2012 Appearances

• 21 January 2012: “Becoming a Haiku Poet” workshop at Seattle Chōeizan Enkyōji Nichiren Buddhist Temple, 501 South Jackson Street (at 5th Avenue in the International District), Suite 202, in Seattle. 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Cancelled due to snow; rescheduled to 19 May 2012.

• 27 January 2012: MC for the Redmond Association of Spokenword, featuring poet Elizabeth Austen, author of Every Dress a Decision, Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center, 16600 NE 80th Street, Redmond, Washington, 7:00 p.m. (includes an open-mic reading).

• February 2012: Coordinating National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo) and providing daily writing prompts at the NaHaiWriMo page on Facebook, with about 800 participants.

• 12 February 2012: Speaking about National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo) at a quarterly national meeting of the Haiku Society of America at the Broadview Branch of the Seattle Public Library in Seattle. 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Free to register. See event photos.

• 21 February 2012: Facilitator for the Poetry & Prose Circle at the Redmond Library, sponsored by the Redmond Association of Spokenword. Bring a poem or two, or an excerpt from a novel or short story to share for genial feedback. Free to attend!

• 24 February 2012: Release date for Ian Marshall’s book, Border Crossings: Walking the Haiku Path on the International Appalachian Trail, published by Hiraeth Press in Massachusetts, for which I wrote the foreword. See a preview of the book, including my foreword. Or see my foreword at “Fresh Seeing on the International Appalachian Trail.”

• 4 March 2012: “Introduction to Haiku” workshop at the Seattle Japanese Garden, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (bring a sack lunch), plus informal sharing and discussion after 2:00 p.m. $45.00, includes garden admission. To register, please phone Cheryl at 206-386-9106, or visit https://class.seattle.gov/parks/Start/Start.asp and register for class number 80404.

• 7 March 2012: “Is that a real haiku or did you write it yourself?” workshop for teens at the Sammamish Teen Center, 825 228th Avenue NE in Sammamish, Washington, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Free to teens! For information phone 425-836-9295 or contact Michael Dylan Welch. (Rescheduled to 18 April 2012.)

• 23 March 2012: Featured poet on Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken’s blog, “The Far Field,” with the waka poem cotranslated by me and Emiko Miyashita to appear on the back of a U.S. postage stamp.

• 10 April 2012: Featured poet with Ron C. Moss in the Spring 2012 HaigaOnline Gallery, with ten of my neon buddha blurred-light photo-haiga.

• 13 April 2012: Teaching haiku to multiple classes of kindergarten, first, second, and third graders at Robert Frost Elementary School in Kirkland, Washington.

• 14 April 2012: “Haiku in the Woods” presentation and guided haiku walk, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Beaver Lake Lodge at Beaver Lake Park, Sammamish, Washington. Sponsored by the Sammamish Arts Commission and Sammamish Walks. Free for adults and families. For more information and to register (free), visit the City of Sammamish website. See also the Sammamish Review and Sammamish Reporter newspaper stories about this event. See also event photos.

• 17 April 2012: Featured reader for National Haiku Poetry Day, at Seattle Public Library, Capitol Hill Branch, 425 Harvard Avenue E. in Seattle, 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. (Alas, I couldn't attend since I was sick that day.)

• 18 April 2012: “Is that a real haiku or did you write it yourself?” workshop for teens at the Sammamish Teen Center, 825 228th Avenue NE in Sammamish, Washington, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Free to teens! For information phone 425-836-9295 or contact Michael Dylan Welch.

• 28 April 2012: Featured reader for the Ballard Poetry Fest, 7:00 p.m., at the Ballard Landmark, 5433 Leary Avenue NW, in Seattle. Also reading are Kelly Rigel Hower and Nan Harty, hosted by Cathy Ross, plus an open-mic reading.

• 1–31 May 2012: Guest editor for The Haiku Foundation’s Per Diem daily haiku feature, focusing on Pacific Northwest themes and voices. See also Per Diem Haiku. Also coming soon to an iPhone app near you!

• 4–6 May 2012: Speaking at the Oregon Poets Concord at Newport, Oregon (haiku workshop, panel discussion on social media and poetry, and poetry reading). Was unable to attend due to illness (very sorry to miss this event).

• 19 May 2012: “Becoming a Haiku Poet” workshop at Seattle Chōeizan Enkyōji Nichiren Buddhist Temple, 501 South Jackson Street (at 5th Avenue in the International District), Suite 202, in Seattle. 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

• 16 June 2012: Jack Straw 50th Anniversary Performance Celebration, Jack Straw New Media Gallery, 4261 Roosevelt Way NE in Seattle. Ill be reading my poetry at 7:30 a.m. (yes, the crack of dawn, as part of a 25-hour-long event). Many performances (but not mine) will also be broadcast live on Hollow Earth radio. Free, but priceless!

• 20 June 2012: Two of my tomato haiku appeared on the Seattle Weekly Voracious blog, presented by Seattle Weekly food critic Hanna Raskin, in her summer Producing Poetry series promoting Seattle farmers markets. Contributing poets, including me, will be reading their work at the August 29 Columbia City Farmers Market in Seattle, the same day that poems featured in the series will appear in a print edition of the Seattle Weekly.

• 23 June 2012: “The Nature of Haiku” workshop at Padilla Bay nature center (register at the Padilla Bay website or phone 360-428-1558 any day). Workshop goes from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (bring a lunch), and includes a wetlands walk led by me and Glen Alexander. $15 per peson (a really good deal). See announcement on page 8 of the Padilla Bay Newsletter, Spring 2012 (PDF file).

• 23 June 2012: Fourteen haiku published in Things with Wings, an online PDF book edited by Aubrie Cox, published by Yay Words.

• 29 June 2012: MC for the Redmond Association of Spokenword, featuring Kim Kircher, professional skier and author of The Next 15 Minutes: Strength from the Top of the Mountain, Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center, 16600 NE 80th Street, Redmond, Washington, 7:00 p.m. (includes an open-mic reading).

• 20–22 July 2012: Gabriola Haiku Weekend, Gabriola Island, British Columbia, at Drumbeg House on Saturday and Gabriola Commons on Sunday (giving presentation on haiku syllabics on Saturday and a reading and renku workshop on Sunday). See photos.

• 15 August 2012: An “Unexpected Art” featured reader with Denise Calvetti Michaels from 5:30 to 6:00 p.m. at the Poetry Garden near the Seattle Center’s International Fountain in Seattle, for “The Next 50” celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Sponsored by the Seattle Center and  Jack Straw Writers.

• 24 August 2012: MC for the Redmond Association of Spokenword, featuring three Jack Straw Writers (Gabriela Denise Frank, Stacey Bennetts, and Nicholas Wong), Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center, 16600 NE 80th Street, Redmond, Washington, 7:00 p.m. (includes an open-mic reading).

• 29 August 2012: I’ll be reading a selection of my haiku and longer poems (related mostly to food and produce) at the Columbia City Farmers Market in Seattle, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. On 20 June 2012, two of my tomato haiku appeared on the Seattle Weekly Voracious blog, presented by Seattle Weekly food critic Hanna Raskin, in her summer Producing Poetry series promoting Seattle farmers markets. Never read poetry at a farmers market before! My haiku also appeared in a print edition of Seattle Weekly on 29 August 2012 as well. See short videos of the reading or view a clip from my reading on YouTube.

• 1 September 2012: Haiku reading, presentation, and free haiku contest at the Seattle Japanese Garden Moon Viewing Festival, 6:00 p.m. ($15 admission to the event). See the Seattle Japanese Garden blog posting about the moon viewing event and the haiku contest winners (including a wonderful surprise ending). See also “A Modest Proposal.”

• 3 September 2012 [cancelled; may be rescheduled]: “Celebrating E. E. Cummings” at Jack Straw Productions in Seattle, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. I’m curating, directing, and MC-ing this reading and performance of the poetry of E. E. Cummings in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the poet’s death. Free admission. Feel free to let me know if you might want to participate as a performer (reading, dance, music, and other interpretations welcome).

• 8, 9 September 2012: Teaching introductory haiku classes and staffing a haiku table at Aki Matsuri, Bellevue College, Bellevue, Washington. Also a small installation of Haiku on Sticks.

• 9 September 2012: Guest poet on Writing from the Pacific Northwest blog run by Matt Briggs.

• 23 September 2012: Three of my poems appear in the book Sea Bandits, published online by Yay Words.

• 28 September 2012: Featured reader for the Redmond Association of Spokenword, Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center, 16600 NE 80th Street, Redmond, Washington, 7:00 p.m. (includes an open-mic reading).

• 11–14 October 2012: Director of Haiku Northwest’s fourth annual Seabeck Haiku Getaway in Seabeck, Washington, featuring Paul Miller, a sumi-e workshop, and many other presentations, readings, and activities.

• 19 October 2012: Featured reader at the Bookworm Exchange, 4860 Rainier Avenue S., in Seattle, 7:00 p.m., free. Limited open-mic reading also.

• 2 November 2012: Performing haiku with musical accompaniment for the annual Arts Show at Enso Center in Redmond, Washington, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

• 4 November 2012: “Introduction to Haiku” workshop amid vibrant autumn colours at the Seattle Japanese Garden, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (bring a sack lunch), plus informal sharing and discussion after 2:00 p.m. $45.00, includes garden admission. To register, please phone Cheryl at 206-386-9106, or visit https://class.seattle.gov/parks/Start/Start.asp and register for class number 89270. Cancelled due to low registration numbers.

• 16 November 2012: Release date for With Cherries on Top: 31 Flavors from NaHaiWriMo, a book of 190 haiku and senryu I edited, complete with nearly a hundred of my blurred-light photographs of fireworks. These poems were selected from the month of August 2012 when my NaHaiWriMo page on Facebook had 31 different daily writing prompters. They sent their initial selections to me, and I made the final selections, which I decided to experiment with releasing as a free ebook. Please download it at my NaHaiWriMo website.

• 17 November 2012: “Holiday Haiku” poetry workshop and holiday card craft workshop at Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia. 11:00 to 4:00 p.m. $49 (includes all supplies), limited to ten participants. Class taught with paper artist Mabel Jong. To register, please email kogawahouse@yahoo.ca.

• 18 November 2012: “Punctuation and Haiku” presentation at a meeting of the Vancouver Haiku Group, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., Britannia Community Services Centre, Family Resource Centre, 1661 Napier Street, Vancouver, British Columbia. Free.

• 29 November 2012: Stella Pierides’s book, In the Garden of Absence, published in Germany, featuring an afterword, “Presence in Absence,” that I wrote.

• 1 December 2012: Introductory haiku workshop at Enso Center in Redmond, Washington, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Register for class number 42352 through Redmond Parks and Recreation, or contact Enso Center at 425-869-0276. The fee is $25 for Redmond residents, and $30 for nonresidents.

• 18 December 2012: Ten of my poems featured today on the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society website. These ten haiku are among my all-time favourites.

• December 2012: The Seabeck Haiku Getaway anthology for 2012, Windfall, edited by Connie Hutchison and Ruth Yarrow, is dedicated to me. Thank you!

Click to see current appearances.