If only . . .

This is Gregory Longenecker who joined the Southern California Haiku Study Group

when Jerry Ball moved south. You can see some of the cobbles of one of 

Asilomar's early buildings behind him. We are all getting ready to have Garry Gay

take our group photograph for Haiku Pacific Rim 2012.

pillbug

if only life

were that simple 

  

Gregory Longenecker 

Scattered Acorns; 2014 YT Membership Anthology, page 28

Shiki, himself

In Matsuyama in 2007, at the Shiki Museum, we met

an almost life-size Shiki. I would rather have this 

than the cardboard John Wayne (my cousin has) any day!

spring rain:

browsing under an umbrella

at the picture-book store 

Masaoka Shiki

(from poemhunter.com)

Sorry, about yesterday, Our local internet took the day off
after something (probably road construction)
severed something essential, so there wasn't a post.

Beach Sagewort

Dune flowering at Monterey Dunes. Quite a bit of silvery beach sagewort and

one California Poppy, glowing during a haiku event.

heads of beach sagewort

nodding to each other like

ladies gossiping

Kiyiko Tokutomi

beach sagewort

mirrors a sunless sky

quietly . . . quiet

Judith Schallberger

   

San Francisco Bay Area

Nature Guide and Saijiki;

edited by Anne M. Homan

Patrick Gallagher

Patricia J. Machmiller

2010, page 42

Wildflower Walk

A nice showing of the Blue Fiesta Flower during springtime in Alum Rock Park,

on the ginko we took with Ranger Roger Abe several years ago.

The fiesta flower gets its common name because its flexible, slender stems 
will stick lightly to fabric, so one can dress up a blouse to wear to a fiesta!

There is also a white variety.

(The most recent Mariposa had this haiku

which suggested this post.)

wildflower walk

I have all the photos of them

I'll ever need

Patrick Gallagher

  

Mariposa 32, Spring/Summer 2015

Haiku Poets of Northern California

And this is the way the sky looked over Alum Rock Park that day!

For you, O Gull!

A water take-off seen from the beach at Asilomar during a YT Haiku Retreat!.       jhhymas

For you, O gulls,

I order slaty waters

and this leaden sky!

   

Richard Wright

   

American Poetry; the Twentieth Century, Volume Two, 

Library of America, 2000, page 642.

American author & novelist Richard Wright wrote a large body of haiku in the last two years of his life when he was living in France.

A book of excellent selections is available.

Where Sea Meets Land

The Monterey Bay seen from Asilomar during the YT Haiku Retreat in September, 1992. jhhymas


the autumn seashore --
rolling waves tossed high and white
so much has ended

Patricia Machmiller
 
Blush of winter moon, Jacaranda Press, 2001

Cliff House Kukai

January 11, 2006, Dr, Akito Arima and Garry Gay, smiling

at the Cliff House during Dr. Akito Arima's visit and

after our ginko in Muir Woods. For the kukai, Dr. Arima, Garry

and Patricia Machmiller served as judges.

This was one of Garry's choices  at the kukai.

lightning-struck redwood—

inside the charred hollow

how small I am

Ebba Story

* * *

Garry won the Gerald Brady Senryu contest in 2010 

with this verse.  

   

my skeleton

going for a walk

in the cemetery

Garry Gay

and this Honorable Mention in the same contest

has been one of my favorites:

wishbone

as we pull it apart

I change my mind

Garry Gay

Frogpond; the journal of the Haiku Society of America,

 Vol. 34:, 2011 pages 168-169.

Plum Blossoms

                                                                                         jhhymas

This is Patricia J. Machmiller, all togged out in ivories the day we met Dr. Akito Arima 

in San Francisco. Patricia has been a guiding inspiration and very hard worker

on behalf of the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society since Day One in 1975.

She has been President and held many of our other offices and has been very involved 

in many of our publications--like the Saijiki mentioned below--

and most of our meetings and special events.

She often sports a hat, being sensitive to the sun.

We have just learned that she is home recuperating after an appendectomy!

You can send your wishes for a speedy recovery in the comment section

below and she will see them.

passing an alley

the conversation ceases--

first plum blossoms

pjm

from The San Francisco Bay Area

Nature Guide and Saijiki, page 3.

   In my yard, with just a bit of sky.                                   jhhymas

Captain Haiku

                                                                                       jhhymas
This is Michael Dylan Welch, focusing his camera on the unseen at Asilomar

during the Yuki Teikei Retreat in 1992.

When I first met him during a ginko in Golden Gate Park, 

he called himself "Captain Haiku." He has a long-time involvement

in the haiku world. Take a look at his well-organized pages at Graceguts.com.

You can find a great deal of haiku information and history here, 

as well as other things poetic and historical.

The site is organized for easy searching.

crackling beach fire—

we hum in place of words

we can’t recall

Michael Dylan Welch

from Graceguts.com

Asking Directions

What a blessing our Yuki Teikei Haiku Retreats at Asilomar have been!

Several days to eat, sleep, breathe, talk  and think haiku!

During the 1992 Retreat with Robert Hass, Margaret Chula and Jerry Ball confer.

I ask directions

he asks if I am a priest

in the summer dusk

Jerry Ball

on a hill of weeds

a farmer and a whetstone

sharpening their scythe

Jerry Ball

Both are from his book Summer in Italy, 1996.

Wedding in San Jose

This is the coincidence that brought Kiyoko from Japan to San Jose to teach us about haiku. 

Kiyoshi was sent to be educated in Japan by his parents here in California.

The outbreak of World War II caught him in Japan. During the war he taught school there, 

where he met Kiyoko, another teacher. Later, she came to San Jose so they could be married.

I always enjoyed being around them together; they were so obviously involved and

caring of each other. Because he could not hear, she constantly communicated with him

by finger writing on her outstretched hand, so he could participate.

Together they founded the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society, which is having its 

Fortieth Anniversary this year!

April Fools' Day

my husband who loved to play tricks on me

already gone

Kiyoko Tokutomi

Lost--with my husband--

my wish to play jokes

April Fool's Day

  

Kiyoko Tokutomi

from Kiyoko's Sky; the haiku of Kiyoko Tokutomi; translated by Patricia Machmiller and Fay Aoyagi, Brooks Books, 2002.

Viewing Noh Masks

On the trip to Japan in 1997, our group had the immense gift 

of a private viewing of Noh masks belonging to a company 

that had been presenting Noh theatre for many generations.

One at a time each mask was taken out of protective wrappings 

and presented to our view. I thought Kiyoko looked very pretty

in this blue silk and pearls, so I took her picture as well as

many fine ones of the masks. jhh

utsukushiki ozora to naru wataridori

Beautiful

migrating birds become

the big sky

Kiyoko Tokutomi

Kiyoko's Sky, Brooks Books, 2002, page 92

Touch of the Sea

Tide's gone out during the YT Haiku Retreat in 1992,

featuring Robert Hass.

call of a willet

the scent of sea

meeting land

John Barlow

Ormskirk, Lancashire, UK

  

afternoon light

the plovers talk

of leaving

Gregory Longenecker

Pasadena, California

Both haiku from the Fall, 2014 issue of 

ACORN; a journal of contemporary haiku

pages 28 and 44

Hiroshige's Hawk

This is Fay Aoyagi. She has helped us a lot with translation from Japanese.

She always adds something special and thought-provoking to any haiku gathering.

I liked the way she looked here, with a golden halo. You can tell

from the mustard and the ketchup that we are in an eatery--

probably after some haiku meeting; 

part of the wonder of haiku groups is the fellowship!

  

   

high autumn sky

I ride on the back

of Hiroshige's hawk

Fay Aoyagi

**********

shroud of moss

I step into the land

of the ancient tales

Fay Aoyagi

Beyond the Reach of My Chopsticks; New and Selected Haiku,

Fay Aoyagi, Blue Willow Press, 2011, pages 62 and 16.

Winter Drizzle

                

                                                                                                                           jhhymas
During Dr. Akito Arima's visit, we took him to Muir Woods,
a protected Coast Redwood forest north of San Francisco. 
From this moss on this tree trunk, you can guess 
what kind of moist, ocean-influenced climate the Coast Redwood prefers.

January 11, 2006.  After a lovely meal at Cliff House, above the ocean, we shared the day's haiku in a kukai with several  judges. 

the stream filled

with invisible salmon

I walk across

  

Patrick Gallagher

   

white water

over redwood roots

the taste of sorrel

   

Claire Gallagher

   

winter drizzle

redwoods absorb

the city inside me

Fay Aoyagi

Above  are some of the choices of Patricia Machmiller.

Drifting Petals

On the visit to Matsuyama, one highlight was being taken to this fortified castle,

which commanded a spectacular view of the city.

 It is thrilling to see this ancient stone work up close!

The cherries are still in bloom, but many petals have already fallen.

The way they accumulate in corners and around edges is beautiful!

these split-log benches

covered with pale petaldrift

near the donjon

June Hopper Hymas

Matsuyama, 2007

Kiyoshi's Diary

Patricia Machmiller delivering an address about the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society 

to the Haiku International Association during our trip to Japan in 2007.

A photograph of one of our founders, Kiyoshi Tokutomi, is projected behind her.

Among Kiyoko's papers we found a diary which Kiyoshi kept from July 1975--December, 1977. This was during the time that the Haiku Society was formed in San Jose. Much of the diary consists of simple lists of daily activities undertaken by Kiyoshi and Kiyoko. Reading this diary, (available on Amazon at this link) which has been translated by Tei Matsushita Scott, with addendum by Patricia Machmiller, gives one a sense of the pure and sweet daily spirit he had, despite his severe health challenges. Machmiller's introduction gives a brief overview of his very eventful life.

Here is a diary entry that mentions one of our early meetings.

April 2, 1977

- Kiyoko went to the Japanese School but came home early due to her cold.

- Regular meeting of the English Haiku Group. Submitted five English haiku of which one received four points and one three points.

- Conferred with Dr. Falkowski about the Yukuharu Journal (Haiku Journal?).

= Attended Japanese kukai in the evening. (A kukai is a peer-reviewed poetry contest.)s

                                                 (op. cit. page 53)

at the waterfall

sometimes I feel an answer

sometimes . . . the wind

Patricia J. Machmiller, U.S.A.

This haiku won one of the awards from HIA in 2007.

The Moon and the Milky Way

This is Anne Homan leading one of our renku parties at Asilomar. 

As each verse is chosen, it is written on one of those large sheets of paper, 

so we can see where we are during the progress of the renku. 

Anne has been the President of YTHS.

She is also an historian and author.

Here is a link to her book about the history of the old road she lives on

outside Livermore, CA. We have driven up that road many a time for

the moon-viewing parties that the Homans' host there in October.

The home is a great side for viewing the moon and the Milky Way

and looking out over the valley.

gleaming salmon's leap

not quite high enough to clear

the third fish ladder

  

Anne Homan

   

Heavenly Bamboo; 1998 Member's Anthology, page 20

The Butterfly's Shadow

As ancient as lichen and as new as spring! 

This is a California native iris in bloom during our ginko at Tilden Botanical Gardens.

Lichen are very slow growing and hardly change in appearance from year to year,

while the iris renews itself every spring.

   

on the manuscript

the shadow of a butterfly

finishes the poem

Nick Virgilio

(1928-1989)

Nick Virgilio: A Life in Haiku, Turtle Light Press, 2012, page 68.

Nick Virgilio was a pioneer of English language haiku, who began writing haiku many years before the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society was founded. He spent most of his life in Camden, New Jersey,
but we were all aware of his famous "lily" haiku, and of his work.

How Great is Spring!

On our visit to Japan; just a few cherry blossom petals remain.

ah spring spring

how great is spring!

and so on

summer's near

cover the mouth of the wind sack

to save the blossoms

  

composed at Nijiko

     

patter patter

petals of tiny flowers drop

a waterfall of sound

All three haiku by Basho

translated by Jane Reichhold in her

Basho; The Complete Haiku

Reflected sunset at Asilomar

This is one of the Arts and Crafts Style buildings ar Asilomar, 

where Yuki Teikei Haiku Society members have spent so many fruitful Haiku Retreats since 1984. 

Julia Morgan was the architect of many of these buildings; I have read that

when she was designing a family home, she would go and sit in the stairs inside to be sure 

that the sun came into the stairwell the way she wanted it to--

so that it would be bright and cheerful, as well as well-lit,.

This house is nestled among Monterey Pines, which grow here.

stopping to watch

the evening pines...

geese flying north

   

Issa

     

Translated by David Lanoue

haikuguy.com/issa

Dogo Onsen at Night

This is Dogo Onsen, a famous and ancient hot springs in Matsuyama, Japan. 

Use the link above for the informative Wikipedia article on this highly regarded spot, 

which is mentioned in the eighth century Man'yoshu.

When our group was in Matsuyama, we stayed in the nearby well-known hotel,

and some of us stood in line to partake of a hot bath here;

foolishly, I just took a picture.

Japan, because it is volcanic, has many hot springs, and they have been used

for bathing from the very earliest times.

after morning's hot bath

trying it on...

summer kimono

while the spring breeze blows

a healing

bath

Both haiku by Issa 

and translated

by David Lanoue

from his website:

haikuguy.com/issa

Complex Acts of Human Awareness

When our group visited Japan in 2007, I saw this one plant (and a little moss) 

thriving in a crevice of the intricate stonework of  a castle's foundation. 

Everywhere I looked in Japan,

I saw evidences of intelligent and beautiful craftsmanship.

Editor's Note: I have been revisiting old Paris Review Interviews with poets.
Did you know that all these writer's interviews are now available online?
Today I was reading the interview with Jorie Graham and found Basho!


"I do worry considerably about a reader’s patience—how much mental or emotional space they have in their life in this crushingly full world to give to the reading of a poem. Many of today’s readers prefer fast poems with stated conclusions, partly because they can fit them into their day. Who can blame them? They have precious little time. They want the Cliff Notes to the overwhelmingly huge novel. Of course, it is poetry’s job to try to provide the very opposite—to recomplicate the oversimplified thing. This doesn’t require going on at length—lord knows some of the more complex acts of human awareness occur in Basho."

                       from Jorie Graham, The Art of Poetry 85. 
               Paris Review, Spring, 2003, Issue No. 165.
  

Deep autumn--

my neighbor

how does he live, I wonder

Basho

trans by Robert Hass

  

autumn deepens

so what does he do

the man next door

Basho

trans. by Jane Reichhold

this autumn

why getting older is like

a bird into clouds

Basho

trans. by Jane Reichhold

Drifting in conversation . . .

This was another spring haiku outing in one of the many Japanese Gardens in our area.

If you look carefully, you can see three people in blue on the far side of the pond.

The one in the center is Dave Wright, who was president of Yuki Teikei 

for several years until 1992. Obviously, he is writing haiku!

The one to the right is his wonderful wife, Rosalynn, 

who was always able to enliven any gathering with her good cheer.

   

lazy afternoon

drifting in conversation--

the gardenia

      

Patricia J. Machmiller

acorn--

rolling three times

then into the pond

             

Issa

translated by David Lanoue

evening--

in the area with no pond, too

cherry blossoms scatter

      

Issa

translated by David Lanoue

Asilomar Beach at Dawn

Asilomar Beach at dawn; others have been here before me.

another morning

pink and blue strokes of genius

on a broad palette

Michael Henry Lee

Haiku Poet & Bartender

                                                                                             jhhymas

This is Jerry Kilbride on the beach at Asilomar in 1992; I'm pretty sure he is writing haiku,

He was a mainstay of our Haiku Retreats for many years. He was also

 an honorary curator of the American Haiku Archive at the California State Library.

He had been instrumental in its founding.

Here is a link to his obituary on NPR.

I always thought he pretended to be a little cranky to camouflage his sweet spirit.

end of a long day

the old bartender's feet

take the floorboards home

cloud shadows

on silent cliffs

where condors nested

fog . . .

just the tree and I

at the bus stop

windows filled with light

at the home for the blind,

christmas night

nursing a friend with AIDS

I close the window

against rain

last flutter

of the butterfly

in the mime’s hand

mime

lifting 

fog

jumping rope

the little girl and her shadow

touch touch touch touch touch

Jerry Kilbride

In the Great Hall at Nara

                                                                                                            jhhymas

This is one of the huge temple guardians in the Great Hall at Nara. 

For information on these figures, which have a rich and varied tradition 
through many countries and centuries

see the Wikipedia article "Nio" at this link.

A highlight of the visit to Japan in 1997 was a trip to Nara, 

where we visited the Great Buddha Hall, an immense wooden building 

that was erected to house a huge bronze statue of the Buddha. 

The previous wooden structures were destroyed by fire.

For the history of this temple, see the Wikipedia article "Todaiji"

Basho also visited this site before the third iteration of the temple was completed.

kiku no ka ya | Nara ni wa furuki | hotoketachi

     

scent of chrysanthemums

in Nara

ancient Buddhas

   

Basho

      

hatsu yuki ya | itsu Daibutsu no | hashira date

        

first snow!

when will the temple building start

for the Great Buddha?

   

Basho

Great Buddha's Hall--

I buy a charm for 

earthquakes

      

June Hopper Hymas

  

(There was a shop at Todaiji, where one could purchase little paper charms. 

Since I lived in California, I thought an earthquake charm might be the most useful.)

Secluded Spot

Where the beach meets the dunes at Asilomar, there is a little eroded cove.

It is a most excellent place to spread a blanket and sit to write haiku!

Pat Shelley often sat here to write.

of all the human 

figures on the beach

the one not there

June Hopper Hymas

A Chopped Herb Helps

                                                                                       jhhymas

At the Asilomar Retreat featuring Robert Hass in 1992, 

Lequita Vance-Watkins tries to explain something to Jerry Kilbride;

he's not so sure.

Lequita is the former Executive Director of the San Jose Center for Poetry & Literature 

and is the author of 

White Flash/Black Rain: Women of Japan Relive the Bomb, Milkweed Editions, 1995.

Jerry Kilbride was a beloved haiku stalwart in the Bay Area for many years. 

Here is a link to his memorial broadcast on NPR.

yomo ni utsu / nazuna ni shidoro/ modoro kana

Everyone says

a chopped herb helps

if you are confused

   

Basho

translated by Robert Aitken

The River of Heaven; haiku of Basho, Buson, Issa

and Shiki, Counterpoint, 2011, page 64.