Haiku Laughter

This happy picture was taken at a Yuki Teikei Haiku

Retreat at Asilomar in the early 1990s.    jhhphoto

tell me

how to grow old

winter moon  

Ebba Story

from Ebba's reading at HPNC's Two Autumns in 2010

*****

a fish jumps

from it, into it...

evening stillness

Christopher Herold

A Path in the Garden, Christopher Herold,

Katsura Press, 2000, unpaginated.

Laurabell revisited and remembered

 Here she is at the Yuki Teikei Haiku Retreat at Asilomar

featuring Robert Hass (blue shirt)

many years ago. You can see how full of life and joy she is.

I am away from my archive and will need help identifying the man in the orange shirt

(is this her Bob?) and the year that Retreat was held.

photos by June Hopper Hymas

The Belle of Haiku

Here is the message from Carolyn Hall to let us know
of the passing of that wonderful bright haiku spirit and sprite,
Laurabell Hawbecker. Good night, dear friend. . . jhh

From: Carolyn Hall
Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2016 6:09 PM
To: Carolyn HALL
Subject: Laura Bell (Laurabell Hawbecker) 1925-2016

Dear HPNC members,

I just received this notice from Judyth Greenburgh, a friend of Laura Bell:

"Our dear friend Laura Bell peacefully passed away November 30, 2016 at home with her teddy bear and rabbit in her arms and her faithful friend Ruth by her side. She had wanted to be home where she didn’t have to wear any stupid hospital gowns and could go the same way she came into this world.

She will be missed by her family and all her friends. She can now freely tap dance on her houseboat with Bob playing the jug."

I am particularly sad to hear of her passing. Not only was Laurabell the spriteliest person I ever met, but she was my haiku mentor. Back in 1999 and the early 2000's she taught me all she knew about haiku, and introduced me to the Haiku Poets of Northern California . . . for which I am eternally grateful. She was an active, and adored, member of HPNC until approximately 2003 when she and Bob moved from their Sausalito houseboat to the desert in Inyokern CA (which was better suited to Bob's health). We've missed her ever since.

Laurabell was a senryu master, always able to make us laugh! But she wrote heartfelt haiku as well.

Here are a few of her poems from Mariposa:


between showers
hanging the clothes out
hanging the clothes out

#1 1999


greeting my sick friend
the apology
in her eyes

#1 1999


sun-baked desert
the breeze I waited for
hotter still

#4 2001


desert quiet
a click of the camera
moves the burro’s ears

#4 2001


fall sale
women’s skirts half off
at the mall

#5 2001

spring flood
the scrubbed face
of a river rock

#6 2002


darkening mountain
red in the warmth
of the setting sun

#8 2003


Last, but not least, here is a link to a film Judyth made 

of Laurabell. We are so fortunate to have this!

https://vimeo.com/29986041

Golden Waters, Memory

So many times I have visited the 

Japanese Friendship Garden

in San Jose with haiku friends.

This was taken on the most recent outing on a flying visit home.

Since this garden was established after World War II,

as a symbol of friendly relations with Japan

and the Japanese people.

I thought it would be a good image for today. jhh

over time

my own footprints

make a path

Hilary Tann

Upstate Dim Sum;

2016/B, page 5.

This is a link to a

wonderful and inexpensive haiku periodical

which is well worth subscribing to!

Or inquire: John Stevenson

P.O. Box 122, Nassau, NY, 12123.