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Membership includes a year's subscription to the society's journal, Frogpond (three issues yearly). In addition, members receive HSA NEWS on the fifth of each month, the annual information sheet and an annual address/email list of HSA members.
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Check out the ".haiku" column at the HSA webpage, please. Gene Myers shares tools and tips available to haiku poets.
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View our web sampler and excerpts from previous issues of Frogpond.
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The HSA appreciates your continued support and your participation in society activities. As primary supplement to the HSA website, this monthly report strives to bring you news from the Executive Committee and the Regional Chapters.
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|  In the Edo Era (1603-1807) when Bashō, Buson and Issa lived, the Shogun government in Edo (current Tokyo) closed the country for about 300 years. No Westerners were allowed to live in Japan with the exception of a handful of Dutchmen. They were confined to a tiny island called Dejima near Nagasaki. Once a year, around March, 'Kapitan' (a captain, who was the head of the Dutch Merchant Office) and his entourage were allowed to travel to Edo to meet with the Shogun. 'Oranda Wataru' (Dutchman travels) became a spring kigo. From the Dutch, my Japanese ancestors learned western-style medicine and science. 阿蘭陀も花に来にけり馬に鞍 芭蕉 oranda mo hana ni kinikeri uma ni kura Dutch come to town at cherry blossom time... a saddle on the horse Bashō "Haiku Dai-Saijiki" ("Comprehensive Haiku Saijiki"), Kadokawa Shoten, Tokyo, 2006 (Translated from the Japanese by Fay Aoyagi) A couple of months ago, I received an e-mail from Michael Smeer who lives in the Netherlands. He started a site called 'My Haiku Pond.' There is a lot of international haiku activity in social media. A bunch of young African haiku poets started the African Haiku Network. As Gene Myers wrote in his '.haiku' column (available on the Haiku Society of America website), many poets participated in NaHaWriMo in February. Though the internet is very convenient, I always find pleasure in meeting fellow poets in person. This year, I will have the chance to go to Pasadena, Portland, OR and Hot Springs, AK. As Bashō's contemporaries learned from Dutchmen in the Edo era, we can learn from each other. The Haiku Society of America's own quarterly regional meetings offer wonderful opportunities to do just that. Aren't we lucky to have so many ways to communicate? cornucopia... plum blossoms in red and white |
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For those who have not yet visited the HSA GIFT SHOP at our Cafe Press site, please drop by.
We have an assortment of T-Shirts, Ball-Caps and Coffee Mugs on sale with all the proceeds going to the HSA.
You can find the Gift Shop at
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Regional Meeting
Pasadena, California March 19, 2016
The Southern California Haiku Study Group will host the HSA Spring Regional Meeting on Saturday, March 19, 2016, from 1 to 5 pm in the auditorium of USC Pacific Asia Museum, 47 N. Los Robles, Pasadena, California.
Presenters include:
Fay Aoyagi - workshop - "Writing from You-ness"
Susan Antolin - presentation - "Haiku Aesthetics"
Genie Nakano - performance - haibun and dance
plus a few surprises
Haiku San Diego (Southern California) February 14, 2016, Haiku San Diego (HSD) Meeting. Attendees: Naia (facilitator), Anita Guenin, Claudia Poquoc, Seretta Martin, Terry Macrae, Elizabeth Yahn Williams, Robert Lundy, Deborah P Kolodji, and Karen Stromberg. Members of HSD met on an early spring San Diego day to discuss and critique haiku. Our discussion was further informed by the following comments within an article by Wakan ( http://www.ascentaspirations.ca/haikuisnot.htm), in which she wrote, "...a haiku records a moment that contains everything that comes before it and everything that is to come after it, and if your brain suddenly being introduced to such a moment doesn't shatter all its concepts, then the haiku under consideration can only be a half-baked haiku gesture." Later in that article she observed, 'D.T.Suzuki describes this flash of sudden awareness as a mental catastrophe - a tumbling of an edifice to the ground, "when, behold, a new heaven is open to full survey." His "behold" is the "Aha!" moment of haiku.'
During the final hour of our meeting, we participated in an anonymous haiku workshop, with special emphasis on entries that contained brain-shattering concepts and those that could, with a few edits, attain that level of aha moment.
left to right, top: Seretta Martin, Terry Macrae, Elizabeth Yahn Williams, Robert Lundy,Naia, Karen Stromberg lower: Anita Guenin, Claudia Poquoc submitted by Naia Temecula, CA
Southern California
Haiku Study Group
Fourteen members of the Southern California Haiku Study Group met in the Blue Room of the USC Pacific Asia Museum for a workshop on the Silence in Haiku, presented by Deborah P Kolodji. Attendees included Kimberly Esser, Mary Torregrossa, Toni, Susie Chavez, Vibiana Aparicio-Chamberlin, Scott Galasso, Kathabela Wilson, William Hart, Greg Longenecker, Janis Lukstein, Patricia Wakimoto, Sharon Lee, Deborah P Kolodji, and Lynn Allgood.
After a read-around of haiku, we talked about the following haiku by Bashō
silence
sinking into the rocks
a cricket's voice
- Bashō
as well as other haiku from the section on "Silence" from Bruce Ross's 2002 book, How to Haiku. A couple of haiku from Angelee Deodhar's essay, "Haiku Silence," from the Spring 2005 issue of Simply Haiku were also discussed, including:
The names of the dead
sinking deeper and deeper
into the red leaves
- Eric Amman,
Participants were then encouraged to write their own haiku on silence, without using the word silence. These haiku were then work-shopped anonymously on a white board.
left to right: Scott Galasso, Bill Hart,
Greg Longenecker, Deborah P Kolodji
photo by Kathabela Wilson
In addition to the upcoming Regional Meeting of the HSA in March, the SCHSG is looking forward to working the HSA/HNA haiku booth at the Los Angeles Festival of Books, April 9-10th. Book donations are still being accepted, please contact Debbie at dkolodji@aol.com if you wish to help in this effort.
Koi photo by Deborah P Kolodj; courtyard of the USC Pacific Asia Museum, where the SCHSG meets and the HSA Regional Meeting will take place
Yuki Teikei Haiku Society
A Full Afternoon of Loving Remembrance
The San Jose Poetry Center and the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society have an agreement with the San Jose Parks Department to hold poetry �related events and literary open houses for the public at the Markham House in San Jose's History Park. In the upstairs bedrooms volunteers maintain select libraries on American Poetry and on Haiku. The poet Edwin Markham, author of "The Man With the Hoe" lived in this house near downtown San Jose; the house was later moved to the History Park.  Markham House
YTHS often meets at Markham House, sometimes to walk about the park and write haiku; sometimes to explore other topics. On February 13, 2016, we held a meeting in memory of our members who have passed away. Since YTHS has now been in existence for more than forty years many of the newer members were never acquainted with the work of earlier members.
Before the meeting, Roger Abe and Clysta Seney (our haiku librarian) worked to list those members, and locate examples of their poems in the library's holdings. Each member was introduced by one of us, who shared some haiku the member had written.
The presenter (and others present) also shared other memories as appropriate. Roger had done Internet searches and brought several obituaries. In preparation, June had her photos of most of these members printed 8x10 to be held up during the discussion of each person, and will now be kept in the Haiku Library. All this preparation resulted in a memorable (and deeply moving) meeting.
We heard excellent haiku, some tanka and haibun, and got to remember our dear friends in a atmosphere of fellowship and sharing. Here is a list of the people we remembered, with the name of the person who presented the remembrance.
Pat Shelley (1997) ���--- June Hopper Hymas
Mary Hill ���--- Ann Bendixen
Emile Waldteufel (2000) & Eugenie Walteufel ���--- Carolyn Fitz
Hank Dunlap (2005) ���--- Alison Woolpert
Jerry Kilbride (2005)--- ���Carol Steele
David Priebe (2006) ���--Eleanor Carolan
Kay F. Anderson (2007) --- ���Ann Bendixen
Jim "Ouzel" Arnold (2007) ���--- Bill Peckham
Paul O. Williams (2009) ���--- Clysta Seney
D. Claire Gallagher (2009) --- ���Carolyn Fitz
Beth Stevenson Brewster (2011) --- ���Roger Abe
Tei Matsushita �Scott (2013) ���--- Carol Steele
John Schipper ���--- Roger Abe
Thank you, Roger and Clysta for all your work in preparation!
Submitted by June Hopper Hymas;
June Hymas photograph.
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The Oregon HSA members are planning the Summer HSA regional conference to be held in Portland, Oregon: Friday evening, Aug. 12 All day Saturday, Aug. 13 Sunday morning, Aug. 14. We will be featuring anthology readings, workshops by Michael Dylan Welch and Margaret Chula, a special performance by Jim Rodriguez and Michele Schafer, a haibun reading by Johnny Baranski, and a tour of the newly expanded Japanese Garden. In addition, we will have an optional Friday morning Bike tour. And lots of fun! See the schedule and helpful information on hotels at the HSA Oregon Link:
In Portland: HSA member Caroline Giles Banks will be reading from her many works on March 5, 4-6pm, at 221 SE 11th
In Portland: A lecture by Donald Keene on Japanese Bunkaku Puppetry will be delivered at PSU on Mar. 7, 2016 at 5:30, in the Smith Memorial building, Room 335. Free.
In Portland: A performance of The Lady Aoi will be presented by Imago Theatre: Previews - Mar. 11 to 17 | Opens and Plays - Mar. 18 to 27
Congratulations to Oregon Coast poet Shirley Plummer on the publication of her first volume of poetry, the task of falling rain.
A reading from the collection will take place at the Yachats Commons, Meeting Room 8
441 Hwy. 101, Yachats
Saturday, March 5, 2016 at 2:00 pm
submitted by Shelley Baker-Gard |
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Member Exhibits
Charlotte Digregorio of Illinois is honored to hold an exhibit of her haiku at the Chicago Public Library, 400 S. State St., throughout April, in celebration of National Poetry Month. She will also give a haiku presentation/workshop there at Poetry Fest, Saturday, April 30, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. (Free event)
Submitted by Charlotte DiGregorio
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Haiku Writing Workshop
Findlay, Ohio
A haiku poetry writing workshop will be held at the Findlay Hancock Public Library, 206 Broadway, Findlay, Ohio, on Thursday, April 21, from 2:30-4:30 pm. The workshop will be led by Sharon Hammer Baker, long-time HSA member, and will focus on how to write haiku in English. The workshop will also include a review of the history of haiku in English and resources for further study. The workshop is free and open to adults and teens of all experience levels. To register, contact the library at www.findlaylibrary.org or by calling 419-422-1712, ext. 245.
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New Haiku Chapter
Illinois State Poetry Society
A new haiku chapter of the ISPS (Illinois State Poetry Society) has been created. The first meeting was Feb. 21st at the Northbrook public library, 1201 Cedar Lane, Northbrook, IL
The group will meet every other month, so the next meeting is Sunday, April 17th at 1 PM.
I believe you need to become a member of ISPS to attend the meetings and participate in the critiques. To become a member and acquaint yourself with what is included in membership, see the web page of ISPS. Membership is $20 a year.
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Texhoma Haiku Society
Start-Up
Konnichiwa, HSA!
Bre and I are busy starting the Texoma Haiku Society in Sherman, TX.
We were the Co-Founders of the Fort Worth Haiku Society from 2002-2008 and then restarted 2010 -2014., I was the Southwest Region coordinator before Jim Applegate.
Francis Neidhart of the local Texoma Poetry Society is happy and eager we are back in Sherman from being in Fort Worth for the last 15 years and has asked us to do a program, although a date has not been set yet.
We will be having a website, monthly meetings from 1:00 - 3:00PM on the 3rd Saturday of each month, Quarterly contests, hopefully readings, maybe workshops and speaking about haiku at various places.
I contacted Jim Kacian about being part of the National Haiku Poetry Day on Sunday, April 17, 2016 as we had as FWHS right now plans are to meet at the food court at Midway Mall to present haiku, and this actually falls on a regular THS meeting day.
We have THS flyers to put out at colleges, bookstores, coffee shops, Asian restaurants, and libraries.
(see flyer embeded below)
Bre is going to renewing my membership in HSA as a belated birthday gift. We are THINKING about offering to do the HSA Fall or Winter conference if they aren't spoken for, as FWHS we had done them in 2004, 2008 and 2012 and had joked we would see everyone in four years, which is this year, we will just have to see how this goes.
Right now the THS calendar stands as follows, although
may change as we get more members, but we will put up a website with calendar and present any changes and send out emails
(This is basically from our proposed calendar for FWHS that didn't get to happen)
THS Monthly Meeting Schedule
Sun. Feb 21, 2016
Program: Love Verse In Haiku - Celiia Stewart Powells
Hajin: Brenda Roberts
Kigo: Candles
Sun. March 20, 2016
Program: Irish Haiku
Haijin:
Kigo: Kites
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Spring Contest Deadline
Sun. April 17, 2016
National Haiku Poetry Day
Program: How To Read Haiku
Haijin:
Kigo: Gates
Sun. May 15, 2016
Program: Kigo: Here Vs There
Haijin:
Kigo: Flower Moon
Sun. June 19, 2016
Program: Emblematic Haiku
Hajin:
Kigo:
Sunday, July 3, 2016
Summer Contest Deadline
July 17, 2016
Program:
Hajin:
Kigo:
August 21, 2016
Program:
Hajin:
Kigo:
September 18, 2016Meeting
Program:
Hajin:
Kigo:
Sunday, September 4, 2016
Fall Contest Deadline
October 16, 2016
Program:
Hajin:
Kigo:
November 20, 2016
Program:
Hajin:
Kigo:
December 18, 2016
Program: YuChristmaHannaKwanza Party
Hajin:
Kigo:
leaping
into the sound
of haiku
submitted by kawazu
aka
Cliff T. Roberts
Co-Founder: Texoma Haiku Society
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|  South
Carlos Col�n
New Orleans
Haiku Society
The New Orleans Haiku Society is in its fourteenth year and enjoys an enthusiastic core membership of fifteen local members and five online members. In January, the group celebrated its annual holiday party at the home of Johnette Downing and Scott Billington. A good luck cassoulet (French casserole) was shared to bring good health, happiness and prosperity in the New Year. In February, Nicholas Sola gave his annual Mardi Gras party whereby poets wrote haiku in between catching beads tossed from floats along the parade route. Congratulations are in order for Scott Billington, Juliet Pazera and Ron Grognet, who have been published in haiku journals for the first time. The group holds monthly meetings on the third Monday of each month. Preparations for International Haiku Poetry Day 2016 are underway. Shreveport, Louisiana
The Northwest Louisiana Haiku Society will host an event for International Haiku Poetry Day at the Broadmoor Branch of Shreve Memorial Library on April 17 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas
Dr. Johnye Strickland, professor emerita of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, will be the featured poet at the 20th Arkansas Haiku Society Autumn Haiku Conference, which will be held November 4-5 at the Arlington Hotel. |
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Haiku/Letterpress
Workshop in Maine
On April 16 and 17, Maine haiku poet, Liga Jahnke, and book artist, Richard Reitz Smith, will be co-presenters of a haiku/letterpress weekend workshop titled Poetry to Print. The sessions will take place at Maine Media Workshops and College in Rockport, Maine. The online description of the event is available at www.mainemedia.edu.
Haiku Poets' Society
of Western Massachusetts
The HPSWM welcomes its newest member, Joanne Cleary, and looks forward to her poetry and participation. The group continues to meet on the second Saturday of the month at the Hadley Community/Senior Center. Visitors and potential members are invited to attend. For information regarding meetings, please contact pmharvey@charter.net with the subject line: HPSWM Visit/Membership New England Letters
New England Letters is a monthly e-newsletter that features the haiku of New England authors, literary comments from readers, and updates on local meetings and events. Readers are kept abreast of the achievements of our regional poets.
Any HSA member can receive free monthly issues by requesting a subscription.
Contact: willowbranch32@yahoo.com using the subject line: NEL Subscription. In the text, be sure to include your full name, State and how long you have been an HSA member.
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Fessler and Gurga
at the 39th
International Conference
on Japanese Literature
Michael Fessler and Lee Gurga made presentations at the 39th International Conference on Japanese Literature in Tokyo on November 15, 2015. The event was sponsored by the National Institute of Japanese Literature. Fessler's paper was titled, "The Pound Paradigm," and dealt with Ezra Pound's contribution to haiku. Gurga's paper, "Japanese Haiku and Contemporary English-Language Haiku," centered on various aspects
of haiku in the United States. Both Fessler and Gurga participated in the panel discussion concerning the nature of haiku that followed the presentations.
Also making presentations and serving on the panel were Toshio Kimura of Nihon University and Shigenao
Toppata of Wayo Women's University. Sinji Fukasawa of Wako University was the moderator of the panel discussion.
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Salon Series # 54
Yoin: Resonance in Japanese Music, Dance, and Literature
On March 27, Easter Sunday, John Stevenson will be giving a talk on the subject of "yoin" (resonance) as part of the "Salon Series" presented by the Sachiyo Ito & Company dance troop in New York. Renowned shakuhachi artist, James Schlefer, will talk about resonance in Japanese music. And the event will close with improvised Japanese dance and shakuhachi based upon haiku by John Stevenson.
H.S.A. members are invited to attend without charge, though a voluntary contribution would be appreciated.
Inspired by Salon Series' 2014 theme, "Ma" (special concept of time and space in Japanese culture), the idea of "Yoin," (resonance) and its importance in Japanese performing arts and literature will be investigated through music, dance and poetry.
John Stevenson will discuss the resonance in haiku and its influence on western poetry, while James Schlefer will talk about resonance in Japanese music. Schlefer will play his shakuhachi music, to which Sachiyo Ito will dance. The program will be concluded by an improvisational dance and music by Ito and Schlefer on a haiku composed by Stevenson.
Guest Artists: James Schlefer, John Stevenson
Date: Sunday March 27, 2016 Sunday at 3pm-4pm
Place: Tenri Cultural Institute, 43A West 13th St. (Between 5th & 6th Avenue) NYC
Admission: $15 general, $10 for senior & student
The Salon Series is an ongoing program of performances, informative and educational lectures, and lecture-demonstrations aimed at those who are interested in deepening their knowledge of the performing arts of Japan. The series is held on Sunday afternoons three times a year. For the past 18 years, with world class guest artists and speakers, the program has educated and inspired New York audiences artistically and intellectually.   John Stevenson James Schlefer
The program was made possible, in part, by the public funding from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
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The Robert Spiess
Memorial Haiku Awards
for 2016
Modern Haiku is pleased to announce the Robert Spiess Memorial Haiku Awards
Competition for 2016. The purpose of this competition is to honor the life and work of Bob Spiess, editor of Modern Haiku from 1978 to his death on March 13, 2002.
Email entries will now be accepted as well as postal entries.
Theme: Haiku are to be written in the spirit of the following "Speculation" (Robert Spiess, A Year's Speculations on Haiku, Modern Haiku Press, 1995):
As haiku poets, we can learn much from such sources as the traditional masters' haiku and from contemporary haiku publications; but our best teachers are wind and rain, oaks and anemones, rivers and mountains, minnows and giraffes, eagles and earthworms, children and God's fools.
Deadline: In hand no later than March 13, 2016.
Rules: The competition is open to everyone but the staff of Modern Haiku, the competition coordinator, and the judge. Entries must be in English. Each entry must be the original, unpublished work of the author, and should not be under consideration in a contest or for publication elsewhere. For purposes of this competition, appearance of a haiku in an Internet journal, on a Web site, in a blog, or in any other public media is considered publication, but posting haiku on a private email list is not. Of course, entries should not be shared in an Internet journal, Web site, blog, private or public email list, or any other public media during the term of the competition.
Submission guidelines: Poets may submit a maximum of five haiku written in the spirit of the above Speculation, accompanied by the applicable entry fee.
Postal entries should be typed or printed legibly on one sheet paper. The poet's name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address (if any) should appear in the upper left-hand corner above the haiku. Send postal entries to: Billie Wilson, 1170 Fritz Cove Road, Juneau, AK 99801-8501 USA.
Email entries are to be submitted as follows: (1) on the Modern Haiku subscription page:
http://www.modernhaiku.org/subscriptions.html
scroll down to the Donate button;
(2) make a donation of up to $5 [$1 for
each entry];
(3) when you receive your payment confirmation number, copy and paste it into an email with your haiku and your name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address;
(4) send the email to Billie Wilson at
akwilsons@gci.net.
Please keep a copy of your submission; entries will not be returned. Please follow the instructions carefully: entries that are incomplete or that do not comply with the instructions will be discarded.
Entry fee: $1 per haiku, cash, check, or PayPal (U.S. funds); make checks payable to Modern Haiku; for email entries, follow the instructions above.
Adjudication: A judge will be selected by Modern Haiku; the judge's name will be announced at the time of the awards. Judging will be double-blind, and the judge will not know the identity of the entrants. The judge's decisions are final.
Selection criteria: The judge will look for entries that hew to Western norms for haiku as published in Modern Haiku and other leading English-language haiku journals and that best capture the spirit of the theme Speculation above. There are no rules as to syllable or line count.
Awards: First Prize: $100 plus a signed copy of The Heron's Legs (1966, out of print). Second Prize: $50 plus a copy of Bob's The Shape of Water (1982);
Third Prize: $25 plus a copy of Bob's Some Sticks and Pebbles (2001). Up to five poets will be awarded Honorable Mentions and each will receive a copy of Bob's A Year's Speculations on Haiku (1995).
Notification: Winners will be notified by email or phone before the general
announcement. Winning entries will be published in the summer 2016 issue of
Modern Haiku and posted on the Modern Haiku Web site, http://www.modernhaiku.org/, on or before July 1, 2016. If you would like a
list of the winners, please indicate that on your e-mail entries or send a stamped, self-addressed envelope (SASE) with your postal entries. The winners will be announced when the summer issue of Modern Haiku is released.
Submitted by Billie Wilson
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Ignatius Fay HSA NEWS Editor
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