Past Seabeck Retreats

The Seabeck Haiku Getaway began in 2008 and has accumulated a rich history. We’ve added various traditions over the years and migrated to increasingly larger meeting rooms to accommodate steadily increasing attendance. This page documents all our past retreats by year (most recent first). See also our Group Photos from each year, and “Ten Years of Seabeck Haiku Getaways,” an essay by event cofounder Michael Dylan Welch from our 2017 Seabeck anthology that provides detailed histories of each of our first ten retreats.

2024

Haiku Northwest’s 17th annual Seabeck Haiku Getaway took place October 24 to 27, 2024 at the Seabeck Conference Center, celebrating “Maps” as our theme and Crystal Simone Smith as our featured guest. A more complete summary will be added here later.

2023

Haiku Northwest’s 16th annual Seabeck Haiku Getaway took place October 26 to 29, 2023 at the Seabeck Conference Center, celebrating “Gifts of Nature” as our theme and Jeff Hoagland as our featured guest. Our Friday visit to Scenic Beach State Park turned out to be the windiest day in the history of our retreat, and the weekend was also one of our coldest. But the sun was bright all weekend, and the moon was bright at night too. As usual, we enjoyed a display of artwork by members of the Haiga Adventure Study Group of Puget Sound Sumi Artists, coordinated by Dorothy Matthews, with a special memorial for Fumiko Kimura, plus exhibits of haiku comics by David Lasky and John Burgess, and handmade art books by Terry Ann Carter and Joanna Thomas. One of our attendees, Hotei, surprised us by decorating our meeting space with dried plants. Susan Lee Roberts served as our registrar this year, welcoming everyone at the Historic Inn lobby for registration on Thursday afternoon. After dinner together, our weekend began at the Pines meeting room with Michael Dylan Welch inviting attendees to celebrate all the gifts of nature, followed by our “Common Ground” icebreaker activity. Then Jeff Hoagland read poems from his new Scent of Juniper book. After that, we had the first of four “Write Now” instant writing exercises, by Alan Harvey. Later “Write Now” prompts were provided (one per day) by Lisa Gerlits, Connie Hutchison, and Helen Ogden. Aidan Castle curated the prompts, which focused on animals, rivers, gardens, and mountains—all gifts of nature. This was followed by memorial tributes to Bob Redmond (led by Michael) and Fumiko Kimura (by David Berger), and an unscheduled and poignant haibun message from John S Green (who was not attending this year), currently evacuated from Bethlehem in Palestine to Amman, Jordan because of the Gaza war. These activities gave the start of our retreat a sombre tone, but we did our best to brighten the rest of our weekend, starting with rounds of haiku reading, where we took turns tagging the next reader, with guitar improvisations by Jacob Salzer. We ended the evening with an anonymous workshop led by Captain Haiku, and socializing in the lobby (some wine might have been involved). A new activity on Friday morning was a sunrise nature walk led by Jeff, before breakfast. David gave an overview presentation on haiku comics. John Burgess then debuted his haiku comic on Santōka. Lucien Zell then talked about how writing haiku empowers writing anything, complete with music from his shruti box. Before lunch, Jeff talked about how all of us can become naturalists through our haiku. Our afternoon activity focused mostly on visiting Scenic Beach State Park, less than ten minutes away. We had visited as a group on our first getaway in 2008 but hadn’t been there since. At the park, we first met at the park’s historic Emel House, and Alice Frampton (cofounder of our Seabeck haiku weekends) showed up—it was the house she grew up in when she was a child. State park ranger Valerie Spreadborough gave us an historical overview of the house and park. Jeff then led a nature walk celebrating the wonder of nature, and we all wondered if the howling wind would die down, but whitecaps kept streaking across the sound by the park. We then huddled at the picnic shelter for haiku readings by Peter Fischer, Aidan Castle, and Annette Makino, plus a reading from a new book of rengay by Cheryl Berrong, Angela Terry, and Sharon Young (Tanya McDonald read Sharon’s verses, since Sharon wasn’t able to attend). In the late afternoon we returned to the Seabeck Conference Center, where David gave a craft workshop on haiku comics, and we tried making our own. After dinner, we held our annual Seabeck kukai, which was won by P. H. Fischer, with Lisa Gerlits, Jacquie Pearce, and Richard Tice tying for second. Rodney Jones played his wooden flute for us while we considered all the poems. We ended the evening with rengay writing and socializing late into the night. On Saturday, we took turns reading our haiku for a video, and then Jacquie Pearce led an anonymous workshop. This time we had two hats for submissions, one of which was for those who had never done this sort of workshop before. Jeff closed the morning with “Finding Yourself on the Web of Life,” a presentation that he described as “part ecology lesson, part reading, and part hands-on workshop.” After lunch, Michael Dylan Welch shared a PowerPoint showcasing 20 years of Porad Award winners. We then announced the 2023 Porad Award winners, with first place going to Frank Hooven. Billie Wilson was our judge, and the results were announced by contest coordinator Angela Terry, with piano music by Terry Ann Carter. After our annual group photo, we had free time to explore the beach, the lagoon, the woods, and the historic cemetery. At the beach, Michelle Schaefer led an activity on balancing rocks, while others looked for all 20 of the haiku plaques permanently installed around the conference center campus. We enjoyed three haiku readings next, by Jacquie Pearce, Jim Rodriguez (with music), and Lucien Zell, followed by Michael reading longer poems about haiku and haiku poets. Next up was a panel discussion on “The Nature of Nature,” led by Michael Dylan Welch. Panelists were Terran Campbell, Terry Ann Carter, Jeff Hoagland, Curtis Manley, Ce Rosenow, and Jacob Salzer. After that lively discussion, Michael spoke on “Lorine Niedecker’s Exchange for Haiku.” Michael invited attendees to try writing their own “Niedecku.” After dinner, we wrapped up our usual silent auction, which raised a healthy amount of money to help with our expenses, thanks to the generosity of our attendees. Our book fair also did very well, with many tables festooned with book by attendees, and our freebie tables gained and lost bunches of trifolds, books, and other giveaways. Our evening activities celebrated Haiku Northwest’s 35th anniversary with a cake, and then focused on everyone describing their “Encounters with Nature,” moderated by Michael, followed by a night walk to the waterfront, led by Jeff, to view the full moon. We had hoped to see the aurora borealis but were out of luck, but we did get to stir up phosphorescence in the sand and water at the edge of the lagoon. We wound down on Sunday with a workshop by Aidan Castle on surrealism in haiku, then an activity led by Jeff on gratitude—with dozens and dozens of sticky notes on our whiteboard. Jeff’s guided conversation segued well into our final session where we shared weekend highlights. We enjoyed lunch together at the dining hall, and then, after long goodbyes, we went our separate ways, looking forward to another superb retreat next year.


2022

Haiku Northwest’s 15th annual Seabeck Haiku Getaway took place October 27 to 30, 2022 at the Seabeck Conference Center, celebrating the theme of crossing borders, which in part honored our Canadian guests who had not been able to visit since 2019, and our featured guest, Cristina Rascón, visiting from Veracruz, Mexico. We met for the first time in the new Pines building, where we were very pleased with the meeting facilities and accommodations. Thursday’s skies were overcast but not rainy, but we all brought our sunshine to the Historic Inn when registration started at 4:00 p.m., with our new registrar, John S Green, welcoming everyone. We had about 62 people in attendance, a jump from 2021 when our attendance was reduced by the pandemic and the Canadian border still being mostly closed. Among our attendees were 18 first-timers, who we eagerly welcomed. Poets attending came from Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska, Montana, New Mexico, Missouri, Georgia, New York, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Mexico. Again, we required full vaccination of all attendees but wearing masks was optional, and most people did without. Thursday highlights included another active “Common Ground” icebreaker, a “Haiku Tag,” round-reading with guitar improvisations by Jacob Salzer, and a featured reading of haiku by Cristina Rascón, who read her poems in both Spanish and English. Gary Evans led us in the first of our “Write Now” generative writing and sharing exercises, three others over the weekend being led by Elaine Miller Bond, Michelle Schaefer, and David Watts. Not many people participated in the late-evening anonymous workshop on this first evening, but a few folks did enjoy socializing in one of the new lobby areas in the Pines building. Our day on Friday began with “Croatian Haiku,” a PowerPoint presentation by Michael Dudley exploring haiku by leading Croatian poets plus poems from his new collaborative book, Nexus Haiku, written with Tomislav Maretic and Dejan Pavlinovic. Later in the morning we enjoyed readings by Chuck Brickley (our featured guest from the year before), Helen Ogden, Nicholas Klacsanzky, Antoinette Cheung, and Lisa Gerlits, three of whom were Seabeck first-timers. Cristina Rascón then talked about “Mexican Haiku in First-Nation Languages.” After lunch in the dining hall, Lisa Gerlits led a workshop, “Haiku That Tell a Story,” in which she explored story elements such as conflict, character, and setting and how they can inform haiku. John Stevenson then led a rousing presentation and lively discussion on “Seeing a Definition of English-Language Haiku as an Open Question” (in other words, should haiku even be defined at all?), followed by Richard Tice’s presentation, “Cutting Haiku into Pieces,” about the common Japanese practice of employing a cut in haiku, creating a a two-part juxtaposition. Aidan Castle then led us through his useful “The Dragon in the Attic: Revision Tricks” workshop. We ended the afternoon with “Lost and Found: Haiku from Japanese Canadian Internment Camps” by Jacquie Pearce, presenting her extensive research and translations on this important subject. After dinner, Nicholas Klacsanzky took us to Europe with “Shining Wheat Fields: Haiku in Ukraine,” a timely and sobering presentation in light of the recent war in this region. We concluded the evening with an anonymous workshop led by Captain Haiku (Michael Dylan Welch)—and yes, he was wearing a cape. On Saturday morning, after a welcome and read-around of our haiku, Carole MacRury read about “Point Roberts: Life in Lockdown,” about her inability to cross borders during the pandemic and the unique geography of where she lives that made lockdown so difficult. This was followed by an energetic reading from This Morning’s Tides, the new anthology from the Commencement Bay Haiku group in Tacoma. Readers were Aidan Castle, Bill Fay, Dianne Garcia, Alan Harvey, Dorothy Matthews, Kathleen Tice, and Michael Dylan Welch. Our next event, just before lunch, was one of the highlights of the weekend, a panel discussion on “Crossing Borders” that focused on personal identity, inclusion, and all the possible borders we might cross quite aside from country to country. Panelists were Aidan Castle, Michael Dudley, Katharine Grubb, Nicholas Klacsanzky, Cristina Rascón, and Michelle Schaefer, with Tanya McDonald helping out as last-minute MC when organizer Terran Campbell was unable to attend. The presentations by each panelist were moving and thought-provoking. After lunch, Michelle Schaefer announced the winners of the 2022 Porad Awards (judged by Lenard D. Moore, who was not able to be present). Nicholas Klacsanzky and Jacob Salzer provided tabla music to celebrate the winning poems, which were also presented with the judge’s commentary in a trifold handout. We then took a group photo (it wasn’t raining!) in the amphitheater behind the Historic Inn and then enjoyed a nature walk, with many people following Jacob Salzer who emphasized paying attention to our five senses as we explored the conference center grounds and cultivated our haiku receptivity. Some folks headed up the hill in the woods, others to the historic cemetery, and others to the waterfront. On the distant Olympic Mountains, we enjoyed seeing fresh snow, which we don’t always see at this time of year. Our next presentation was another highlight, Cristina Rascón’s “How Haiku was Born in Hispanic-American Literature,” focusing on 1919 to 1940 and crossing genre borders. This talk was part of her PhD dissertation on haiku poetry in Mexico, and we were privileged to benefit from her research. Next up was a haibun reading by Maggie Chula and a reading from Jacquie Pearce’s marvelous anthology, Last Train Home. The team of readers paraded into our meeting room choo-chooing like a train and then took turns reading their train-themed poems. Readers, in order, were John Stevenson, Elizabeth-Ann Winkler, Rich Schnell, Carole MacRury, John S Green, Dianne Garcia, Angela Terry, Tanya McDonald, Gary Evans, Lynne Jambor, Nicholas Klacsanzky, David Berger, Kathleen Tice, Michael Dylan Welch, and Jacquie Pearce. This reading was delayed from being held in a previous year because of the pandemic, so we were pleased it finally happened. Next up, Christopher Herold presented the extraordinary Cascadia limited edition art book for which he had contributed haiku and haibun. He also invited us to take turns looking at this rare and valuable book at the front of the room. After this, Chuck Brickley led us on an exploration of “Why Haiku?”—deep questions about why we write. After dinner and then our wrap-up of the silent auction (which raised more than $700 this year), Michael Dylan Welch (who served as MC for the weekend) gave a presentation on “A Dying Art: Death Haiku in Japanese and English,” which was a fitting prelude to what was probably the weekend’s premier highlight, a ceremony of sorts for “Honoring Haiku Ancestors.” Those who wished to took turns bringing photos, mementos, or poems to place on an autumnly decorated altar and to talk about people (alive or deceased) who had set them on their haiku path. Many people also talked about loved ones who had passed away, sometimes spontaneously, making this a deeply moving collaboration. It was organized by Terran Campbell and Katharine Grubb, though Katharine ran it by herself in Terran’s absence. It was hard to shift gears emotionally after this activity, but we managed to take a break and then to spend the rest of the evening socializing. Our last day, Sunday, featured John Stevenson’s presentation, “The United Nations Student Haiku Contest,” another manifestation of haiku crossing borders. We ended our weekend with a writing workshop led by Cristina Rascón, focusing on Mexican season words for our inspiration. After cleanup and our last lunch in the dining hall, we began to say our goodbyes before heading home. As usual all weekend, we also enjoyed two well-stocked freebie tables (special thanks to all those who made haiku handouts to share with everyone), a thriving silent auction (thanks to all the generous donors), and several tables of books for sale. Upstairs, too, we also enjoyed another fine installation of haiga and sumi-e by the Haiga Adventure Study Group of the Puget Sound Sumi Artists, in celebration of their tenth anniversary of providing art installations for our haiku weekends, with much thanks to Dorothy Matthews for coordinating all these installations over the years. A display of 21 postcard greetings sent to us by haiku poets who could not attend were also on display. Some attendees noted that our Friday presentations tended to focus on the head, Saturday more on the heart, thus a balance of intellectual and emotional. We certainly experience a range of thoughts and feelings, making our 2022 retreat, many attendees said, perhaps the best ever.


2021

Haiku Northwest’s 14th annual Seabeck Haiku Getaway took place October 28 to 31, 2021 at the Seabeck Conference Center, focused on the theme of togetherness—a fitting theme amid our second pandemic year, and after the previous retreat took place on Zoom. Thursday and part of Friday gave us drenching rain, but Saturday and Sunday compensated with beautifully clear skies—and a rare frost on Sunday morning. Everyone was fully vaccinated and wore masks, and we had about 45 people in attendance (including a few spouses), a smaller attendance that enabled us to have all our chairs in a circle, meeting in the Colman building this year, because the new Pines building was still under construction and not quite ready for us. Chuck Brickley was our featured guest, and he gave a reading, led a workshop, explored his life and haiku influences in a wide-ranging interview (with photos and video) by Michael Dylan Welch, and Chuck inspired us in sharing personal stories about haiku fellowship. Other highlights Thursday and Friday included a “Common Ground” icebreaker, a “Haiku Tag,” round-reading with improvised guitar responses to our poems by Jacob Salzer, Richard Tice speaking about place names in haiku, Tanya McDonald delivering Ce Rosenow’s paper on new schools of American haiku (when Ce was unable to come), a group reading of 40+ postcards sent to us by friends who couldn’t attend this year, and then the writing and mailing of Seabeck Haiku Getaway postcards (shown above) to almost 90 people in response, orchestrated by Tanya McDonald. Angela Terry organized a scavenger hunt around the Seabeck campus, followed by an anonymous workshop led by Tanya, and on Friday evening Abigail Friedman surveyed moon-related haiku, then led us on a night walk over the lagoon’s wooden bridge out to the waterfront (decorated with many carved pumpkins). We looked for the aurora borealis, which was rumored to appear, but instead we appreciated constellations of bright stars. On Saturday we recorded a haiku read-around, Dorothy Matthews introduced the Haiga Adventure Study Group’s extensive haiga display, and we enjoyed a walk to the Cathedral in the Woods for haiku readings by Rich Schnell, Margaret Chula, Jacob Salzer, and Abigail Friedman. Ron Swanson also announced winners of the 2021 Porad Award (won by John Hawkhead), with tabla music by Jacob Salzer. After group photos in the amphitheater, backed by fall colors, John S Green organized a walk out to the historic cemetery, and then we reveled in Annette Makino’s presentation on haiga. Connie Hutchison won this year’s Seabeck kukai, followed by our silent auction wrap-up, an anonymous workshop led by Michael, and a reading from My Red by John Stevenson, complete with John’s video trailer for his new book. Then on Saturday evening we enjoyed a relaxed salon-style talent show (seated in a circle), with a surprise appearance by Carnac the Magnificent (John Green). Jacob played piano and we enjoyed a little singing, a selection of longer poems, and a few other surprises. Throughout the weekend, we also made the most of a book fair (four tables full of books), a table full of freebies, lots of snacks, and Write Now generative writing sessions presented by Jacob Salzer, Sam Blair, Aidan Castle, and Michael Dylan Welch. On Sunday, midway through breakfast, the power went out, and it didn’t come back on until noon. We tried rearranging our schedule to accommodate, despite being in the dark, starting off with Chuck’s presentation and a discussion of haiku fellowship, which turned out to be one of the highlights of the weekend, celebrating togetherness. At the end of this session, we presented Chuck with a gift book, handmade by Susan Callan, that all of us had secretly signed during the weekend. After a clean-up break, we concluded with Michael Dylan Welch’s talk on “Harold Henderson’s Grammar Haiku,” although without its accompanying PowerPoint, as the power was still out. We ended our weekend with lunch in the dining hall, wishing for the camaraderie to never end, but eventually going our separate ways under clear blue skies. We look forward to returning next year, without having to wear masks, and to meet for the first time in the brand-new Pines building.

 

2020

Our 2020 haiku retreat took a turn for Zoom when the coronavirus pandemic hit. Instead of being in person, we met October 30 to November 1, 2020 with a series of online events. This change enabled far more people to attend than would have been possible otherwise, resulting in 237 people registering, 173 of whom were first-timers (actual attendance was about 215). Our weekend theme, fitting for the year 2020, was “vision”—not just the sense of sight but how we can have vision for our own haiku and for haiku as a genre. A panel discussion on “Vision in Haiku,” facilitated by Michael Dylan Welch, featured Susan Antolin, Roberta Beary, Maxianne Berger, and Tom Painting (who was originally going to be our featured in-person guest). Additional speakers for the weekend, with workshops and presentations, included Brad Bennett, David Berger, Nicholas Klacsanzky, Yvette Nicole Kolodji, and Kala Ramesh. Tanya McDonald also facilitated an anonymous workshop, with commentary by Scott Mason, Kathy Munro, Ce Rosenow, and Angela Terry. Ron Swanson announced the winners of the 2020 Porad Award judged by Julie Warther, with first place won by Annette Makino. We also enjoyed haiku readings by Kelly Sauvage Angel, Annette Makino, Dorothy Matthews, Tanya McDonald, Tom Painting, Michael Rehling, Sally Penley, Cathy Tashiro, and Lew Watts (several of these readings included the presentation of haiga, especially a group reading by members of the Haiga Adventure Study Group). Chandra Bales and Bob Redmond also led generative Write Now sessions. During a couple of breaks, Michael Dylan Welch showed photos of Seabeck, including the Seabeck Haiku Walk plaques, to give a sense of being present in person. Participants entered 235 haiku for the anonymous kukai, and Nicholas Klacsanzky won first place. An impromptu talent show broke out during Saturday’s lunch break. We also enjoyed numerous breakout-room Zoom sessions for socializing, an open-mic read-around on the Friday night, and the virtual sharing of dozens of haiku handouts in PDF form, mailed to all attendees. In addition to a series of group photos on Zoom, a fun social activity was our Halloween Hats Celebration, with more group photos, where everyone was encouraged to wear a creative hat, definitely one of our most fun events of the weekend. More than 130 poets contributed to Paper Mountains, the 2020 Seabeck anthology, edited by Tanya McDonald and Kelly Sauvage Angel. After the weekend, Michael Dylan Welch provided a beginner haiku workshop to 80+ Seabeck attendees and others on November 28, 2020.

 

2019

Our 2019 haiku retreat featured Adam L. Kern and Ion Codrescu over the weekend of October 24–27, 2019, with “attention” as our theme. Additional speakers included Pat Benedict, David Berger, Terry Ann Carter, Margaret Chula, Gary Evans, Marco Fraticelli, William Scott Galasso, Christine Hemp, Connie Hutchison, Lynne Jambor, Roy Kindelberger,  kjmunro, Vicki McCullough, Tanya McDonald, Jacquie Pearce, Jim Rodriguez, Jacob Salzer, Crystal Simone Smith, Barbara Snow, Sheila Sondik, Carmen Sterba, John Stevenson, Ron Swanson, Angela Terry, Richard Tice, and Michael Dylan Welch. The primary highlight of the weekend was the unveiling of the “Seabeck Haiku Walk,” a series of twenty engraved plaques permanently installed around the Seabeck Conference Center grounds. We celebrated this installation with a walk around the campus to visit each plaque, where the poets read their poems, if they were present. As usual, we enjoyed haiga displays (including a special one from Ion Codrescu), our book fair and kukai and freebie tables, Write Now exercises, anonymous workshops, a panel discussion on the role of attention in haiku, talent show, late-night rengay (which veered off into the erotic), and the announcement of the 2019 Porad Award winners. We also enjoyed a talk from Christine Hemp, as a special guest via the Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau. Adam Kern’s presentations focus on his Penguin Book of Haiku and his emphasis on senryu and other related forms that he proposes are more prominent in Japanese literary history than what we call haiku today. Ion Codrescu gave several presentations relating to his art and his haiku. We had more than 65 people in attendance.

 

2018

Our 2018 haiku retreat featured Abigail Friedman over the weekend of October 25–28, 2018, with the sense of sight as our theme (wrapping up the fifth of the five senses). We enjoyed a record number of 83 attendees in celebrating the Haiku Society of America’s 50th anniversary (we were the society’s official 50th anniversary retreat). Additional speakers and featured readers included Ellen Ankenbrock, Shelley Baker-Gard, David Berger, Susan Callan, Terry Ann Carter, Lysa Collins, Susan Constable, Seren Fargo, Patrick Gallagher, Garry Gay, John Green, Connie Hutchison, Cara Izumi, Lynne Jambor, Deborah P Kolodji, Brenda Larsen, Carole MacRury, Dorothy Matthews, Vicki McCullough, Tanya McDonald, Margaret D. McGee, Angela Naccarato, Victor Ortiz, Linda Papanicolaou, Bob Redmond, Jim Rodriguez, Michele Root-Bernstein, Ce Rosenow, Jacob Salzer, Barbara Snow, Carmen Sterba, John Stevenson, Ron Swanson, Angela Terry, Richard Tice, Kathleen Tice, Michael Dylan Welch, and Carolyn Winkler. Activities included morning meditations, rengay writing, another labyrinth, a birding nature walk, anonymous haiku workshops, a haiga slide show, a talk about honey bees and haiku, a panel discussion on moving from sight to insight, a memorial reading for Johnny Baranski, various other readings (this time at the campfire circle), numerous “Write Now” writing exercises, the announcement of the 2018 Porad Award winners, an artist book craft activity, and our usual silent auction, bookfair, and anonymous workshops. We also enjoyed another sumi-e and haiga exhibit coordinated by the Haiga Adventure Study Group of Puget Sound Sumi Artists, this time focusing on haiku “mobiles,” plus our seventh annual talent show.

 

2017

Our 2017 haiku retreat featured Scott Mason over the weekend of October 26–29, 2017. Additional speakers and featured readers included Johnny Baranski, David Berger, Melinda Brottem, Terry Ann Carter, Susan Constable, Elehna de Sousa, Darlene Dihel, Julie Emerson, Ida Freilinger, Lynne Jambor, Nicholas Klacsanzky, Ruth Marcus, Dorothy Matthews, Vicki McCullough, Tanya McDonald, Jacquie Pearce, James Rodriguez, Michelle Schaefer, Hao Shen, Barbara Snow, John Stevenson, Angela Terry, Richard Tice, Kathleen Tice, Jessica Tremblay, Michael Dylan Welch, Kathabela Wilson, and Rick Wilson. Our activities included numerous “Write Now” writing exercises, the announcement of the 2017 Porad Award winners, beginning and advanced workshops, haiga presentations, readings (again, one in the Cathedral in the Woods), a lagoon walk, craft activities, and our usual silent auction, bookfair, and anonymous workshops. We also enjoyed a sumi-e and haiga exhibit coordinated by the Haiga Adventure Study Group of Puget Sound Sumi Artists, and our sixth annual talent show.

 

2016

Our 2016 haiku retreat featured Sonja Arntzen over the weekend of October 27–30, 2016. Additional speakers and featured readers included Ellen Ankenbrock, Shelley Baker-Gard, Chandra Bales, Johnny Baranski, David Berger, Terran Campbell, Margaret Chula, Darlene Dihel, Jay Friedenberg, Diane Garcia, Katharine Grubb Hawkinson, Lynne Jambor, Richard John Lynn, Annette Makino, Maya Makino, Dorothy Matthews, Vicki McCullough, Tanya McDonald, Hisao Mogi, Leanne Mumford, Angela Naccarato, Jacquie Pearce, Jim Rodriguez, Barbara Snow, John Stevenson, Angela Terry, Richard Tice, Chrissi Villa, Michael Dylan Welch, and Carolyn Winkler. Our activities included numerous “Write Now” writing exercises, the announcement of the 2016 Porad Award winners, beginning and advanced workshops, haiga presentations, readings (again, one in the Cathedral in the Woods), a mushroom walk, a tea ceremony, renku writing, craft activities, and Day of the Dead and Halloween activities, plus our usual silent auction, bookfair, and anonymous workshops. A standout event was our night walk to the cemetery with a surprise visit from a “ghost” sharing death haiku in the dark (described in a blog post by Kara Simon). We also enjoyed a sumi-e and haiga exhibit coordinated by the Haiga Adventure Study Group of Puget Sound Sumi Artists, and our fifth annual talent show—surely our best ever.

 

2015

Our 2015 haiku retreat featured Randy Brooks over the weekend of October 1–4, 2015. Additional speakers and featured readers included Lorna Cahall, Patty Hardin, Katharine Grubb Hawkinson, Erica Akiko Howard, Chuck Kraining (executive director of the Seabeck Conference Center), Annette Makino, Dorothy Matthews, Tanya McDonald, Jacquie Pearce, James Rodriguez, Ce Rosenow, Michelle Schaefer, Carmen Sterba, Angela Terry, Sandy Thompson, Richard Tice, Michael Dylan Welch, Janet Whitney, Kathabela Wilson, Elizabeth-Ann Winkler, and others. Our activities included another renkurama, a “Haiku Handshake,” the announcement of the 2015 Porad Award winners, beginning and advanced workshops, haiga presentations, readings (including one in the Cathedral in the Woods), t’ai chi and hokey-pokey breaks, nature walks, an erotic haiku workshop (since touch was our theme for the weekend), plus our usual silent auction, bookfair, and anonymous workshops. We also enjoyed a sumi-e and haiga exhibit coordinated by the Haiga Adventure Study Group of Puget Sound Sumi Artists, and our fourth annual talent show.

 

2014

Our 2014 haiku retreat featured Alan Pizzarelli over the weekend of October 16–19, 2014. Additional speakers and featured readers included Donna Beaver, Susan Callan, Terry Ann Carter, Susan Constable, Aubrie Cox, Christopher Herold, Deborah P Kolodji, Chuck Kraining (executive director of the Seabeck Conference Center), Carole MacRury, Tanya McDonald, Margaret D. McGee, RaNae Merrill, Bob Moyer, Kathy Munro, James Rodriguez, Michelle Schaefer, John Stevenson, Angela Terry, Richard Tice, Jessica Tremblay (our cartoonist-in-residence), Karma Tenzing Wangchuk, Michael Dylan Welch, and others. With this retreat we began having sensory themes each year, starting this year with sound. Our activities included another renkurama, a haiku labyrinth, the announcement of the 2014 Porad Award winners, a daytime nature walk and a night haiku walk with lanterns, plus our usual silent auction, bookfair, and anonymous workshops. We also enjoyed a sumi-e and haiga exhibit coordinated by the Haiga Adventure Study Group of Puget Sound Sumi Artists, and our third annual talent show.

 

2013

Our 2013 haiku retreat featured Canadian haiku poet Marco Fraticelli over the weekend of October 10–13, 2013. Additional speakers and featured readers included Michael Dylan Welch, Angela Terry, Kathabela Wilson, Richard Tice, Jessica Tremblay (our cartoonist-in-residence), Margaret D. McGee, Tanya McDonald, Susan Constable, Vicki McCullough, Annette Makino, Kozue Uzawa, Terry Ann Carter, Dianne Garcia, Nancy Dahlberg, James Rodriguez, Alice Frampton, Carmen Sterba, Johnny Baranski, Jacquie Pearce, and others. Our activities included another renkurama, a haiku labyrinth, the announcement of the 2013 Porad Award winners, a couple of outdoor haiku walks, and our usual silent auction, bookfair, and anonymous workshops. We also enjoyed another sumi-e and haiga exhibit coordinated by the Haiga Adventure Study Group of Puget Sound Sumi Artists, and our second annual talent show, coordinated by Dejah Léger.

 

2012

Our 2012 haiku retreat featured Paul Miller, incoming editor of Modern Haiku, over the weekend of October 11–14, 2012. Additional speakers and featured readers included Michael Dylan Welch, Tanya McDonald, Angela Terry, Cara Holman, Terri L. French, Jim Swift, Carole MacRury, Johnny Baranski, Margaret McGee, Dianne Garcia, Barry George, and others. Our activities included another renkurama, a panel discussion, the announcement of the 2012 Porad Award winners, a couple of outdoor haiku walks, and our usual silent auction, bookfair, and anonymous workshops. We also enjoyed a sumi-e and haiga exhibit coordinated by the Haiga Adventure Study Group of Puget Sound Sumi Artists, plus their hands-on haiga workshop, and our first-ever talent show, coordinated by Dejah Léger.

 

2011

Our 2011 haiku retreat featured John Stevenson, editor of The Heron's Nest, over the weekend of October 13–16, 2011. Additional speakers included Michael Dylan Welch, Tanya McDonald, Susan Constable, Cara Holman, and Angela Terry, with activities such as our first renkurama, the creation of a beautiful holographic (handmade) retreat anthology, a presentation on weathergrams by Barbara Snow, the announcement of the 2011 Porad Award winners, a couple of outdoor haiku walks, and our usual silent auction, bookfair, and anonymous workshops.

 

2010

Our 2010 haiku retreat featured Charles Trumbull, editor of Modern Haiku, over the weekend of November 4–7, 2010—and we added an extra day, to start on Thursday evening. This gave us more time for renku and other activities, more time between events, and a more relaxed weekend.

 

2009

Haiku Northwest held its second annual haiku retreat on the weekend of October 16–18, 2009 at the Seabeck Conference Center. Our featured speaker was Penny Harter, and additional speakers included Christopher Herold, Michael Dylan Welch, Ce Rosenow, Debbie Kolodji, Richard Tice, Margaret D. McGee, and more. This year we began a new tradition of publishing an annual Seabeck anthology, making up for lost time by publishing two this year. See the cool video!

 

2008

Haiku Northwest held its first annual haiku retreat on the weekend of October 10–12, 2008 at the Seabeck Conference Center. Our featured speaker was Emiko Miyashita, visiting from Japan, and additional speakers included Christopher Herold, Margaret Chula, Alice Frampton, Michael Dylan Welch, and more.