HAIKU NORTH AMERICA

If New Mexico is the Land of Enchantment and Santa Fe is the City Different, The Heron's Nest Associate Editor Scott Mason proposes that haiku poetry might just be the State of Wonder. Drawing from examples from The Heron's Nest over the years, which he has collected in his new book, The Wonder Code, published by Girasole Press, Mason discusses how "a state of wonder" speaks to a deeper truth about haiku than any more clinical discussion of the form or its components ever could.  He categorizes haiku into five types of wonder and provided examples of each type.  

Think Small
 (Theme Song: My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music)

peony buds--
can an ant
relax?
  - John Stevenson

Mason feels that "think small" poems stand in stark contrast to one of the prevailing values of Western, and especially American, culture: namely, the perceived need to “Think Big” and thus provide a counter-balance to the cultural bias.

Come To Your Senses
(Theme Song: I Can See Clearly Now  by Johnny Nash)

the tickle of bristles
I cover-up
my hickey
 - Yvette Nicole Kolodji

R. H. Blyth called haiku “a door half-opened, a mirror wiped clean.”  Thinking of it this way, haiku can help us "come to our senses" once again. 

Feel The Moment
(Theme Song: Anthem by Leonard Cohen)

winter night
the slow circling
of the bar rag
 - Bill Kenney

With advances in technology, our lives have become more busy not less so.  To paraphrase Basho, haiku allows us to focus on "what's happening right here, right now."

Prepare For Surprise
(Theme Song:Surprise, Surprise by Bruce Springsteen)

sudden gust--
the book opens to a poem
I like even better
 - Carolyn Hall

This group of haiku also operates counter to the prevailing cultural tendency to feel vulnerable by surprise, an thus trying to limit, predict, control it, instead of finding delight in the unexpected..

Only Connect
(Theme Song:We Are The World  or Circle of Life from the Lion King?)

migrating whales
all our footprints
wash away
 - paul m

The fifth category is perhaps a "meta-category" in that it encompasses all good haiku, which allows the reader to make a connection between the two parts of the haiku, and also between ourselves and the world.   Mason ended his presentation by inviting all to experience the wonder of life through haiku, with his final statement, "Life awaits...may its wonder be with you."

Ruth Yarrow delivered the keynote speech, "Skin Tones are Earth Tones," on Thursday morning from the Kiva Room (the main conference room for HNA at the Santa Fe Hotel, Hacienda, and Spa).  While affirming that the concept of race is a biological illusion, she shared haiku by many poets that revealed the ways bias and power in our society, based on skin color, affects all of our lives.

Ruth Yarrow is an environmental educator, activist, and organizer for peace, justice, and a sustainable planet.  She has been writing haiku for over forty years and has had six books of haiku published.  She lives in Ithaca, New York, near her two children and their families.  On Friday evening, she also read from her book, Lit From Within, as part of the Kaleidoscope readings.  Lit From Within received a Touchstone Distinguished Book Award from the Haiku Foundation.

                                              News Bulletin #16, September 21, 2017

This the 16th—post-conference—bulletin about Haiku North America conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 13–17 September 2017. We have a few items to add to our erlier postings.

Previous News Bulletins are posted on the HNA blog and our Facebook and Twitter pages. Please check there if you have missed a posting.

*  *  *  *  *

It Happened!

We are enormously proud of what took place in Santa Fe last week and most grateful to you all for coming and making it such a joyous occasion. It is you who made the conference!

*  *  *  *  *

Special Winners

There are really too many high points to enumerate here, but we need to report some special winners:

Scott Mason held the winning raffle ticket and took home the wonderful painting donated by Santa Fe artist William Berra. This painting also served as a prompt for the haiku contest, and at the banquet, Bill stood up and said how touched and amazed he was to have so many people writing about his painting!

The winners of the haiku contest were

Agnes Eva Savich — First Place

            evening falls
            with every breath
            another color

Don Wentworth — Second Place

            standing tall
            mountain to mountain
            shoulder to shoulder

Sandi Pray — Third Place

            grandmother’s shawl
            comforting a child
                        mesa twilight

Honorable Mentions (unranked)
 
Marcyn Clements

            Flame Skimmer
            wings steal
            the light of sunrise

Tom Painting

            powdered
            to create paint
            the hematite hills

Congratulations to the contest winners, gratitude to the donors of the prizes, and many thanks to the contest judges, Kathy Munro and Gary Hotham and the contest organizer, Sharon Rhutasel Jones.

*  *  *  *  *

Silent Auction and Book Fair results
 
Cynthia hasn’t yet drawn up the final figures, but we know both the Silent Auction and the Book Fair did extraordinarily well. The Silent Auction netted about $2,200 to benefit Haiku North America. At the Book Fair you guys exchanged more than $14,000 worth of books and other merchandise — none of that goes to HNA, of course. Please be patient about receiving your payouts; Cynthia has been flattened by a bad cold and can only put in an hour or so of work a day. Again thanks to all donors to the Silent Auction (especially Carolyn Lamb for all the wonderful items from the estate of her mother, Elizabeth Searle Lamb) and participants in the Book Fair.

*  *  *  *  *

List of Attendees
 
If you would like a list of conference attendees and their place of residence, please request one from me at trumbullc@comcast.net. On the other hand, if you would not want your name and city & state of residence (no e-mails) be passed around please let me know right away.

*  *  *  *  *

How’d We Do?
 
We would really like to have your frank assessment of the conference to help in planning future HNAs. Please take a few minutes to let us know your experiences and opinions on these questions:

1. What were the two or three most valuable sessions?
2. What were the two or three least valuable sessions?
3. Scope and balance of the presentations; what topics did you not find?
4. Views of the Book Fair, Silent Auction, and other events
5.  Feedback on the hotel (rooms, food, meeting rooms, etc.)
6. Feedback on the pre- and post-conference tours (Georgia O’Keeffe Museum & Bandelier)
7. How could we improve future Haiku North America conferences?
8. Additional comments.

*  *  *  *  *

Mark Your Calendars!
 
The next HNA will be held in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in early August 2019.  We wish the new organizing committee — Lenard D. Moore, Dave Russo, Bob Moyer, Crystal Simone Smith, Terri French, and Julie Warther every success! And God bless them, each and every one!

*  *  *  *  *
Charles Trumbull (trumbullc@comcast.net)
​for the HNA 2017 Organizing Committee
 

Editors Michael Dylan Welch (left) and Scott Wiggerman (right) launched the 2017 Haiku North America anthology, Earthsigns, on Thursday at 9:00 am in the Kiva Room at the Santa Fe Hotel. The entire anthology was read—participants who were present read their own haiku, and Welch and Wiggerman read the poems of those who hadn't arrived yet.

The anthology will be tweeted throughout the conference/following the conference until the entire anthology is tweeted. We will be using #HNA2017 for the conference, so please tweet your photos and memories, too!