Woodnotes — #30

One highlight of Woodnotes #30 was John Budan’s interview with haiku pioneer James W. Hackett. Although Hackett and his wife had lived for decades in La Honda, California, thus in the San Francisco Bay Area, he was never involved with the Haiku Poets of Northern California. His tangential connections amounted to speaking at the 1993 Haiku North America conference, a haiku reading at Kinokuniya Bookstore, and an appearance in my “Haiku City” reading series. Consequently, some of the information in this interview felt revelatory. The interview covered aspects of his early life, his path to haiku, and some discussion of aesthetics, such as saying, “To me, muga (self-less-ness) is the highest quality of haiku.” The interview concluded with five previously unpublished haiku—especially uncommon when he had not published much new work since about 1983. Other highlights of the issue included three rengay and four more “Beginner’s Mind” pieces, plus an informative review of Makoto Ueda’s Modern Japanese Tanka by Alexandra Yurkovsky. The “Woodnotes” news section reported on the inauguration event of the American Haiku Archives in Sacramento, attended by about 70 people, a milestone event in Northern California haiku history. Meanwhile, at the end of the “Note from the Editor,” in which I expressed gratitude that Woodnotes had reached its seven-year milestone and its 30th issue, I said, “here’s to the next 30 issues!” As it turned out, there would be only one more.

Staff

• Editor: Michael Dylan Welch

• Tanka Editor: Pat Shelley

• Art Editor: Cherie Hunter Day

• Typesetting and layout: Michael Dylan Welch

• Cover and interior art: Cherie Hunter Day

Pages 52

Haiku/Senryu 108

Tanka 23

Haibun 1

Rengay 3

Essays 7

Reviews 1

Mini-Reviews 7

Editorials 1

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