National Haiku Poetry Day, from a librarian choosing the winter solstice, the shortest day for the shortest poem, for the event, then changing it to the middle of National Poetry Month, on April 17, for the 17 “syllables” of traditional haiku and on to Jim Kacian and the Haiku Foundation. Bruce read haiku by the president of the EU, “Haiku Herman,” and by the current Nobel Laureate in Literature, Thomas Transtromer, then a short history of American haiku with examples, from Amy Lowell  Jack Kerouac to Cor van den Heuvel and Anita Virgil to Lee Gurga, Virginia Brady Young, and Tom Tico to Stephen Addiss, Kathy Lippard Cobb, and Peggy Willis Lyles to examples from “scent of pine, A Maine Haiku Anthology” (Arizona Zipper, Anne LB Davidson, Norma Sheard, Lynda True, and Paul MacNeil) to a National Haiku Poetry Day haiku written that morning by Bruce Ross :

Haiku Poetry Day
all of it centered
in forsythia

We then formed a circle and read rounds of our own haiku, with frequent stops for comments and discussions. A highlight was translations of English haiku into Latvian (Liga Jahnke), Romanian (Astrid Andreescu) and French (Bob Seretny’s haiku with Bruce Ross translating into French).

We discussed a Spring ginko at City Forest next month when the rhodora would still be in bloom, if we were lucky.

We all agreed we should do this again next year, but with a samovar of hot tea for refreshment.

—Bruce Ross

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Boston (Raffael de Gruttola, Coordinator)
Site: The Boston Conservatory of Music, Dance, and Theater
Address: 31 Hemenway Street, Boston, MA 02115
Date: April 17, 2012
Time: 7:00 PM
Further Information: 508-653-3354 after 5:00 PM
Report: Members of the Boston Haiku Society, students, and faculty from the Boston Conservatory met on April 17 in the new Dance Studio of the Conservatory to celebrate nhpd.  All the participants introduced themselves to each other by reading one of their haiku and discussions proceeded among experienced, student and faculty poets.  The discussions focused on the short form of poetry called haiku and the immediate initial experience that occurs as the haiku is read.  BHS members introduced the idea of reading the haiku twice as they do in Japan and the reasons why this is important.  Since among the students there were many who were majoring in music and dance discussion ensured on how the haiku could be used in an interdisciplinary way with these other art forms.  Many of the students were already experimenting with this idea since many of the liberal arts course syllabi already use this interdisciplinary approach.  It’s well understood that music, dance, and poetry have been used in artistic compositions throughout the ages to develop narratives and meaning.  Isolation of art forms do have their place in the concert hall; however, in popular dance and music theatre this is not necessarily the case.  Raffael explained that in the Japanese arts from ancient times this has been the case as well with both classical forms of Noh and Gagaku ensambles as well as with the more popular kabuki and opera groups.  There was some discussion among the group with respect to modern haiga and how the photographic arts has encompassed this approach not only in Japan, but throughout the world. The two hour meeting ended with each of the participants reading five or six of their haiku.  We all agree that this was a worthwhile exchange and should be repeated in other meetings throughout the year.

—Raffael de Gruttola

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Dubuque & Mineral Point (Francine Banwarth and Gayle Bull, Coordinators)
Site: The Foundry Books
Address: 105 Commerce Street, Mineral Point, WI   53565
Date: April 17, 2012
Time: 7:00 PM
Further Information: Gayle Bull info@foundrybooks.com or 608-987-4363
Report: A small (14) group of haiku poets from Dubuque, Iowa, Mineral Point, Madison and Platteville, Wisconsin got together at the Foundry Books in Mineral Point to read and discuss haiku. One person new to haiku came and read some of her haiku which were amazingly good for a first-timer. Francine Banwarth read from the new book of Nick Virgilio’s haiku published by Turtle Light Press and we spent some time talking about his work, both in the new book and some of his haiku from the days of AMERICAN HAIKU MAGAZINE. We are all looking forward to NHPD next year.

Thanks to the HAIKU FOUNDATION for sponsoring the day and giving us the opportunity and excuse to have a fun evening.

—Gayle Bull

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Fort Worth (Cliff Roberts, Coordinator)
Site: Benbrook Library
Address: 1065 Mercedes St, Benbrook, TX 76126
Date: April 17, 2012
Time: 7:00 PM
Further Information: Cliff Roberts vanpire13@aol.com
Report: Local Haiku Day A Success!

(We plan on sending this to Poetry Society of Texas, HSA, HSA South West Region, Fort worth Star Telegram, Fort Worth Weekly, albeit probably without some of the details like who read from what etc…
We did have a photographer and videographer who said they could get me the photos and videos in a couple of weeks.
How was everyone else’s event?)

Tuesday, April 17, 2012 was National Haiku Poetry Day, under the auspices of The Haiku Foundation. It is a coast to coast celebration of the haiku poetry form.

Cliff Roberts, president of the Fort Wort Haiku Society in conjunction with the Benbrook Library hosted the local haiku event which started at 7PM with a Mix and Mingle with snacks and drinks, Japanese music and a slide show of haiga and emblematic haiku on the 2 large screens.

There was also a packed book table offering haiku books for sale from Red Moon Press, sets of haiga (illustrated haiku) cards by Cliff Roberts for $1 donation, A chapbook by Jan Benson also for $1 donation.
Fort Worth Haiku Society also had Fort Worth National Haiku Poetry Day t-shirts, caps and buttons through Cafe Press.

Other things on the table were Haiku rules, haiku word finds, and FWHS membership brochures.

There were 14 in attendance.

Cliff and Brenda Roberts started the reading with a energetic Haiku Slam written by Cliff Roberts which was both informative and entertaining.

Mr. Roberts then welcomed everyone to the event and presented the Fort Worth Haiku Society members to read up to 5 haiku.
Cliff read a haiku that he had written that morning:

haiku day
a butterfly’s shadow
flits through mine

Cliff not only read haiku, but a haiga and an emblematic (shaped) haiku.
Brenda Roberts read from the FWHS Anthology Mimosa Blooms and the Moon: The Eighth Continent anthology.
Jan Benson read from her chapbook Poetic Rotations.
Patricia Ferguson read from the Moon: The Eighth Continent anthology.
Catherine L’Harrison, President of the Poetry Society of Texas and Honorary FWHS member, read several of her earlier haiku.

After the Featured Readers the podium was opened to the general readers with some truly wonderful haiku being read by the attendees.

Several haiku books by Red Moon Press were awarded as Door Prizes throughout the festivities.

Cliff Roberts presented a How To Haiku program which included examples of haiku from masters Matsuo Basho and Kobayashi Issa as well as others.

The Fort Worth winners of the local Haiku Contest were: HM – Hilda Mendoza, HM – Ron Evans, 3rd – Catherine L’Harrison, 2nd – Carrie Mabry, 1st – Patricia Ferguson
The winners of the 2012 HaikuNow!
International Haiku Contests in the Traditional, Contemporary and Innovative Categories were then read along with The 2011 Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems and The 2011 Touchstone
Distinguished Books Award
There was also a brief announcement about the The Haiku Foundation Video Archive Campaign

The evening ended with Thanks and Appreciation Certificates being given to various individuals for their assistance in making the Inaugural National Haiku Poetry Day event a success.

—Cliff Roberts

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Los Angeles (Debbie Kolodji, Coordinator)
Site: Bean Town Coffee Bar
Address: 45 North Baldwin Avenue, Sierra Madre, CA
Date: April 17, 2012
Time: 7:30 PM
Further Information: Deborah P Kolodji dkolodji@aol.com
Report: On April 17, 2012, the Haiku Foundation sponsored readings across the country in honor ofNational Haiku Poetry Day. There were readings in Atlanta, Baltimore, Bangor, Boston, Dubuque & Mineral Point, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Princeton, San Francisco, Seattle, Shreveport, State College, Washington, DC, Winston-Salem. The Los Angeles event took place in Sierra Madre at Bean Town Coffee Bar, 45 N. Baldwin Ave, starting at 7:30 p.m. The Haiku Open Mic was also an event of the San Gabriel Valley Poetry Festival.

The reading was well attended, with about 24 people in the audience. Some additional Bean Town customers also stayed and listened for awhile. Musicians, Chris Wesley on guitar and Rick Wilson on xiao and shakuhachi, played during the entire reading, enhancing the audience’s enjoyment of the haiku being read. Deborah P Kolodji was the emcee.

Since the event was sponsored by the Haiku Foundation, we were privileged to be able to announce the winners of the HaikuNow! haiku contest and the Touchstone Awards at the reading. Sharon Hawley announced the HaikuNow! winners and read the winning haiku in the Traditional Category, which was judged by Jane Hirshfield. Mary Torregrossa announced the HaikuNow! winners and read the winning haiku in the Contemporary Category, which was judged by Jim Kacian. Chris Wesley read and announced the winners in the Innovative Category, also judged by Jim Kacian. Samantha Henderson announced the Touchstone Awards and read the winning haiku.  The contest announcements and readings of winning haiku were interwoven between the open mic readers.

Open Mic readers included Deborah P Kolodji, Greg Longenecker, Peggy Castro, Kathabela Wilson, William Hart, Kimberly Esser, Amir Sapir, Kimberly Cobián, Lisa Verlo, Eric Lawson, Marie Lecrivain, James Won, Steve Hardy, and Mark. Mary Torregrossa and Jie Tian read haiku by Basho, Buson, and Issa, as translated by Robert Hass in The Essential Haiku. Christine also read a haiku from The Essential Haiku, in both Japanese and English. Kimberly Cobián read a haiku she had written in Romani, as well as its English translation. Deborah P Kolodji finished up the evening by reading some haiku by Haiku Foundation president, Jim Kacian, as well as a haiku by Jack Kerouac.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

—Deborah P. Kolodji

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Minneapolis (Marjorie Buettner, Coordinator)
Site: Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts
Address: 6666 East River Road, Fridley, MN 55431
Date: April 17, 2012
Time: 7:00 PM
contact: mbuettner@juno.com or the Library 763-574-1850
Report: April 17th at Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts in Minneapolis, MN.

There were 12 readers from various parts of Minnesota, 6 of which were
HSA members: (Marsh Muirhead (Bemidji), Lucas Stensland (New York, NY),
Christina Nguyen (Hugo), PMF Johnson (St. Paul), Donald Skrivseth
(Minneapolis) and Marjorie Buettner (Chisago City). We had music from Gary Lee Joyner (St. Paul) and refreshments served by Marjorie Buettner’s daughters. Banfill-Locke is a wonderful center for all arts: photography, painting, and poetry. They were very open to the possibility of establishing a meeting place for potential HSA members to gather once a month; the group is working on that. Marjorie Buettner displayed new photo-haiga cards in the BLCA gift shop. She and Michael Wetteland (photographer) have collaborated for a year now.  The other readers were: Timothy Young (St. Paul), Larry Gavin (Faribault), Edward Dallas Deerwood), John Thornberg (Chisago City), Diana Xia (Mounds View) and Sandra Rector (St. Paul).

—Marjorie Buettner

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New Orleans: (David Lanoue, Coordinator)
Site: Latter Library
Address: 5120 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans LA
Date: April 17, 2012
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Further Information: David Lanoue 504-861-1430
Report: In New Orleans we had a small, loyal turnout of only 9 local haiku poets–an intimate but fun reading, which I filmed and will send you once I can show it to the others to get my editing approved.

We advertised in the Library with the big poster and we were in the newspaper, including NOLA.com: the website for what’s going on in the city. One drawback was the fact it was a Tuesday night. Two of our members who live in Baton Rouge can come only on the weekend. A few other non-haiku club members might also show on a Saturday or Sunday–as was the case when Tadashi Kondo gave his workshop at the Library last month. But I realize 4/17 is a set date, so nothing can be done about that.

Our event was small but, as you’ll see on the film, very good and entertaining! From small beginnings, great things . . .

—David Lanoue

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New York (Brenda Gannam, Coordinator)
Site: Tenri Cultural Institute
Address: 43A West 13th Street, New York, NY 10011 (between 5th/6th Avenues)
Date: April 17, 2012
Time: 6:00-8:30 PM
Contact Information: gannamconsulting@earthlink.net or (917) 348-0709
Report: First Annual National Haiku Poetry Day — New York
Tuesday, April 17, 2012, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.

New York’s first annual National Haiku Poetry Day was celebrated in springtime style at Tenri Cultural Institute on 13th Street in Manhattan, with haiku poets Brenda J. Gannam and William F. Cullen Jr. hosting.

The celebration was attended by 14 haiku poets and guests, including Scott Mason, Mary Ellen Rooney, Karen Neuberg, Tony Pupello, Miriam Borne, Rita Gray, Albert Solomon, Jay Friedenberg, Miriam Chaikin, Popo Tsukino, RaNae Merrill, Dan Kaslow, and Philip Foster.

Our evening began with a 45-minute cocktail, during which guests chatted with each other and enjoyed the spread of delicious food and drink.

The highlight of the evening was a special presentation entitled Haiku and the City or From Leaves of Grass to the Blab of the Pave by our “mystery guest,” Scott Mason. Invoking Walt Whitman to launch his haiku retrospective, Scott took us on a 19-stop peregrination of New York City, showcasing haiku at each stopping point along the way. The featured haiku were written in large part by well-known haiku poets from New York and the surrounding area, a number of whom are no longer in New York or who have passed on to happier haiku hunting grounds.

Following Scott’s presentation, guests submitted haiku to a contest judged by Bill Cullen. Third, second, and first prizes were awarded to Miriam Borne, Tony Pupello, and Popo Tsukino, respectively, for their haiku:

midnight
in a window across the way
the cat vanishes
– Miriam Borne

another day sober
the fog’s slow burn
off the river
– Tony Pupello

wondering
where you end
and where cherry blossoms begin
– Popo Tsukino

Following the contest, guests voted Miriam Borne as the winner of “best costume reflecting a haiku theme”. Miriam was dressed as a beautiful cherry blossom in full bloom – which added its own “haiku moment” to the festivities.

To close the evening, guests were invited to read a handful of their own haiku, after which each guest entered one haiku on a handmade paper scroll embedded with rose petals – to be displayed at future haiku events. Guests also received haiku journals as takeaways and one lucky guest was awarded a door prize.

Our special thanks go out to Scott Mason for so graciously accepting to prepare and present Haiku and the City and for providing free copies of Sharing the Sun, the anthology that he edited in 2010 for the HSA. Our thanks also go to Rita Grey for assisting with publicity, to Jay Friedenberg and Popo Tsukino for their photos (which accompany this report), to Miriam Borne for assistance with several crucial planning tasks, and to Tenri Cultural Institute for arranging the time and space for us to hold this event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

—Brenda Gannam and Bill Cullen

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Princeton (Mark Harris, Coordinator)
Site: Maclean House
Address: Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08542
Date: April 17, 2012
Time: 7:00 PM
Contact Information: marksirrah@gmail.com

Report: The National Haiku Poetry Day celebration in Princeton began at 7:00 and continued until 10:30. Thirty five people attended. Several poets came prepared to read their haiku. Also in attendance were people only slightly familiar with haiku in English. They came to hear the reading, and were good listeners, which was refreshing and fun for the poets. The evening began in the dining room of Maclean House, where we enjoyed conversation over food, wine and beer. We then took our seats in the reading room. Some highlights of the presentation:

A brief introduction to the history and practice of haiku in English.

An introduction to The Haiku Foundation. A summary of THF’s current and future projects.

The winners and award recipients of the HaikuNow! Contests and the Touchstone Awards announced and read aloud.

Individual poets each read five haiku. The youngest was Finn Mahon, 9 years old, who recited his haiku in English, and then in Japanese.

One particularly wonderful moment: Michael Brill, a last minute attendee, sat in the front row in his jacket and tie. He is not a member of any haiku society or club. He had not come to read, and was not prepared. Even so, when asked, he stood up and said, “Why yes, I think I will.” In a shaky voice he recited a haiku, one he had written prior to his mother’s wake several years ago. It was an electric moment—he was visibly galvanized. Afterward he kept repeating, “I didn’t know I had it in me. I didn’t know I had it in me.”

Jim Kacian read from where i leave off and shared his thoughts on one-line haiku that employ effects such as “one line-one thought”, “speedrush” and “multi-stops”.

After the reading, everyone returned to the dining room for more conversation and refreshments.

Plans are in the works for next year’s Princeton NHPD celebration.

—Mark Harris

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San Francisco (Patrick Gallagher, Coordinator)
Site: The Beat Museum
Address: 540 Broadway (near Columbus), San Francisco CA
Date: April 19, 2012
Time: 7:00 – 9:00 PM
Contact Information: patrick3d@me.com
Program: Celebrating Haiku and the Beats; San Francisco Haiku; Invited readers; Open readings – bring 5 haiku if you like.
Organizers: Patrick Gallagher, Eve Luckring, Garry Gay
Report: Our celebration was enjoyed by all, the post-event smiles and comments indicate. Jerry Cimino, manager of the Beat Museum where we met, gave a nice introduction to the history of the Beats and the Museum and read a small piece on haiku by Kerouac. It was a nice homey place to have the event. We started on time with an audience of 14 and half-way through were joined by an eighth-grade class studying haiku and that added interest and energy.

I spoke of NHPD and the Foundation, and gave a pitch for indiegogo.com sponsorship of the video project. Then I talked for a few minutes on the Beats and haiku, and played the Haiku Chronicles episode with Cor and a recording of Ginsberg lecturing on Blyth. Garry Gay told the short interesting story of how he and others went from informal readings to HPNC. Garry, Fay Aoyagi, and Carolyn Hall gave excellent readings. Carolyn gave heartfelt testimony on how much the art of haiku and the haiku community have meant to her. The up-to-five poems read by the audience were also of high standard. I read five of Claire’s poems from The Nether World. We followed the program with informal conversations with the students.

All the visitors were new to the Museum which pleased the manager.

Thanks to you Jim for a great idea and follow-through to get NHPD on and moving down the tracks in great style.

—Patrick Gallagher

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Seattle (Tracy Koretsky, Coordinator)
Site: Capital Hill Branch of the Seattle Public Library
Address: 425 Harvard Ave. E. Seattle, WA 98102 206-684-4715, meeting room
Date: April 17, 2012
Time: 4:00 – 7:00 PM
Contact Information: garciadianne@hotmail.com
Report: In Seattle, twenty-two participants ranging from complete newcomers to well-accepted experts gathered to celebrate the first annual Haiku Poetry Day with an “Instant Sketch Session.”

The three-hour program, held at the Capitol Hill Branch of the Seattle Public Library, was arranged into a series of nine exercises pertaining to the following aspects of haiku: theme, tone, focus, voice, season, and juxtaposition. After each concept was introduced, participants were challenged to make sketches based on haiku presented live by their authors.

These sketches were called “instant” because only two to four minutes were allowed for each piece. This forced participants to respond spontaneously, uncritically and, on occasion, from their subconscious. The atmosphere was highly experimental and all agreed this was a new way to engage with haiku.

The readers for this event were: Dianne Garcia, Christopher Herold, Connie Hutchison, Dejah Léger, Carole Macrury, Tanya McDonald, Carmi Soifer, Angela Terry, Richard Tice, and Ruth Yarrow. Michael Dylan Welch was not able to attend due to illness, but his poems were read in his absence. There was also a brief open mic section.

Special recognition was given to those readers whose years of service have made Seattle one of the most vital haiku communities in our nation. Acknowledgment was made too, of the several readers whose scholarship and expertise have manifested in journals, monographs and anthologies. The Haiku Foundation was also repeatedly mentioned, and its recent award recipients publicly displayed.

Based on responses to feedback forms emailed to participants the next day, people new to haiku got the most out of the exercise on “season,” while the more experienced poets found the section on “voice” to be the most intriguing. There was strong consensus that the exploration of “specificity vs. universality” (part of the “theme” exercise) was the quite productive, perhaps because it related closely to drawing. Several participants remarked that the program would influence the way they write and think about haiku in the future.

The program was conceived and conducted by Tracy Koretsky. Co-coordinator Dianne was crucial to its success.

—Tracy Koretsky

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Shreveport (Carlos Colón, Coordinator)
Site: Broadmoor Branch, Shreve Memorial Library Large Meeting Room
Address: 1212 Captain Shreve Drive, Shreveport, LA 71105
Date: April 17, 2012
Time: 6:30 – 8:00 PM
Further Information: ccolon423@comcast.net or 318-868-8932 or 318-678-3889
Report: National Haiku Poetry Day 2012 in Shreveport, Louisiana

Seventeen people attended the National Haiku Poetry Day 2012 celebration, which was held at the Shreve Memorial Library Broadmoor Branch on April 17.  First, there were greetings from the Wanda Cook and the Haiku Poets’ Society of Western Massachusetts and from Cliff Roberts of the Fort Worth [Texas] Haiku Society.  Carlos Colón read a haiku that Cliff sent with his greetings:

haiku day
a butterfly’s shadow
flits through mine

Cliff T. Roberts

Then, Carlos announced the 2012 HaikuNow! International Haiku Contest award winners with special emphasis on a Commended poem in the Traditional Category by one of the attendees:

the moment between
waking and remembering
a widow’s first morn

June Rose Dowis

Next, there was a reading by members of the Northwest Louisiana Haiku Society: Carlos, June, Nan Dozier, and Theresa Mormino. Nan read “Family Traditions,” a haiku sequence, and “November Sun,” a haibun.  Then, Carlos read two 5/7/5 haiku by Robert Major from The Haiku Foundation website:

in the summer heat
the jar of freight cars bumping
down and up the line

silent Friends meeting
the sound of chairs being moved
to enlarge the circle

After a short coffee and snack break and the announcement of the 2011 Touchstone Awards, there was an open reading, which included two poems from the Shreveport Regional Arts Council’s “Highway Haiku” project:

wake to rain
cratering road dust
last night    stars

Nadine Charity

Salt-rimed sea
Moonrise a Margarita
Bottoms-up

Ashley Mace Havird

Laura Flett talked about her creation of 35 haiku cookies, which are haiku burned into three-inch slices of tree trunk.  She brought along a sample cookie, which had the poem:

bird sanctuary
for those
wishing to sing

Laura Flett

Laura also displayed her cookies on “Artist Sunday” at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church.

Others participating in the open reading were: Dave Hicks, “Dark,” Deborah Hoffman, and David Luurtsema.  David improvised a rhymed haiku.

Laura Flett won the door prize, a copy of Nothing Inside, a mini-chapbook renku by Alexis Rotella and Colón (proof press, 1996).  In addition, there was a table with chapbooks for sale by Nan Dozier and Carlos Colón.

—Carlos Colón

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State College (Anne Burgevin, Coordinator)
Site: Schlow Library
Address: Community Room
Date: April 18, 2012
Time: 7:00 – 9:00 PM
Further Information: Anne Burgevin at (814) 235-6362 or anneatpeace@yahoo.com
Report:

The Seven Mountains Haiku Club of Central Pennsylvania had its inaugural meeting the day after National Haiku Day at Schlow Public Library in State College, Pennsylvania. During the two preceding weeks several local newspapers had run articles about the newly forming haiku club and so news of Seven Mountains Haiku Club had reached the far corners of central Pennsylvania. Schlow Public Library sponsored the event and did a wonderful job both advertising the club’s first meeting as well as hosting it.

Nine people attended the meeting. The club’s leader, Anne Burgevin, began the evening by telling the story of Basho’s life. To help enliven the story she brought in a beautifully potted banana plant and set it in the middle of the room so as to draw attention to it and create a bit of suspense and wonderment. (It was her hope that some children would attend.) After the story telling everyone was encouraged to introduce themselves and share a haiku or two that they had brought. Almost everyone had a haiku to read. Many of the participants were eager to share and hear feedback about their writing.

One of the participants decided to write a haiku about the banana plant and succeeded in writing the first two lines, with several alternate third lines. When it came time to introduce himself he also invited everyone to think of a third line to complete his haiku.

As we read and listened to one another’s haiku we also had opportunities to define haiku, discuss its beauty and the challenges people have writing it. Before the evening ended one of the participants suggested that Anne send out a few prompts for next month’s meeting. She decided to send out prompts that began with the first letter of everyone’s first name, like apricot for Anne, etc.

The haiku club will be meeting on the third Wednesday of every month at Schlow Library in State College, PA, from 7-8:30 pm. Please join us if you are in the area.

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Washington DC (Lee Giesecke, Coordinator)
Site: Woodrow Wilson Library
Address: (near Bailey’s Crossroads in Fairfax County, VA)
Date: April 17, 2012
Time: 6:45 PM
Contact Information: lee.giesecke@worldnet.att.net
Report: The DC area nhpd hosted seven people from Towpath Haiku Society and three others. All of the Towpath members read two rounds of poems. What with lots of comments the program took a
little over an hour.

It was good to hear from the readers those poems that they particularly valued.

—Lee Giesecke

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Winston-Salem (Robert Moyer, Coordinator)
Site: Inter_Section Gallery
Address: 629 North Trade Street
Date: April 17, 2012
Time: 7:00 – 8:00 PM
Contact Information: Robert Moyer (336) 817-1248
Report: A spirited crowd attended the one hour reading held at Inter_Section Gallery featuring an art exhibit curated from the collection of Robert Moyer who hosted the event.  In attendance was Dave Russo, Haiku Foundation board member. Included in the proceedings was a brief history of haiku and the Haiku Foundation and a reading of the HN and Touchstone winners.  Readers shared their own work or favorite selections; David Russo read from Montage.

And Cabernet Sauvignon was matched with White Castle sliders in the midst of art by Howard Finster and others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

—Robert Moyer

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Check this page for updated reports about National Haiku Poetry Day 2012, as well as plans for 2013.