Embedded Files
For our 2009 Seabeck haiku retreat, Haiku Northwest published these three publications for retreat attendees (these publications are not for sale). This photo is by Naia, who also publicized the following descriptions of these publications upon receiving them a couple of months after the retreat. Naia's comments are reprinted here with her permission.
The Seeing Stars book also won the “Best Anthology” award in the 2010 Kanterman Book Awards (for books published in 2009), sponsored by the Haiku Society of America. See comments on the book by the judge, Mike Dillon.
by Naia, Oceanside, California
Several days ago I received the much-anticipated keepsake books made specially for we poets who attended the 2009 Seabeck Haiku Getaway in Washington State in October of 2009. To say that these keepsake books were made with care is an understatement. Upon opening each of the three, I was instantly transported back to those wonderful several days spent at the rustic Seabeck Conference Center with a group of lovely and talented poets!
These are limited-edition keepsake books, containing collections prepared for private sharing with retreat attendees, so I won’t be sharing the contents. However what I hope you will perceive is the very special care with which this retreat was planned and carried off.
First Book: The book on the right in the image above recounts a tan renga exercise facilitated by Penny Harter, Christopher Herold, and Karma Tenzing Wangchuk (pictured left to right on the cover). Not only does this keepsake book titled Seabeck Tan-renga recount those verses accepted by the panel, but it also contains post-retreat commentary by Christopher Herold on each selected verse.
Second Book: The book in the middle is titled Seeing Stars and contains Galactiku and other star-related poems written during the retreat in response to an exercise led by Penny Harter. This keepsake book is edited by Michael Dylan Welch using paper wonderful to the sight and touch and reminiscent of the night sky. As you can see in the image, the book is hand bound . . . what you can’t see is that on the back cover Michael included the group photo we all took outside our meeting room. Seeing all those faces again takes me right back to Seabeck. I’m already looking forward to the next getaway scheduled for November 4 to 7, 2010!
Third Book: The book on the left is titled Woolly Bears & Cedar Flashing and is edited by Tanya McDonald. The title alone brings back fond memories of our discussions about woolly bears (fuzzy caterpillars) and about the rust-colored swatches on the area cedar trees. This book, too, is hand-bound (you can see one of the ties at the bottom of the image), and the paper just inside the front and back covers is a metallic rust color. Amazing. The book contains haiku and haibun we wrote during the retreat. Printed on the first page: “A Collection of Haiku to Commemorate the Haiku Northwest Seabeck Haiku Getaway October 16–18, 2009” and I can’t think of a more special way to do so than to sit occasionally with these three awesome keepsake books.
Special thanks to Tanya McDonald and Michael Dylan Welch for capping off a delicious retreat by creating and sending to us these beautiful keepsake books!
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