April 2021 Quarterly Meeting

Haiku Northwest held its second quarterly meeting of the year on April 10, 2021, via Zoom, starting at 1:00 p.m. with a welcome by Michael Dylan Welch. A record number of 49 attendees included Chandra Bales, Cheryl Berrong, Richard Bruns, Terran Campbell, Theresa Cancro, Joseph Chiveny, Daphne Clifton, Rick Daddario, Janice Doppler, Gary Evans, Bill Fay, Peter Fischer, Ida Freilinger, Dianne Garcia, Sherry Grant, John S Green, Alan Harvey, Connie Hutchison, Lynne Jambor, Emily Kane, Carole MacRury, Curtis Manley, Scott Mason, Vicki McCullough, Tanya McDonald, Helen Ogden, Victor Ortiz, Christopher Patchel, Helen Pelton, Jamie Phelps, Joanna Pile, Geoff Pope, C. J. Prince, Patricia Schmolze, Maggie Smith, Carmen Sterba, Dennis Sullivan, Ron Swanson, Angela Terry, Kathleen Tice, Richard Tice, Corine Timmer, Julia Voinche, Diane Wallihan, Kim Weers, Michael Dylan Welch, Anne Weprin, Garry Wilson, and Kathabela Wilson. Of these participants, about 18 people were new to our Zoom gatherings.        After a few announcements, our first activity featured Christopher Patchel with a reading of micro-ku by various poets as well as his own work, which included selections from his book, Turn Turn, haibun, and a ten-verse sequence of haiku, each one describing a classic photograph. After that, attendees introduced themselves and shared haiku in two eight-minute breakout sessions, followed by a break.

        Next, Scott Mason gave an engaging and inspiring 50-minute presentation, “The Cor Curriculum: Lessons from the Works of an American Haiku Master,” exploring a selection of Cor van den Heuvel’s haiku. The first lesson, “Overlook Nothing,” focused on the poet’s microscopic observations, particularly in nature. In “Discover the Magic,” Scott read examples of van den Heuvel’s “impressionistic” haiku. “Capture the Mood” centered on atmospheric haiku, many exhibiting the Japanese concept of yugen (a kind of mystery). The final lesson, “Explore Your Past,” highlighted nostalgic haiku. Many of these were about baseball.

        After another break, the meeting resumed at 3:00 p.m. with “Selected Haiga and Process,” a fascinating presentation by haiga artist Rick Daddario, based in Hawaii. He displayed many beautiful examples of his work, which he described as a marriage of image and haiku. The presentation showed how he made different image frames, his chop (seal), textures, and other elements, including manipulations of photographs and other art content, but focused mostly on displaying and reading his haiga.

        For about the last 40 minutes of the meeting, Tanya McDonald led a lively critique of haiku submitted by attendees. The meeting ended a little after 4:00 p.m., but about 20 people stayed on Zoom to see and discuss more of Rick Daddario’s haiga from his thousands of examples. A good time was had by all.