2022 Appearances

• December 2021 and January 2022: Guest selector for the daily “Haiku in English” online column for the Mainichi, Japan’s oldest newspaper.

• 7 January 2022: Closing day for the “We Are Here” art show at VALA Art Center, in which I have a five-panel erasure poem, titled “Homage to Syntax” (after Campbell McGrath).  Show opened 20 November 2021.       +

• 17, 18, 19 January 2022: 9:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m., and 12:00 noon, presenting “Introduction to Haiku,” each online class for 90 minutes, for Big Head Club’s Oni Ronin NFT project. Free to Big Head Club Discord participants, on Zoom.

• 22 January 2022: Featured “Per Diem” poem on the Haiku Foundation website: “the last patch of snow / on the mossy lawn . . . / a call from home.”

• 24, 25, 26 January 2022: 9:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m., and 12:00 noon, presenting “History of Haiku,” each online class for 90 minutes, for Big Head Club’s Oni Ronin NFT project. Free to Big Head Club Discord participants, on Zoom.

• 31 January, 1, 2 February 2022: 9:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m., and 12:00 noon, presenting “Writing Haiku,” each online class for 90 minutes, for Big Head Club’s Oni Ronin NFT project. Free to Big Head Club Discord participants, on Zoom.

• February 2022: Coordinating the twelfth annual National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo) and providing daily writing prompts on the NaHaiWriMo page on Facebook, with more than 3,600 participants. Please join us in writing at least one haiku a day in the month of February—the shortest month of the year for the shortest genre of poetry!       +

• 7, 9, 11 February 2022: 9:00 a.m., 12:00 noon, and 4:00 p.m., presenting “Death Haiku,” each online class for 90 minutes, for Big Head Club’s Oni Ronin NFT project. Free to Big Head Club Discord participants, on Zoom, with Twitter streaming on 9 February.

• 13 February 2022: ONLINE. Guest poet for the San Diego Haiku Group in San Diego, California. 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., presenting a talk on jisei: “A Dying Art: The Tradition of Death Haiku in Japanese and English.”

• 26 February 2022: ONLINE. “Haiku Targets” workshop and anonymous critique session for Poets & Patrons, Chicago, Illinois, via Zoom. 11:00 a.m. Pacific time (1:00 p.m. Chicago time).

• 12 March 2022: ONLINE. Presenting “Harold Henderson's Grammar Haiku” for the monthly meeting of the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society. Free. 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

• 30 March 2022: Featured poem on Triveni India’s “Tanka Take-Home” page: “autumn rain / begins to fall . . . / an eviction notice / blows from somewhere / down the street.”

• 16 April 2022: “Jujutsu Kaisen: Haiku Training” workshop in-person at the 2022 Sakura-Con anime festival at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. (room 4C-4). Can Itadori and Nobara from the Jujutsu Kaisen anime series (played in cosplay by my daughter and her friend) pass their haiku exam and reach their next level of training at Jujutsu High? Learn more about haiku poetry with Michael Dylan Welch, founder of National Haiku Writing Month, as he teaches Itadori and Nobara—and you—about haiku poetry. Channel your cursed energy and learn to write your own haiku too! Free with Sakura-Con admission. See the complete Sakura-Con schedule. In addition, at 2:00 p.m., my daughter will be giving a presentation on “Dressing Up Green: Being Eco-Friendly in Cosplay” (room 4C-1).

• 19 April 2022: Spotlight tanka on the Triveni Haikai India website (with commentary): “old enough now / to refuse my hugs, / my daughter tells me / that she loves me / that she always will.”

• 19 April 2022: ONLINE. “How to Haiku” free public workshop, sponsored by the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival. 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Pacific time. Click to register (Zoom meeting details provided in confirmation email after you register).

• 20 April 2022: ONLINE. “How to Haiku” free public workshop, sponsored by the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival. 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Pacific time. Click to register (Zoom meeting details provided in confirmation email after you register).

• 21 April 2022: One of my senryu featured on the Merriam-Webster “Words at Play” blog. It appears (in an earlier version) as “his favourite deli— / the bald man finds a hair / in his soup,” but the correct version should be “at his favourite deli / the bald man finds a hair / in his soup.”

• 23 April 2022: ONLINE. “Epiphanies of a Landscape: Miłosz on Haiku” and “Forgiveness” animated haiku sequence presentation for the Poetry Junkies private group. 11:00 a.m., for members only, on Zoom.

• 29 April 2022: Featured reader in the 2022 “Ars Poetica: An Intersection of Poetry and Craft” collaborative art and poetry installation at the Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network (BARN), 8890 Three Tree Lane NE, Bainbridge Island, Washington. 4:00 to 5:30 p.m., free. My poem, “Your Second Heart,” displayed with glasswork art by Constance Ducar.

• 30 April 2022: “Test Your Haiku IQ” and instant haiku writing as a volunteer for Independent Bookstore Day at Brick and Mortar Books, 7430 164th Ave NE, Suite B105, Redmond, Washington. Free! 2:00 to 6:00 p.m.

• 7 May 2022: Featured “Per Diem” poem on the Haiku Foundation website: “winter squall— / my daughter tells me / her doll won’t sleep.”

• 12 May 2022: ONLINE. Presentation on deja-ku for monthly Haiku Northwest meeting, 7:00 p.m. Zoom details sent to members.

• 14 May 2022: ONLINE. “Haiku Checklist” anonymous critique session for Poets & Patrons and the Illinois State Poetry Society, Chicago, Illinois, via Zoom. 11:00 a.m. Pacific time (1:00 p.m. Chicago time).

• 15 May–15 August 2022: Contributor to the “Visual plus Poetry plus Zines” project providing free take-home ekphrastic poetry kits with prefolded zine templates for poetry and photographs on adhesive paper. Organized by Lana Blinderman, with contributions by Kevin Boček, Tonya Dean (aka Maybe), and Michael Dylan Welch. Supported in part by 4Culture and Centro Cultural Mexicano. See Facebook event to request your free kit.     +

• 17 May 2022: ONLINE: Reading “Forgiveness” animated haiku sequence for Haiku Canada week. 4:00 p.m.

• 31 May 2022: Submission deadline for the 2022 Haiku Society of America Rengay Award, which I’m cojudging with Kristen Lindquist.

• 31 May 2022: ONLINE. Free “Haiku Targets” workshop for Bellevue, Washington’s 2022 Japan Fair, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Click here to register. See Facebook event.

• 1 June 2022: Featured reader for Duvall Poetry Night at Pho Thailand, 15820 Main Street NE, Suite A, Duvall, Washington. Free, 7:00 p.m. See Facebook event.

• 4 June 2022: Free “Habits of Scrutiny” workshop and featured reading with Lucien Zell (visiting from Prague) at BookTree, 609 Market Street, Kirkland, Washington. Workshop at 5:15 p.m., with featured reading (followed by open-mic reading) at 7:05 p.m. Facebook event to come. Workshop description: How do you scrutinize your poems in order to improve them? What habits do you have, or can you learn, to scrutinize your writing in deeper and more thorough ways? Join Prague-based poet Lucien Zell and local poet Michael Dylan Welch as they team up for an insightseeing exploration of buried cities of language, pointing out habits of scrutiny aimed to help startle awake your vivid words that waken others.

• 7 June 2022: “Exiled Home” featured poetry reading with Lucien Zell (visiting from Prague), introduced by Heidi Seaborn, at Hugo House, 1634 11th Avenue in Seattle. Free, 7:00 p.m.

• 19 June 2022: Submission deadline for Bellevue, Washington’s second annual Japan Fair community haiku contest that I’m judging. Read submission instructions and enter your haiku here. Free to enter. Winners announced on 9 July 2022 during the Virtual Japan Fair.

• 9 July 2022: Announcing winners and honourable mentions for the 2022 Japan Fair haiku contest at 9:00 p.m. on the Virtual Japan Fair live stream. See the full results and my commentary.

• 9 August 2022: 30th Anniversary Rengay Reading. 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., free, on Zoom, Michael Dylan Welch with guests Marcyn Del Clements, Cherie Hunter Day, Ignatius Fay, Garry Gay, Sherry Grant, Zoe Grant, Connie R. Meester, Ce Rosenow, John Thompson, and Valorie Broadhurst Woerdehoff, plus an open-mic rengay reading. Party hats optional!

• 27 August 2022: “Forest Bathing and the Art of Haiku” presentation as part of the annual Washington state Haiku Society of America regional meeting, Breazeale Interpretive Center at the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Preserve. 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., free, with a group dinner afterwards. See the complete schedule and other details.

• 9 September 2022: Submission deadline for the fourth annual Morioka International Haiku Contest in Morioka, Japan, which I’m cojudging with Toshio Kimura. The award ceremony will be held in Morioka on 20 November. See the 2019, 2020, and 2021 results and commentary, with Japanese translations.

• 12 September 2022: ONLINE. Featured reader for the Striped Water Poets and Poetry at the Rainbow Cafe series (normally) at the Rainbow Cafe, 112 East Main Street, Auburn, Washington. 7:00 p.m. Via Zoom.

• 13 September 2022: “Haiku at Seabeck” presentation, guided haiku walk, and haiku workshop for a YMCA leadership meeting at the Seabeck Conference Center, Seabeck, Washington. 10:45 to 5:00 p.m. Private event.

• 17 September 2022: ONLINE. Hosting the honorary curator reading (via Zoom) for the American Haiku Archives, featuring 2022–2023 honorary curator Gary Hotham. Free, 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Pacific Time. See Zoom recording (passcode: t9L6$h7V).

• 24 September 2022: Staffing a haiku table from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., installing “Haiku on Sticks,” and presenting a free beginner haiku workshop from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. (in Building C-140) for Japan Week at Bellevue College in Bellevue, Washington. Find the haiku table in building C (the cafeteria).

• 6 October 2022: ONLINE. “Haiku Targets” introductory workshop for the Haiku Down Under conference, via Zoom. 8:00 to 9:25 p.m. (Pacific Time). Free registration. See complete schedule.

• 7 October 2022: ONLINE. “Rengay Riot” workshop for the Haiku Down Under conference, with assistance from Sherry Grant. 10:00 to 10:55 p.m. (Pacific Time). Free registration. See complete schedule.

• 8 October 2022: ONLINE. “Haiku on Steroids” writing workshop for the Haiku Down Under conference. 5:30 to 6:25 p.m. (Pacific Time). Free registration. See complete schedule.       +

• 16 October 2022: ONLINE. “How to Haiga” presentation for the Haiku Arbutus group in Victoria, British Columbia. Also sharing rengay written with Margaret Rutley and Sidney Bending, in honour of Margaret, who recently passed away. 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Free, for members only.

• 19–24 October 2022: Traffic Culture Exhibition 2022 at Ueno Station in Tokyo, Japan, featuring my translations with Emiko Miyashita of train-related haiku contest winners, including commentary by the judge, Kai Hasegawa.       +

• 22 October 2022: ONLINE. Speaking about The Wordless Poem for the Evergreen Haiku Group. 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, Pacific Time. Free, for members only.

• 22 October 2022: ONLINE. Guest speaker and facilitator for “Rengay Under the Moon,” organized by Sherry Grant in New Zealand (to register, please email Sherry Grant). Free. 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

• 27–30 October, 2022: Directing Haiku Northwest’s fifteenth annual Seabeck Haiku Getaway in-person at the Seabeck Conference Center in Seabeck, Washington. Our featured guest is Cristina Rascón (from Veracruz, Mexico) and our weekend theme is crossing borders. I’m giving a PowerPoint presentation, “A Dying Art: Death Haiku,” on 29 October.

• 1 November 2022: ONLINE. “A Dying Art: Death Haiku in Japanese and English” PowerPoint presentation for Puget Sound Sumi Artists, 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Private event.

• 15 November 2022: ONLINE. Featured poet for “Hear the Solitary Plover,” a reading for Solitary Plover sponsored by the Friends of Lorine Niedecker. Free. 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

• 20 November 2022: Award ceremony, including a video message from me, for the fourth annual Morioka International Haiku Contest in Morioka, Japan, which I’m cojudging with Toshio Kimura. August 31 is the submission deadline. See the 2019, 2020, and 2021 results and commentary, with Japanese translations.

• 22 November 2022: ONLINE. “Haiku Targets” workshop for origami organization. 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Private event.

• 1 December 2022 – 4 January 2023: Installation of 30 “Holiday Haiku” as part of the City of Redmond’s annual Redmond Lights festival. Projected digitally at the Buoyant Pavilion in Redmond’s Downtown Park from 5:00–11:00 p.m. each night (except 5:00–9:00 p.m. on December 2, 9, and 16). See my Holiday Haiku page for photos of each poem and a video.       +       +

Click to see current appearances.