Skosh Japanese Children’s Festival and Cultural Fair

Mount Hood Community College was the venue for the second annual Skosh Japanese Children’s Festival and Cultural Fair. The Haiku Society of America sponsored a popular information table and weathergram craft activity, where participants ranging from school age children to adults could try their hand at writing haiku. Cara Holman, Lisa Hills, Jim Rodriguez, and David staffed the HSA table, answering questions and sharing information about writing haiku.

Cara was interviewed for the Gresham Outlook about haiku. Additionally, there were write-ups in the Oregonian and the Advocate.

Margaret Chula

Name: Margaret (Maggie) Chula
Location:   Portland, Oregon

Website: Margaret Chula

Facebook:   Margaret Chula

THF Registry Page:  Margaret Chula

How long have you been writing haiku? Since 1979 (34 years)

What other related Japanese forms do you write? senryu, haibun, haiga, haiku series, tanka, rengay, renku, and haibunku (linked haibun, a form Rich Youmans and I invented)

Places your haiku has appeared: Modern Haiku, Frogpond, Simply Haiku, Bottle Rockets, Notes From the Gean, The Heron’s Nest, A Hundred Gourds, Itoen tea cans in Japan, at a construction site for the Orange Line in Portland, and in my books Grinding my ink, This Moment, and The Smell of Rust.

Please share three haiku (with credits, if published):

all at once

peony blossoms drop

clap of thunder

***

spring cleaning

  a white kitten

rolls in the dust

***

end of the walk

returning the crow’s feather

where I found it  

***

Credits: “all at once” – The Smell of Rust (Katsura Press, 2003); “spring cleaning” – Grinding my ink (Katsura Press, 1993); “end of the walk” – First Honorable Mention, Harold G. Henderson Awards for Haiku (2010)

James Rodriguez

Name: James Rodriguez
Location: Washougal, WA

Facebook: james rodriguez

How long have you been writing haiku? first one in 1969

What other related Japanese forms do you write? haibun

Places your haiku has appeared:  world haiku, frogpond

Please share three haiku (with credits, if published):

nature trail
the blind lady
has the biggest smile

***

storm passes
sunlight through the trees
I just sit

***

growing up
the giant house
now so tiny

Thomas Martin

Name:  Thomas Martin
Location:  Beaverton, OR 97005

Email: nereus3@gmail.com
Website: Crossings and Reflections
Blog:  Haiku Crossings
Facebook:  Thomas Martin
THF Registry Page:  Thomas Martin

How long have you been writing haiku? Since 2007

What other related Japanese forms do you write? haibun, tanka

Places your haiku have appeared: Frogpond, Modern Haiku, Magnapoets,    Sketchbook, A Hundred Gourds, Contemporary Haibun Online, World Haiku Review, Simply Haiku, Prune Juice Journal, The Heron’s Nest, Kusamakura Haiku Competition, Moonset

Please share three haiku (with credits, if published):

winter gravestone
hyphen between dates
my father’s life

***

her morning song
awakens me
sliced oranges

***

Hollywood movies
the moon
always full

***

Credits: “winter gravestone” – Frogpond 32:2 (2009); “her morning song” – Mayfly 50 (2011); “Hollywood movies” – Prune Juice Journal (2009)

Johnny Baranski

Name: Johnny Baranski

Location: Vancouver, Washington

e-mail: jbsgarage@aol.com

Facebook: Johnny Baranski

Twitter: haikumonk

THF Registry Page: Johnny Baranski

How long have you been writing haiku? Since 1975.

What other related Japanese forms do you write? tanka, rengay, haibun, haiga

Places your haiku has appeared: Frogpond, Notes From The Gean, Modern Haiku,

bottle rockets, The Heron’s Nest, Kernelsonline, A Hundred Gourds, Haibun Today, Contemporary Haibun Online, LYNX, Simply Haiku Quarterly, Prune Juice, Bones

Please share three haiku (with credits, if published):

Nagasaki sunrise

their shadows tell

the story

***

sirens far out my burning bridges

***

sunning itself on a river rock her string bikini

***

 Credits: “Nagasaki sunrise” – Notes From the Gean 4:1 (2012); “sirens” – Bones #1 (2012); “sunning itself” – Modern Haiku 43.2 (2012)

Ce Rosenow

Name:  Ce Rosenow
Location:  Eugene, OR

Website: Mountains and Rivers Press

Facebook: Ce Rosenow

Twitter: CeRosenow

THF Registry Page: Ce Rosenow

How long have you been writing haiku? Since 1989

What other related Japanese forms do you write? Senryu, haibun, tanka

Places your haiku has appeared: many haiku journals and anthologies as well as my books, North Lake and Pacific

 

A. Molotkov

Name: A. Molotkov
Location: Portland

Website: A. Molotkov

Facebook: A. Molotkov

How long have you been writing haiku? 30 years

Places your haiku has appeared: Frogpond, Allbook Books, Boone’s Dock Press,  Peralta Press

Please share three haiku (with credits, if published):

I remember the time
when it was easier to dream
than to remember

***

you mentioned fireflies
did you really mean it
this way?

***

this poem remains unwritten
you will never read it
unless you write it yourself

***

Credits: “I remember the time” – published by Boone’s Dock Press; “you mentioned fireflies”  – published by Allbook Books; “this poem remains unwritten”  –  published by Peralta Press