Two Autumns for me going for you staying— two autumns I was selected to be one of the four readers for the very first reading, which took place on 27 October 1990 at the West Branch of the Berkeley Public Library in Berkeley, California. For the occasion, HPNC published Two Autumns, the first of its annual chapbooks to commemorate these readings. John Thompson served as editor. I did the layout and design, and the image I selected for the cover (click to enlarge) became the logo for HPNC and for its press, Two Autumns Press. The poets included with me were Patricia Donegan, Eugenie Waldteufel, and Paul O. Williams. My poems in the book focused on winter, and the following are five selections. These are followed by a scan of two of the book’s pages, plus a photo taken at the reading (I was skinnier then, and had more hair—plus a moustache).
In 2009, I was again a reader in this series, to commemorate its twentieth anniversary (see photos of my trip and Deborah P Kolodji’s report about this reading), at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Two Autumns is most likely the longest-running haiku poetry reading series outside Japan.
first flakes . . . the snow leopard pacing
under moonlight old boots in new snow
winter stillness bare twigs zigzag through air
pouring a mug of tea her reflection in the kettle
under the umbrella stormy face  Click to enlarge image.
 Paul O. Williams, Michael Dylan Welch, Patricia Donegan, and Eugenie Waldteufel, on 27 October 1990 at a branch library in Berkeley, California for the first reading in the Two Autumns haiku poetry reading series sponsored by the Haiku Poets of Northern California.
Photo by Garry Gay. |