Haiku Performances

Haiku: The Four Elements

Haiku Northwest members have compiled a collection of poems by its members titled “Haiku: The Four Elements,” containing haiku and senryu on the themes of earth, air, fire, and water. The program presents four readers with live music, most often performed with koto player Elizabeth Falconer. Haiku Northwest has performed this program at Seattle’s Northwest Folklife festival, Bumbershoot, the Seattle Cherry Blossom Festival, the Haiku North America conference, at Seattle’s Japanese Garden, and at other venues and events.

Haiku Northwest Folklife Podcast

Haiku Northwest first performed “Haiku: The Four Elements” in May of 2005 at Seattle’s Folklife festival. Folklife recorded the performance and featured it on their podcast site on January 28, 2008. This recording, almost 17 minutes long (16:46), features the performance’s fire and water sections, with haiku and senryu read by Connie Hutchison, Christopher Herold, Michael Dylan Welch, and Ruth Yarrow, accompanied by Elizabeth Falconer on koto. The poems are by various members of Haiku Northwest. You can also listen to or download this podcast at the Trumix site [link no longer works].

Haiku: Music and Sound

Haiku Northwest members have also compiled a collection of member poems about music and sound titled “Haiku: Music and Sound.” We performed this collection at Seattle’s Northwest Folklife festival in May of 2008, at the national quarterly meeting of the Haiku Society of America at Hugo House in June of 2008, and at the Japanese fall festival, Aki Matsuri, at Bellevue Community College in September of 2008. Musical accompaniment has been by Dejah Léger on guitar (Folklife and Hugo House) and by John and Elizabeth Falconer on shakuhachi and koto (Aki Matsuri).

Haiku Northwest on KSER Radio

On June 7, 2008, Haiku Northwest members were recorded at Seattle’s Green Lake Library for the KSER radio poetry show by J. Glenn Evans of PoetsWest. This program was broadcast on June 27, 2008 and is available at AudioPort. This broadcast included a selection of our “Music and Sound” haiku, with music by Dejah Léger, plus miscellaneous selections of haiku and commentary. In addition, another performance of the group’s “Music and Sound” haiku was recorded on June 27, 2009 at the national Haiku Society of America meeting held at Hugo House. This recording was broadcast on November 4, 2008 and is also available at AudioPort. Both programs are half an hour long. (Please note that the links will not let you listen to or download the audio, but are provided for Pacifica affiliate radio stations to download or play this audio under syndication agreements.)

If you would be interested in having Haiku Northwest perform haiku for you, whether on stage or in other settings, please contact haikunw1988@gmail.com or Michael Dylan Welch at WelchM@aol.com.