The 2007 Asilomar Haiku Retreat: Traveling with Haiku
[Notes by J. Zimmerman]

Yuki Teikei Haiku Society: Join. GEPPO magazine. Annual anthologies. The Yuki Teikei Haiku Society Retreats at Asilomar: 2007. 2008 (a haibun). 2010.

Toward an Aesthetic for English-Language Haiku by Lee Gurga. 2004 Pescadero Haiku Weekend Workshop (including exercises) with Christopher Herold. Published haiku by J. Zimmerman.

Index of Poetry. Highlights for Poetry. Books of Poetry Form. How to Write Poetry.

Essays on how to write specific forms: Haibun. Haiku. Hay(na)ku. Rengay. Tanka. Concrete. Ghazal. Lai. Pantoum. Rondeau. Rubáiyát. Sestina. Skaldic verse. Sonnet. Terza rima. Triolet. Tritina. Villanelle.

The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa edited by Robert Hass.

Note: we use the spelling Ginkoo [ginkō] for "a walk for the purpose of writing haiku. The original Japanese name is two Japanese kanji: the first, pronounced GIN, means "singing, praising, making a poem"; the second, pronounced KOO, means walking. [After notes from haiku poet Bev Momoi, who is Kanji-literate.]

Favorite sessions are highlighted.

2007 Asilomar Haiku Retreat: Day 1

• Ginkoo [ginkō] at Bird Cove, Point Lobos, led by Jim Arnold.

• Registration for the meeting with meeting coordinator, Betty Arnold and Jim Arnold; receipt of a very helpful packet of information with the Program Schedule, information pertinent to upcoming presentations, and information on the Dunes and other features of Asilomar.

• Welcome by Yuki Teikei Haiku Society President Carol Steele.

• Sharing circle, led by Betty Arnold, where we recited one of our own haiku and said a few words of self-introduction.

• "Traveling with Haiku" including comments on the haibun travel journals of Matsuo Bashō, presented by Jim Arnold.

• Visual presentation by donnalynn chase of a photo journal, showing haiku combination with computer-stored photographs as a 21st-century haiga.

2007 Asilomar Haiku Retreat: Day 2

• Optional personal pre-breakfast Ginkoo [ginkō] on the beach and on the boardwalk that protects the Dunes and helps their vegetation recover: flowers seen and birds seen.

• "Travel Art" presented by Patricia Machmiller, an accomplished artist as well as poet. She described haiga, emphasizing that:

  "A haiku needs a strong kigo, but in a haiga, the haiku omits what is in the sketch" [which can mean that a kigo is not needed].

  She described the tools that we would be receiving including the small blank books (purchased in Japan for us!) that we could select from.

• "Ink Sketching" presented by Carolyn Fitz. This included two demonstrations of very quick sketches, full of energy, by Carolyn. Several people photographed some of the in-progress stages, with the picture completing in seconds as we gazed. Carolyn's specially recommended tool: the Pilot Parallel calligraphy pen, an excellent strong, smooth, flexible, wide-bladed pen.

• Registrants each received a bag of tools that included:
  • Your choice of a small Japanese blank book, suitable for recording your haiku, haiga, and haibun.
  • 4-pack of Faber-Castell artist pens with 4 different nib types.
  • Optional extra purchase: a Pilot Parallel calligraphy pen and ink cartridges.
  • 8 Crayola washable water colors.
  • 2 mini water containers, whose caps cunningly served as two tiny mixing pallets.
  • Practice paper and index cards.

• Personal Ginkoo [ginkō] to explore working with the new tool-kit.

• Sharing of samples from the Ginkoo [ginkō].

• "Collage" presented by donnalynn chase, who made scissors and glue sticks available to all of us to add to our tool-kits.

• Personal Ginkoo [ginkō] to explore working with our tool-kit.

• Formal Kukai led by June Hymas. Each participant received a copy of all Haiku they had sent to June before the Retreat. After four opportunities for participants to hear every haiku, each participant was allowed to vote for up to 10 haiku. To the delight of hearing the fine competition-quality Haiku was added the delightful surprise of seeing whose Haiku won the highest votes.

• Tei Matsushita on her translations of the Tokutomi (Yuki Teikei founder) letters.

• Tokutomi ( Yuki Teikei founder) Memorial Contest Winners, announced by Alison Woolpert, judged by the Japanese poets Yoko Senda and Naoki Kishimoto.
  Surprise: I was one of the Honorably Mentioned.

• Bonfire.

2007 Asilomar Haiku Retreat: Day 3

• Optional personal pre-breakfast Ginkoo [ginkō] on the beach and on the boardwalk that protects the Dunes and helps their vegetation recover: flowers seen and birds seen.

• Celebration of life and work of poet and artist Kay Anderson.

• Three travel companions:
  • Haiku presentation by Jerry Ball.

    This was his opening sage advice:

    "This is not about argument as war. This is about argument as dance." [Jerry Ball.]

    He introduced three major classifications:

    • Lyrical: a poem with particularly attractive music; it provides beauty.
    • Narrative.
    • Dramatic: "It provides new insight."

    Paraphrase of other statements by Jerry Ball:

    • Deciding which of these three forms you are writing can help you solve technical questions, such as whether to use a definite or an indefinite article.
    • One line, particularly the last, should be unexpected, a surprise.
    • An exercise: look at one of Henderson's haiku translations from the Japanese and make a version that you prefer.

  • Tanka presentation by Mariko Kitakubo; English-language translations by Amelia Fielden of these tanka were read by Linda Galloway.

    The brief introduction told us that tanka had 13 to 31 syllables nowadays, with an average of about 20 syllables.

  • Haibun presentation by Jerry Ball.

    Paraphrase of some statements by Jerry Ball:

    • Start with quite short ones, at least today. Only two or three sentences and then the haibun.
    • Write 100 haibun to get started. Take months, maybe one per day. Then look and see what you have learned and what you want to develop further.
    • Observed that a brief introduction to a haiku that he recited by poet Roger Abe was a beautiful example of the length and style of prose suitable for a haibun, augmenting and not duplicating, the haiku.
    • Recognize the emotion. Telling a haibun may be what you need to have enough space for the emotion to come up.

• Personal Ginkoo [ginkō] to write Haiku, Tanka, and Haibun.

• Led by Jerry Ball, participants shared one of their freshly written Haiku, Tanka, or Haibun. Tango and Salsa preferences prevailed over Rave and Head-banging.

• Introduction to Renku by Patricia Machmiller and Jerry Ball.

• Renku Party and/or personal time for working on art and writing in your book.

2007 Asilomar Haiku Retreat: Day 4

• Optional personal pre-breakfast Ginkoo [ginkō] on the beach and on the boardwalk that protects the Dunes and helps their vegetation recover: flowers seen and birds seen.

• Sharing of the artwork and poems that were written during the workshop. Most of the participants had filled the received blank books, and showed at least one image they had created during the workshop and read one poem.

• Ad hoc Kukai led by the irrepressible June Hymas. On the second day, each participant had submitted to June an index card with one of their Haiku written at the start of the Retreat. She read several of them, making very helpful comments on their strength, and gave token prizes such as dollar notebooks or (in my case) the remnants of the packet of index cards. A delightful and joyous conclusion.

• Closing ceremony led by Betty Arnold and donnalyn chase.

2007 Asilomar Haiku Retreat: post script

Sometimes what happens after a writing Retreat is as significant as what happens during. For me, it has led to:

• New friends and strengthened bonds with previous friends.
• Renewed interest in and creation of Tanka, which quickly led to published tanka by J. Zimmerman .
• Renewed interest in sketching using the received toolkit.
• Possible creation of Haiga.
• Follow-up revision of Rengay written during the Retreat with poet Deborah Kolodji.

Flowers (alphabetical) of mid-September 2007 seen at and near the sand dunes of Asilomar

(Thanks to poets Anne Holman and Patricia Machmiller for additional flower identifications.)

• Beach Poppy (yellow with orange blotch at base of each petal).
• Beach Sagewort (yellow on spikes).
• Blackberry (a single flower!).
• Cinquefoil (?) (5 bright yellow petals).
• Common Yarrow (white).
• Coyote Bush [ Anne Homan ].
• Dune aster (or Beach Aster), a common tiny aster [ Anne Homan ].
• Dune Buckwheat (pink pompoms).
• Mock Heather ("a big bush with yellow flowers" [Patricia Machmiller]).
• Pacific Gum Plant (big yellow composite).
• Rattlesnake Grass. [ Patricia Machmiller ].
• Sand Verbena (pink) [ Anne Homan ].
• Seaside Daisy (mauve petals, yellow center).
• Seaside Painted Cup [ also called Beach Paintbrush (Patricia Machmiller) ] (glorious red-orange).
• Tree lupine (called Bush lupine in Santa Cruz!) (yellow).
• Vetch (or locoweed?) (cream).

Birds (alphabetical) of mid-September 2007 seen at and near the beach and sand dunes of Asilomar

Also see Natural History of Birds.

(Thanks to poet Anne Holman for additional bird identifications.)

• Acorn Woodpecker [ Anne Homan ]
• American Crow
• American Goldfinch
• Black Oystercatcher (addition seen at 2010 retreat but not in 2007).
• Black Turnstone
• Brown Pelican
• Cormorant (probably Brandt's)
• Heerman's Gull
• Sanderling
• Steller's Jay
• Song Sparrow (distinctive call)
• Swallow (what kind?)
• Turkey Vulture
• Western Gull
• Whimbrel
• White-crowned Sparrow
• White-tailed Kite
• Willet

Other Books on Haiku

The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa edited by Robert Hass. The past-poet laureate of the U.S.A has compiled this enthralling collection of his own essays in which he summarizes the lives of three masters and inventors of the haiku tradition in Japan, and presents the lives, the prose, and 300 of the poems of: Matsuo Basho (1644-94), the ascetic and seeker, Yosa Buson (1716-83), the artist, and Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), the humanist. The Haiku Seasons: Poetry of the Natural World by William J. Higginson.

Related pages: Books of Poetry Form. Poetry forms and poets. How to Write Poetry.

Copyright © 2007-2016 by J. Zimmerman. This page displayed using recycled bits.

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