meanwhile, in the other Washington
April 6, 2022
In the heart of the Washington, DC, central business district, known as the Golden Triangle, signs of spring are everywhere. The annual Golden Haiku contest, which this year attracted more than 2,900 original haiku submissions from around the world, has placed more than 200 haiku placards around the neighborhood. They will remain on view into early May. Learn more about the contest and preview the haiku that are on display. You may find some familiar names (including Sheila Sondik, above, Carole MacRury, and Michael Dylan Welch).
coming soon…
January 29, 2022
Although still deep winter, February holds hope that spring will arrive once again. The snowdrops pop up and National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo) settles in for its 28-day extravaganza.
If you’re haiku-curious, check out this guest post by Michael Dylan Welch, browse the many offerings on the NaHaiWriMo site, find daily prompts on the NaHaiWriMo Facebook group, view daily haiku selections in the English edition of The Mainichi, the oldest daily newspaper in Japan, and for more, more, more visit the haiku archives at Captain Haiku’s Secret Hideout.
Further resources:
And if you’re ready to try your hand, the Golden Haiku Poetry Contest is open for submissions of original, self-authored haiku on the theme “Reboot and Rebloom” through Sunday, February 6, 2022. (We’ve mentioned this one before.)
more words on walls
September 4, 2021
The Poetry Society of America has just announced a major new public poetry project featuring the haiku of Richard Wright (September 4, 1908 – November 28, 1960).
A grant from the Downtown Brooklyn + Dumbo [Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass] Art Fund will support Seeing Into Tomorrow, which will transform poems by Richard Wright into large-scale installations on Brooklyn walls.
Best known for his searing depictions of racial injustice in books like Native Son and Black Boy, Wright spent the final 18 months of his life creating his own distinctive versions of haiku.
Seeing Into Tomorrow is one of 12 public art projects supported by the Downtown Brooklyn + Dumbo Art Fund, which seeks to enhance public space, increase access to cultural programming, and connect the neighborhoods of Downtown Brooklyn and Dumbo.
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Richard Wright photo
NaHaiWriMo
February 6, 2021
It’s already February 6, but if you haven’t started your haiku-a-day for National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo), it’s not too late to catch up!
First, go to NaHaiWriMo and have a look at the mind-bending number of options Michael Dylan Welch has provided there. If you’re overwhelmed, and not already a haiku pro, the Haiku Checklist offers a good introduction.
If you’re looking for prompts, Michael provides this month’s daily prompts on this Facebook page and you’re encouraged to share your haiku on the main NaHaiWriMo Facebook page (simply Create Post, type in your haiku, and click Post). (By the way, daily prompts are a year-round thing, with guest prompters each month. Many of the prompts from previous years have been archived on the Daily Prompts page and the remainder will be added, Michael assures us, eventually.)
Also note that there will be two global NaHaiWriMo poetry readings: Saturday, February 27, 2021, 6:00pm Pacific, and Sunday, February 28, 9:00am Pacific.
For more inspiration, listen in to Tom Maxedon’s NaHaiWriMo radio interview with Natalie Goldberg and Michael Dylan Welch talking about haiku.
Happy haiku-ing!
Seabeck Haiku Getaway this weekend!
October 27, 2020

Haiku Northwest’s Seabeck Haiku Getaway celebrates its thirteenth annual retreat Friday, October 30, to Sunday, November 1, 2020, this year via Zoom, all free. More than 200 attendees have already registered, but it’s still possible to sign up and participate. (No previous haiku experience required!)
Activities include multimedia readings, workshops, and presentations by Kelly Sauvage Angel, Susan Antolin, Chandra Bales, Roberta Beary (Ireland), Brad Bennett, David Berger, Maxianne Berger (Quebec), Melinda Brottem, Nicholas Klacsanzky, Yvette Nicole Kolodji, Annette Makino, Dorothy Matthews, Tanya McDonald, Tom Painting, Sally Penley, Kala Ramesh (India), Bob Redmond, Mike Rehling, Ron Swanson, Cathy Tashiro, Julie Warther, and Lew Watts. Michael Dylan Welch is serving as retreat director.
For more information, including the schedule, registration link, and list of attendees, visit the Haiku Northwest Seabeck Haiku Getaway page.
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Thanks to Michael Dylan Welch for the info!
haiku and friends
October 23, 2020

This haiku contest notice comes with a couple of caveats: 1) the contest rules insist upon the 5-7-5 syllable pattern, and 2) the contest is open to University of Iowa alumni, faculty and staff, students, and friends of any age, but there’s no information about what qualifies you as a “friend.”
If you’re still interested, the Hawkeye Haiku Contest is open through November 18, 2020. Read all about it.
and meanwhile in L.A.
September 30, 2020
Whatever you may think of the 5-7-5 rule of haiku, it’s nonetheless gratifying to see that poetry is getting marquee treatment at the Ace Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. Read the story in Variety, including the list of featured poets through the end of 2020, and, while you’re at it, read Michael Dylan Welch’s essay on the urban myth of 5-7-5.
(Here’s a postscript courtesy of Michael Dylan Welch: a similar project was done some years ago in New York City and a book of postcards with photos of the marquees was published in 2008, Haiku on 42nd St.: A Celebration of Urban Poetry and Art.)
haiku on Vashon
June 10, 2020
If you’re willing to venture out and about, Vashon Island’s Mukai Farm & Garden is displaying the results of their first haiku contest through the month of June. The contest judges were Lawrence Matsuda, Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma, and Michael Feinstein. Describing submissions as “an avalanche of creative haiku that spanned all age groups and several nations,” Mukai has put all of the entries on view at appropriate social distances. You can also view them online.
Here’s information about the Vashon ferry and social distancing aboard.
Seabeck Haiku Getaway
September 28, 2019
It’s time to sign up for the 2019 Seabeck Haiku Getaway, October 24–27 in Seabeck, Washington. Among many other activities, this year’s program features Adam L. Kern, editor and translator of The Penguin Book of Haiku, and Ion Codrescu, a renowned haiga artist from Romania. It will also celebrate the launch of the Seabeck Haiku Walk, a series of twenty metal plaques featuring poems by Haiku Northwest members, that are being permanently installed around the Seabeck Conference Center campus. Complete schedule here and registration information here.