Open Haiku Mic at Bean Town for National Haiku Poetry Day

On April 17, 2012, the Haiku Foundation sponsored readings across the country in honor of National 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 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.

National Haiku Poetry Day

Let's have a great turn out for our Haiku Open Mic, Tuesday, April 17th at the Bean Town Coffee Bar, 45 N. Baldwin Avenue, in Sierra Madre!

This event is being sponsored by the Haiku Foundation in honor of National Haiku Poetry Day. It is also a participating event for the San Gabriel Valley Poetry Festival, in honor of National Poetry Month.

March 17, 2012 Workshop

Greg Longenecker, Amir Sapir, Susan Rogers, Kimberly Esser,
Marcia Behar, Genie Nakano, Michael Rehling, Deborah P Kolodji

It was a rainy, cold California day, much colder than Michigan, where our unexpected guest, Michael Rehling hails from. After a read-around of haiku by the eight poets present, we held a kukai based upon a selection of 22 haiku from the March 2012 issue of The Heron's Nest. These haiku were read anonymously, each author revealed after the vote.

Although the editor's choices for the issue received votes from our members, the winning haiku from our kukai was "catch and release" by Jim Kacian. One poet had never fished and didn't realize the poem was about fly fishing, instead envisioning a person catching and releasing moths. We were all delighted to realize the poem worked for that situation, too. One of the wonderful things about haiku is that a haiku can become a dialog between the poet and the reader. The white space in the poem is filled in from the reader's own experiences.

After the kukai, we discussed why we voted for the poems, their strengths and weaknesses. This was followed by an anonymous haiku workshop conducted by Deborah P. Kolodji.

Poets present were Marcia Behar, Amir Sapir, Greg Longenecker, Kimberly Esser, Genie Nakano, Susan Rogers, Deborah P Kolodji, and Michael Rehling. Afterwards, we gathered at Tender Greens for dinner.

February 18, 2012 Workshop

Greg Longenecker and Naia

Naia was the featured reader for the February meeting at the Pacific Asia Museum. She read for 20 minutes from a selection of her haiku. Naia’s performance was carefully crafted to flow from season to season, starting each section with a haibun, followed by a grouping of haiku appropriate for the season, ending each season with a selection of her haiga.

Gregory J. Longenecker presented a program on Basho: His Life and Haiku for about 45 minutes. He prepared a handout which included a timeline of Basho’s life and a selection of his haiku, arranged by date. He asked attendees to read either an entry from the timeline or one of Basho’s haiku, and then Greg expanded on the timeline entries and discussed each haiku in the context of Basho’s life.

The meeting also included a read-around of haiku, including some haiku from the following books: in pine shade (the 2011 HSA anthology), carving darkness (the 2011 red moon anthology), The Complete Basho by Jane Reichhold, The Master Haiku Poet Matsuo Basho by Makoto Ueda, The River of Heaven by Robert Aitken, bottle rockets: the café issue, and Basho’s Journey translated by David Landis Barnhill.

The following people attended: Greg Longenecker, Naia, Debbie Kolodji, Phyllis Collins, D’Ellen Hutchens, Elva Lauter, Marcy Del Clements, Ashley Baldon, Billie Dee, Don Baird, Adam Marshall, Robert Fluom, Marcia Behar, Genie Nakano, James Won, Amir Sapir, Liz Goetz, Keiko Amano, Susan Rogers, Wendy Wright and Kathabela Wilson.

The Southern California Haiku Study Group will be meeting today at the Pacific Asia Museum.



Naia will be our featured reader. Naia is the California Regional Coordinator for the Haiku Society of America and long-time member of the Southern California Haiku Study Group. Her work has appeared in haijinx, Modern Haiku, frogpond, The Heron's Nest, LYNX, Acorn, SxSE, Redmoon Anthologies, Contemporary Haibun Online, Simply Haiku, Ribbons, Yuki Teikei Anthologies, Haiku Headlines, Tidepools, Other Voices International Project Volume 20, Tempes Libre, the HNA 2009 Anthology Into Our Words, Words & Pictures, Southern CA Haiku Study Group Anthologies, Amaze: The Cinquain Journal, WHCReview, Cordite Poetry Review, HSA Anthologies, American Haibun & Haiga Volume 3 (2002), Hermitage 2005 and Hermitage 2006, 2001 Basho Festival Anthology (Japan), 2001 Shiki Anthology by the Ehime Culture Foundation in Japan, Southern California Haiku Study Group Anthologies, and "Raku Teapot: Haiku" a Book/CD compilation of poets' haiku recorded in their own voices.


Greg Longenecker will be presenting a program, "Basho, His Life and Haiku". Long interested in haiku, Greg first began writing his own haiku in the mid-1990's. This led to a greater study of haiku in order to improve his writing. Joining the Haiku Society of America in the early 1999 and, later, the Southern California Haiku Study Group, he began publishing haiku in 2002. Basho, of course, has always been of interest to him. Greg's work has appeared in Frogpond, Acorn, Mariposa, Geppo, and various Haiku Society of America, Yuki Teikei, and Southern California Haiku Study Group anthologies.





Bring a haiku to share. The meeting starts at 2 pm. The museum is located at 46 N. Los Robles, Pasadena.

January 28, 2012 - Haiku Desert Walk - Coachella Valley Preserve

back (l to r): Greg Longenecker, Marcyn del Clements, Sean Kolodji, Deborah P Kolodji, Billie Dee, Consuelo Marshall, Brosnan Rhodes, Jie Tian, An Xiao, Ashley Baldon, Patrick Gallagher, Joann Frey

front (l to r): Peggy Castro, Cindy Rinne, Ruth Nolan, Olga Garcia, Julie Brossy

not shown: Genie Nakano, Susan Rogers, Wendy Wright

Ruth Nolan and Deborah P Kolodji led a haiku walk on January 28, 2012 at the Coachella Valley Preserve.

It was a lovely day for a walk - the sky was blue, the Gambel's quail were plentiful, and cactus wrens sang in raspy voices from the tops of fan palms. We walked from the visitor's center in the Thousand Palm Oasis, one of the largest groves of desert fan palms (Washingtonia filifera) in California to the McCallum Oasis, crossing the San Andreas earthquake fault and a desert wash during our two mile adventure.

We saw smoke trees, dye weed, indigo bush, cattle spinach, alkali goldenbush, sandpaper plant, palo verde, creosote, honey mesquite, and an octotillo in bloom. We also saw a black phoebe and a Northern Flicker, among other birds.

Some fabulous haiku was written by the 20 people who travelled to the Coachella Valley from a wide variety of places, ranging from the border of Mexico to San Francisco!

Upcoming Events: January-February 2012

January 21, 2012 - Workshop at the Pacific Asia Museum

Meeting starts at 2:00 p.m. Newcomers are welcome! The Pacific Asia Museum is located at 46 N. Los Robles, Pasadena, and is only a few blocks walk from the Gold line station. Bring a season word from the current season with you.

January 28, 2012 - Haiku Walk (Ginko) at the Coachella Valley Preserve

Our winter desert haiku walk and workshop will be held 10-3 pm, at the Coachella Valley Preserve. The preserve is adjacent to Palm Desert, CA.

Please note this is a change from the original workshop location. The Coachella Valley Preserve is about a 2 hour drive from Los Angeles area, located near Interstate 10 near Palm Desert. Admission is free. No dogs or pets allowed.

We will meet at the Coachella Valley Preserve Visitor Center/Main Entrance, which is located at 29200 Thousand Palms Canyon Rd, Thousand Palms, CA 92276. Directions are posted at the end of this email.

The walk is an easy, 2-mile round trip suitable for all levels of walkers/hikers.

The workshop will be led by Debbie Kolodji & Ruth Nolan, who also led the very successful & enjoyable 2010 haiku desert workshop at Indian Canyons in Palm Springs. We'll take a walk and learn about the area from Ruth Nolan, desert native & scholar, and generate haiku during and after the walk.

Participants should bring their own lunch, plenty of water, drinks, snacks, hat & sunscreen, and light jacket. Note: there are no food/drink facilities at the preserve. It's also advisable to bring additional winter weather gear in case the weather is chilly, as needed (warmer jacket, gloves, cap). Wear walking or hiking shoes. Bring your own writing materials.

Directions:
1. Take Interstate 10 EAST out of the L.A. Basin, towards Palm Sprints.

2. Stay on I-10 and Go PAST the "Palm Springs" exit (do NOT take the palm Springs exit)......you will continue past the windmills, and past several freeway exits, and continue east for another 15-20 minutes along the freeway.

3. Take MONTEREY AVENUE exit off the freeway. Go LEFT on Monterey Avenue, and back over the freeway. Continue until you reach RAMON Road.

4. Go RIGHT on Ramon Road. Continue for approximately 5-10 minutes, heading out into open desert, until you reach THOUSAND PALMS ROAD. Be sure to keep a careful lookout of Thousand Palms Road; it comes up on the left-hand side of the road.

5. Go LEFT on Thousand Palms Road (note: Thousand Palms Road ONLY goes left.)

6. Drive several minutes on this road.....it goes past one big palm tree oasis on the left side of the road and you may see a few cars pulled off at the small dirt area here, but continue to drive. Thousand Palms Road gets a bit curved here, so be careful on this part of the road, as some people drive really fast through here.

7. You will very soon see a sign for "COACHELLA VALLEY PRESERVE-THOUSAND PALMS OASIS" and this will be the MAIN VISITOR CENTER area. Turn LEFT into the dirt parking lot. Find a parking spot and then join us at the visitor center.

8. Call RUTH NOLAN IF you get lost and/or need help finding our location. 760-964-9767

9. Call DEBBIE KOLODJI before the event if you would like to carpool from the Los Angeles area. 626-201-2151

Coachella Valley Preserve Main Entrance-Visitor Center
29200 Thousand Palms Canyon Rd, Thousand Palms, CA 92276
http://coachellavalleypreserve.org/

February 18, 2012 - Workshop at the Pacific Asia Museum

Meeting starts at 2:00 p.m. Newcomers are welcome! The Pacific Asia Museum is located at 46 N. Los Robles, Pasadena, and is only a few blocks walk from the Gold line station. Program: Greg Longenecker will do a program on Basho. Naia will be the featured reader.