Seabeck Haiku Getaway 2019 Schedule

What a great schedule we have for you at the 2019 Seabeck Haiku Getaway! Our weekend theme is “attention,” and our featured guest is Adam L. Kern, with Ion Codrescu as our special guest from Romania. We are also thrilled to announce the launch of the Seabeck Haiku Walk, a series of twenty metal plaques featuring poems by Haiku Northwest members permanently installed around the Seabeck Conference Center grounds. Other events include writing workshops, anonymous critique sessions, readings, presentations, haiku writing time, and more—such as our slightly demented talent show! Write Now sessions are brief haiku writing exercises, and we’ll have a lot of them this weekend, so be prepared to write spontaneously. All events take place in the Meeting House unless indicated otherwise. Fall colors should be vibrant, too! If you have silent auction or book fair items to set up, you can do so at any time in the Meeting House. Please also prepare a haiku handout or trifold to share with about 65 attendees (optional). The following schedule is subject to minor adjustments. See you at Seabeck!
On display all weekend at the Meeting House:
  • “Haiga Adventure” haiga mobiles and sumi-e by Fumiko Kimura and other members of the Haiga Adventure Study Group of Puget Sound Sumi Artists, coordinated by Dorothy Matthews
  • “Haiga Brush Strokes” display by Ion Codrescu, from Constanta, Romania
  • “Textured Visions: Hybrid Prints from Etching Press” by Sheila Sondik

Thursday, October 24, 2019

4:00 pm               Check-in starts at the Historic Inn (see the Seabeck campus map)
                              Before or after check-in, socialize in the lobby of the Historic Inn (dining hall)
                              or explore the woods, historic cemetery, lagoon, antique shop, dock, and beachfront
4:00–6:00 pm     Informal weathergram workshop at the Historic Inn lobby, led by Barbara Snow
                              (please make weathergrams and hang them around the Seabeck campus)
6:00–6:45 pm     Dinner at the dining hall (all meals here)
7:00 pm               Welcome, introductions, round of haiku reading (with video recording by Gary Evans),
                             led by Michael Dylan Welch
7:30 pm               Common Ground (icebreaker), led by Michael Dylan Welch
8:00 pm              “A Brisk Waddle through The Penguin Book of Haiku” reading by Adam L. Kern

Kern says in his book that it’s an attempt to “reclaim those lowbrow elements that, while reappearing in much contemporary haiku in and out of Japan, have too long been denigrated or expurgated by traditionalist accounts of modern haiku.” Jeremy Noel-Tod, writing in The Times (London), said, “Adam L. Kern's authoritative new anthology challenges the myth of haiku as a monkish meditation on the natural world . . . What we get is a cultural history of Japan up to the end of the 19th century condensed into verse. . . . This feast-like anthology reminds us that poets excelled at social media long before the ‘floating world’ of the internet.” We’ll have an overview of how this new book broadens the range and understanding of haiku poetry as we know it. Grit, wit, and wordplay!

8:20 pm               Write Now: “Magical Mystery Prompt” by Michael Dylan Welch
8:30 pm               Break
8:35 pm               “Haiku Battle: Comparing Western Haiku Animation and Japanese Haiku Anime”
                             by Michael Dylan Welch

Wait, what? There’s a difference between anime and animation? We’ll jump into the differences and discuss two examples that also showcase haiku. This discussion is a prelude to other presentations planned for the weekend.

9:05 pm               Break
9:10 pm               Write Now: “The Digital Sea” by Jacob Salzer
9:20 pm               Renkurama (writing time)
9:40 pm               Late-Night Anonymous Workshop

Friday, October 25, 2019

8:00–8:45 am     Breakfast
9:00 am               Write Now: “The Last Meal You Ate” by Jim Rodriguez
9:10 am               “Comic Relief: The Intersection of Comics and Haiku” activity and discussion
                             led by Michael Dylan Welch, with random interjections by Adam L. Kern

What do the funny pages have to do with haiku? We’ll take a look and spot the similarities in this open-ended discussion activity (sample comics pages provided), and explore connections to manga and Japanese artistic traditions.

9:55 am               Break
10:00 am             “Comixing Cultures East and West: The Shocking Transnational Affair
                             of Japanese Manga and Euroamerican Comics” presentation by Adam L. Kern

To understand by way of analogy how the haiku was really a Japanese response to Western poetry, Kern argues that the invention of the modern Japanese manga (comic books and graphic novels) resulted from the intermingling of Japanese woodblock printed comics and Western editorial cartoons.

10:50 am             Break
11:00 am             “From Homer to #hashtags: Our Changing Language” presentation by Christine Hemp
                             (sponsored by the Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau)

Language is undergoing an unprecedented shift, thanks to the digital age. Emojis, tweets, and hashtags are transforming how we write and converse. Some might argue that language has been diminished, but just as Homer’s epic Odyssey made sense of ancient Greece, a tweet can distill a feeling, a thought, or an idea. Poet Christine Hemp, from Port Townsend, Washington, explores these new forms of communication, connecting them with the language of the past. How do changes in language affect the way we think and feel about our world, our history, and ourselves? And perhaps about haiku? Christine Hemp is a published poet, essayist, and art critic. She received her BA in humanities from Willamette University and an MA in English from Middlebury College. Hemp is the recipient of a Washington State Artist Trust Fellowship for Literature and currently teaches poetry and nonfiction at Hugo House in Seattle.

12:00 noon          Lunch
1:00 pm               Readings — at the Cathedral in the Woods (unless it’s raining)

  1. “Saying Goodbye” by Marco Fraticelli (10 minutes)
  2. “The Alchemy of Tea” by Pat Benedict (10 minutes)
  3. “Rough Cut” senryu by William Scott Galasso (10 minutes)
  4. “New Resonance” by Jacquie Pearce and Angela Terry (10 minutes)
  5. “By the Mountain Trail” by Ion Codrescu (15 minutes)
1:55 pm               Break (walk back to the Meeting House)
2:00 pm              Write Now: “Toy Stories” by Lynne Jambor
2:10 pm               Break
2:15 pm             “Snap to Haiku” postcard workshop, led by kjmunro

This writing workshop addresses how we as haiku poets pay attention to our surroundings in order to write haiku. You’ll be encouraged to think about your senses, trust your own voice and imagination, and to write based on suggestions from your immediate environment, your memories, and visual postcard prompts. If time allows, be open to sharing the work you produce.

3:00 pm              Coffee and Tea Break
3:10 pm              Write Now: “All the News That Fits” by Jacquie Pearce
3:20 pm              Craft Activities (do-it-yourself collage haiga)
                            Craft supplies provided. Please share your creations on the noticeboard and tables at the back of the room.
3:50 pm              Write Now: “The Sound of Silence” by Crystal Simone Smith
4:00 pm              Anonymous Workshop, led by Terry Ann Carter and Marco Fraticelli
4:55 pm              Break
5:05 pm               “Sado Island: My Renku Journey in Japan” presentation by Ion Codrescu

A walk through a half-kasen renku written more than twenty years ago on a visit to Japan, exploring the theory and sociality of collaborative writing.

5:35 pm              Break
5:40 pm             “English-Language Haiku Poets Are Missing Out on All the Fun: Sociality in Haiku” presentation by Richard Tice

Writing haiku in the West has long been a solitary and oftentimes lonely practice. However, for hundreds of years in Japan until the late 1800s haiku and haikai were a product of interactive composition and social interaction.

6:10 pm               Break
6:15 pm              “Remembering Mary Fran Meer” memorial led by Connie Hutchison, with memorial weathergrams created by Barbara Snow
6:30–7:15 pm     Dinner
7:30 pm              Write Now: “Paying Attention to Light: A Homage to Lawrence Ferlinghetti” by Terry Ann Carter (with music)
7:45 pm              “My Chinese Literati Art Journey” presentation by Sheila Sondik

An art history class launched Sheila’s exploration of Chinese and Japanese art forms. Chuckanut sandstone, Australian gum trees, and a vigorous patch of butterbur (fuki) make cameo appearances in this densely illustrated lecture.

8:10 pm              Break
8:15 pm              “The Library Cave and the Silk Road’s Dunhuang Cave Temples” presentation by David Berger

A stupendous archeological find in China’s Taklamakan desert in the early 1900s—the Library Cave—introduced the world to more than 40,000 works on paper and silk and changed understandings of Buddhist culture, literature, and the Silk Road. This presentation includes pictures of the Dunhuang Cave Temples (of which the Library Cave is one) and perspectives on the Silk Road, yesterday and today.

9:00 pm              Break
9:10 pm              Time for Rengay / Renkurama
10:00 pm            Late Night Haiku Videos

Saturday, October 26, 2019

8:00–8:45 am     Breakfast
9:00 am               Welcome / Round of Introductions, led by Angela Terry
9:25 am               “Matsuo Bashō and Pieter Brueghel: Two Approaches to Nature” presentation by Ion Codrescu

An examination of the convergence of artistic expression—learning from nature—in the poems and artwork of Bashō and Brueghel, and how we can adapt these convergences in deepening our attention to haiku.

10:10 am             Break
10:20 am             “Emperor Dolls and Samurai Helmets” display by Michael Dylan Welch

Display of Girl’s Day emperor dolls and a Boy’s Day samurai helmet (you can help with setup during the preceding break), plus a brief introduction.

10:25 am             “Girl’s Day and Boy’s Day Haiku” presentation by Richard Tice

When is Children’s Day in the United States, Canada, and other countries? In Japan, Children’s Day has long been observed as two holidays, March 3 for girls and May 5 for boys, and has inspired haiku for centuries.

10:55 am             Break
11:00 am             “Giving Attention to Haiku in Mary Oliver’s Poetry” presentation by Michael Dylan Welch

Mary Oliver has been called the poet of attention—especially an attention to nature. This presentation explores how her poetry can teach haiku poets, and how our close attention to experience and emotion can help us live our wild and precious lives.

11:45 am             Social Time
12:00 noon          Lunch
1:00 pm               Write Now: “The Fedora in the Room” by Margaret Chula
1:10 pm               “Haiku vs. Senryū: How to Tell the Difference—And Why It Doesn’t Matter!” presentation by Adam L. Kern

Kern explores the perennial debate about where to draw the line between these two forms by interjecting a larger, historical perspective. We won’t have any fireworks or heated debate, will we?

2:00 pm               Break
2:05 pm               2019 Porad Haiku Award Winners announced by contest coordinator Ron Swanson,
                             judged by Tom Painting (not present), with flute music by Jim Rodriguez
2:30 pm               Group Photo (plus individual photos and small groups)

2:40 pm               Launch of the “Seabeck Haiku Walk,” a permanent installation around the Seabeck 
                             Conference Center grounds of twenty plaques with haiku by Haiku Northwest members,
                             walk led by Angela Terry and Michael Dylan Welch (rain or shine; bring umbrellas?)

Featuring poems by Johnny Baranski, Connie Donleycott, Seren Fargo, Alice Frampton, Ida Freilinger, Christopher Herold, Connie Hutchison, Robert Major, Carole MacRury, Curtis Manley, Tanya McDonald, Francine Porad, Marilyn Sandall, Michelle Schaefer, Carmen Sterba, Angela Terry, Karma Tenzing Wangchuk, Kathleen Tice, Richard Tice, and Michael Dylan Welch

3:40 pm               Readings — at the Campfire Circle (unless it’s raining)

  1. “Shorelines: Escape vs. Escape” by Crystal Simone Smith (10 minutes)
  2. “One Leaf Detaches” by Margaret Chula (10 minutes)
  3. “Contractions” by kjmunro (10 minutes)
  4. “A Year in Poetry” by Lynne Jambor (10 minutes)
  5.  A Thousand Years (launch of haibun book) by Marco Fraticelli, with flute music by Terry Ann Carter (20 minutes)
4:40 pm               Break (prepare kukai entries)
4:50 pm               Write Now: “The Heart of a Child” by Carmen Sterba
5:00 pm               “Paying Attention” panel discussion
                             Margaret Chula, Tanya McDonald, Crystal Simone Smith, and John Stevenson, led by Michael Dylan Welch

Haiku may be said to be the art of attention. How do we “pay attention,” and what are the costs? This panel discussion explores how we can apply our attention to personal experience, to writing haiku, and to reading haiku.

6:00 pm               Kukai Entry Deadline (up to two poems per person)
6:00–6:45 pm     Dinner
7:00 pm               Kukai Voting Time (cards set up upstairs) / Silent Auction Wrap-Up
7:30 pm               Kukai Voting Deadline
7:30 pm               THE SEABECK TALENT SHOW, starring Alphonse and Gaston, our intrepid MCs
                             (Pat Benedict and Vicki McCullough, or is it the other way around?), with performances by YOU!
                             Let us know if you might have something to perform—music, dance, a poem, whatever!
9:30 pm               Late-Night Writing / Anonymous Workshop

Sunday, October 27, 2019

8:00–8:45 am     Breakfast
9:00 am               Write Now: “Haiku On My Mind” by Roy Kindelberger
9:10 am               “Dirty Sexy Haiku” by Adam L. Kern

An eye-opening examination of a major if little-acknowledged mode of haiku in its anatomically correct splendor. Should be tasteful, mostly.

9:35 am                Break
9:40 am                “Paying Attention to Achieve Successful Haiku” workshop by Crystal Simone Smith

At some point, all haiku beginners realize the way you learned to write haiku in school was dreadful at best. In fact, by now you realize haiku is hard to do well. Experienced poets write haiku daily because the practice has benefits. Writing a successful haiku, one that embodies all the elements and resonates impeccably, occurs rarely. However, if we pay attention not only to the experiences in our surroundings, but also the approaches we take to record them, successful haiku is not only possible, it’s inevitable. This session welcomes new and experienced poets.

10:20 am             Kukai Discussion and Results, led by Michael Dylan Welch
11:00 am             Break / Clean-Up
11:15 am              Renkurama Reading
11:30 am             Your reflections on the weekend, led by Michael Dylan Welch
12:00 noon          Lunch
1:00 pm               Checkout deadline
                             Optional afternoon activity to be announced

Thank you for your participation—see you next year!