Seabeck Haiku Getaway 2023 Schedule

Welcome to Seabeck!

We’ve developed a great schedule for you at the 2023 Seabeck Haiku Getaway! Our weekend theme is “gifts of nature,” and our featured guest is naturalist Jeff Hoagland, visiting from Hopewell, New Jersey, who will give several featured presentations and workshops, and lead us on several nature walks (morning, noon, and night). And we’re also thrilled to have David Lasky talk about haiku comics, and Lucien Zell visiting from Prague. Other events include writing workshops, anonymous critique sessions, readings, presentations, haiku writing time, a panel discussion, and more. Write Now sessions are brief haiku writing exercises, and we’ll have four of them this weekend (on nature themes of animals, rivers, gardens, and mountains), where we invite you to write spontaneously. All events take place in the Pines building unless indicated otherwise, with meals at the dining hall. Fall colors will be vibrant, too! If you have silent auction or book fair items to set up, you can do so at any time. Please also prepare a haiku handout or trifold to share with about 65 attendees (optional). See you at Seabeck!

• • Visit our 2023 registration page

  • Visit our 2023 general information page

  • Visit Seabeck Details (everything else you need to know—important stuff)

  • Learn about Getting to Seabeck (ask us if you need travel advice)

On display all weekend in the Pines building (upstairs):

• • “Haiga Adventure” 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

  • Haiku comics by David Lasky and John Burgess

  • Handmade art books by Terry Ann Carter and Joanna Thomas

  • Haiku postcards plus your own haiga if you have any to show

Weekend theme: Gifts of Nature

The following schedule is subject to minor revisions.

Thursday, October 26, 2023

4:00 p.m.         Check in starts at the Historic Inn

6:00 p.m.         Dinner

7:00 p.m.         Welcome by Michael Dylan Welch

7:20 p.m.         Common Ground (icebreaker)

7:30 p.m.         Jeff Hoagland: “Scent of Juniper” (reading)

A brief walk through some habitats in Jeff’s backyard in the Piedmont region of New Jersey.

7:50 p.m.         Write Now — Alan Harvey: “Celestial Dance” [animals]

8:05 p.m.         Remembering Bob Redmond, led by Michael Dylan Welch

8:15 p.m. Tribute to Fumiko Kimura, led by David Berger

We’ll have opportunities all weekend to create memorial weathergrams (with your own tribute haiku) for Bob and Fumiko.

8:25 p.m.         Break (visit the haiga installation upstairs)

8:40 p.m.         “Haiku Tag” round of haiku reading

Share a haiku of your own and then tag someone to read their poem next, with mood-matching guitar improvisations by Jacob Salzer.

9:30 p.m.         Anonymous Workshop, led by Captain Haiku

Friday, October 27, 2023

7:15 a.m.         Jeff Hoagland: “Sunrise Nature Walk: Wakening the Senses” (meet at Pines)

Greet the day and wake the senses though a series of simple exercises as we take a morning walk that’s part meditative and part informative. Sunrise is at 7:47 a.m. Bring flashlights. Rain or shine.

8:00 a.m.         Breakfast

9:00 a.m.         Write Now — Lisa Gerlits: “Follow the Flow” [rivers]

9:15 a.m.         David Lasky: “An Introduction to Haiku Comics”

What are haiku comics? Graphic novelist David Lasky presents examples of this relatively new (or is it?) hybrid art form. He will also show some of his own haiku comics and talk about his work teaching this blend of haiku and comic strips.

9:40 a.m.         John Burgess: “Super Haiku Hero Santōka in 10 Lessons” a DIY haiku comic (with zine giveaway!)

9:50 a.m.         Break

10:00 a.m.       Lucien Zell: “DNA is AND Backwards: How Writing Haiku Empowers Writing Anything”

If poets do more with less, haiku poets do the most with the least. “Caress the detail, the divine detail,” wrote the butterfly-collecting Russian novelist Nabokov. Zell explores how haiku’s laser-sharp focus cracks the atom of writing, leading to explosions of prose that can be nuclear.

10:50 a.m.       Break

11:00 a.m.       Jeff Hoagland: “Becoming a Naturalist”

Through this autobiographical tale and reading, we will journey with Jeff as he maintains and fortifies his relationship with nature from his childhood to the present. Learn some simple techniques and practices that will bring nature even closer to your heart, including an indoor presentation followed by an outdoor activity.

12:00 noon     Lunch

1:00 p.m.         Depart promptly for Scenic Beach State Park (see PDF park brochure with map; see photos below)

A special treat for this weekend is a field trip to Seabeck’s nearby state park. We’ll carpool immediately after lunch, so be prepared to leave promptly from the dining hall. If you have a Washington State Parks pass (also known as a Discover Pass), please bring yours and let us know; if you can drive, please move your car to the dining hall before lunch.

1:20 p.m.         Assemble at the Scenic Beach State Park picnic shelter; orientation by Michael Dylan Welch and park ranger Valerie Spreadborough

1:30 p.m.         Jeff Hoagland: “Surrendering to Wonder” nature walk

Guided by our collective curiosity, we will discover some of the residents—plant, animal, and other—of Scenic Beach State Park. Enjoy natural gardens, a wooded walk, and the small oyster beach at Hood Canal, with views of the Olympic mountains. Low tide is at 10:11 a.m., high tide at 4:11 p.m. Rain or shine (bring umbrellas just in case).

2:40 p.m.         Break

2:50 p.m.         Haiku Readings (at picnic shelter) (10 minutes each for each set)

Peter Fischer, Aidan Castle (The Gossamer), and Annette Makino

Rengay from Nothing Gold Stays: A Year in the Garden by Cheryl Berrong, Angela Terry, and Sharon Young, with Sharon’s verses read by Tanya McDonald

3:30 p.m.         Depart for Seabeck (or depart later if you want to take the following break at the park)

4:00 p.m.         Break

4:30 p.m.         David Lasky: “Dipping Your Toe into Haiku Comics”

This craft workshop combines haiku and comic strips, for poets and artists (or nonartists) of all skill levels. We will look at examples of haiku on a certain theme, then write our own haiku on that theme. Instructor David Lasky will demonstrate how to draw some basic cartoon characters and forms and will provide guidance in creating a simple comic strip adaptation of your haiku poem in pencil. David will also demonstrate how you might (later) continue your haiku comic in ink and color.

6:00 p.m.         Kukai submissions due

Submit up to two haiku anonymously, on index cards (provided).

6:00 p.m.         Dinner

7:00 p.m.         2023 Seabeck Kukai, plus silent auction and bookfair breaks

Vote on your favorite haiku. Wooden flute music provided by Rodney Jones.

9:30 p.m.         Late-Night Rengay

Saturday, October 28, 2023

8:00 a.m.         Breakfast

9:00 a.m.         Welcome by Michael Dylan Welch

9:10 a.m.         Haiku Read-Around (one haiku each, for video recording)

9:30 a.m.         Write Now — Connie Hutchison: “The Garden: Two Views” [gardens]

9:45 a.m.         Anonymous Workshop, led by Jacquie Pearce

Contribute an anonymous poem into either of two hats, one for folks who have never done this before, the other for everyone else.

11:00 a.m.       Jeff Hoagland: “Finding Yourself on the Web of Life”

Celebrate biodiversity and our place in the web of life through this unique presentation—part ecology lesson, part reading, and part hands-on workshop.

12:00 noon     Lunch

1:00 p.m.         Porad Award Twentieth Anniversary Retrospective by Michael Dylan Welch

1:10 p.m.         2023 Porad Awards announced by contest coordinator Angela Terry,

   judged by Billie Wilson (not present), with piano music by Terry Ann Carter

1:30 p.m.         Group Photo (plus individuals/small groups)

1:45 p.m.         Free time!

Balance rocks at Salmon Bake Beach with Michelle Schaefer, or consider visiting the newly refurbished historic cemetery, exploring the wooded trails up the hill, finding all 20 of the haiku plaques around the campus, or exploring the lagoon and waterfront. Come back with discoveries (leaves, shells, driftwood, poems?) to display up front in our meeting space.

2:45 p.m.         Haiku Readings (10 minutes each)

Jacquie Pearce (The Warm Land), Jim Rodriguez (with music), Lucien Zell, and Michael Dylan Welch

3:25 p.m.         Break

3:40 p.m.         “The Nature of Nature” panel discussion, led by Michael Dylan Welch

Panelists: Terran Campbell, Terry Ann Carter, Jeff Hoagland, Curtis Manley, Ce Rosenow, and Jacob Salzer

4:40 p.m.         Break

4:50 p.m.         Michael Dylan Welch: “Lorine Niedecker’s Exchange for Haiku”

In the 1950s, in the context of the Objectivist school of poetry, and with influence from Louis Zukofsky, Cid Corman, and her reading of Japanese haiku, Wisconsin poet Lorine Niedecker invented a unique five-line style of haiku that she called “in exchange for haiku.” This presentation explores her invention and invites you to try writing some of your own.

6:00 p.m.         Dinner

7:00 p.m.         Silent auction wrap-up

7:30 p.m.         Haiku Northwest 35th Anniversary cake

7:40 p.m.         “Encounters with Nature” (short anecdotes from whoever wants to participate), moderated by Michael Dylan Welch

Tell your story! If you’ve had a surprising, ordinary, or transcendent encounter with nature, we want to hear about it! No haiku needed, just tell what happened and how you felt (we anticipate two or three minutes per person).

8:40 p.m.         Jeff Hoagland: “Longing for the Moon”

Night walk out to the waterfront to celebrate tonight’s full moon (moonrise is at 5:54 p.m.). Bring flashlights. Rain or shine.

9:30 p.m.         Informal socializing (upstairs or downstairs meeting rooms only, please)

Sunday, October 29, 2023

8:00 a.m.         Breakfast

9:00 a.m.         Write Now — Helen Ogden: “山浴 / Yama-Yoku: Mountain Bathing” [mountains]

9:10 a.m.         Aidan Castle: “Surrealism in Haiku: How the Unreal Brings Us Closer to the Real”

Haiku practice is deeply rooted in reality, but it can accommodate the surreal. This hybrid presentation–workshop showcases examples of surrealism and their specific devices in haiku. A writing exercise will help you try your hand at writing surreal ku, with optional sharing of the results. Bring your pen, notebook, and imagination!

9:50 a.m.         Break

10:00 a.m.       Jeff Hoagland: “Gratitude”

Approach each day with gratitude! How can you express your sense of gratitude for the natural world in your haiku?

10:30 a.m.       Weekend Highlights (gratitude, discussion, and sharing)

11:00 a.m.       Clean-up (we must be completely cleaned out of the room by noon)

12:00 noon     Lunch

1:00 p.m.         Check-out time! (all room keys must be turned in by 1:00 p.m.)

1:30 p.m.         Afternoon activity (optional, to be announced, if anything)

Happy Halloween!