Coronavirus Cancellations

Post date: Mar 15, 2020 8:19:28 AM

Although I’ll be losing income from some of the following cancelled events (also listed on my Appearances page), I feel fortunate that this is not my livelihood, so I know the current situation of arts cancellations is much worse for others. And it’s even worse for arts organizations (not to mention other businesses) that are losing significant revenues at this time. The following cancellations, for me, are in addition to monthly meetings of SoulFood Poetry Night and the Redmond Association of Spokenword, both of which I curate, plus Haiku Northwest and Artist’s Personal Exchange meetings, some already cancelled, with more expected. And it takes effort even to orchestrate these changes. These cancellations are lifestyle, community, and even identity losses that contribute to a general malaise and disappointment, which I’m sure anyone in the broad artistic community can relate to. It’s heartbreaking. And even sadder to know this is happening in much of the world. I’m sure, too, that it’s worse for others than it is for me, and I probably can’t feel all your pain. I keep telling myself that I can use this newly opened time to create, to read, to write, but I hardly feel like it, at least not yet. How about you?

I can’t even go skiing instead, since (locally to the Seattle area) Stevens Pass, Crystal Mountain, Snoqualmie Summit have all closed for the season (as have a few other ski areas in this region. My racquetball club is still open, but art galleries and museums (though not all) are closed all over, and some businesses have reduced hours. Even the Space Needle is closed. It’s all such a denial to who many of us are in how we define ourselves and a denial of many of the things we live for. What a mess.

Recent and Upcoming Cancellations:

    • 7 March 2020: CANCELLED. Ekphrastic writing workshop, Centro Cultural Mexicano, Redmond, Washington.

    • 21 March 2020: CANCELLED. Visual Poetry Zines: community reception and celebration, with a reading of ekphrastic writing (from 7 March 2020 event), Centro Cultural Mexicano, Redmond, Washington.

    • 26 March 2020: CANCELLED. Facilitating the Kirkland Writers Circle, Kirkland Library, Kirkland, Washington.

    • 27 March 2020: CANCELLED. Featured poet, with Lorraine Healy, in the Pelican Bay Reading Series at Pelican Bay Books, Anacortes, Washington.

    • 3 April 2020: CANCELLED. Opening reception for “Ars Poetica: Fiber Art and Poetry,” where my poem “How to Respond to a Haiku” appears in a fiber-art interpretation by Mary Ann Tollefson as part of a National Poetry Month exhibit sponsored by the Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network (BARN), Bainbridge Island, Washington.

    • 4 April 2020: CANCELLED. “Not for Mostpeople: E. E. Cummings Comes to Town” keynote lecture at the Inland Poetry Prowl, Ellensburg, Washington.

    • 11 April 2020: CANCELLED. “Haiku and the Art of Forest Bathing” presentation, Redmond Library, Redmond, Washington.

    • 18–19 April 2020: CANCELLED. Leading haiku walks and workshops, giving mainstage readings, installing “Haiku on Sticks,” haiku chalk art, my Haikuseum, and more, at the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival’s “Sakura Days Japan Fair,” VanDusen Botanical Garden, Vancouver, British Columbia.

At Risk (I fear that these events will also be cancelled):

    • 5 April 2020: Opening reception for the APex (Artist’s Personal Exchange) “No Criticism” art exhibit (featuring one of my photographs) at Centro Cultural Mexicano, Redmond, Washington.

    • 11 April 2020: Staffing a haiku table for the Family Saturday event at the Seattle Japanese Garden, Seattle, Washington.

    • 12 April 2020: “My Haiku Academia” workshop at the 2020 Sakura-Con anime festival at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle.

    • 22 April 2020: “Attention: Celebrating Mary Oliver’s Poetry” presentation, in commemoration of Earth Day, Kirkland Library, Kirkland, Washington.

    • 23 April 2020: Facilitating the Kirkland Writers Circle, Kirkland Library, Kirkland, Washington.

    • 25 April 2020: Leading a haiku workshop and Zen retreat with Kate McCandless at Blue Mountain Zendo, Mission, British Columbia.

    • 26 April 2020: “Going Nowhere: Learning Haiku from Pico Iyer” presentation for the Vancouver Haiku Group at the Vancouver Public Library, Vancouver, British Columbia.

    • 26 April 2020: “The Nature of Haiku” free public workshop at the Vancouver Public Library, Vancouver, British Columbia.

How long will this last?

UPDATE (18 March 2020): Nearly all of the preceding at-risk events have now also been cancelled.