Tag Archives: Cherry Blossoms

The Bulletin

Aside

opbashocherryblossoms Starting April 2013, Old Pond Comics will be published monthly in The Bulletin: a journal of Japanese Canadian Community, History and culture distributed in Japanese cultural centres across Canada (in print and also on the web).

In the interview, I talk about NaHaiWriMo created by Michael Dylan Welch, mention the Vancouver Haiku Group lead by Angela J. Naccarato, Lighting the Global Lantern written by Terry Ann Carter and the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival haiku Invitational.

I will post the PDF soon. (The Bulletin, April 2013 issue).

 

VCBH Haiku Invitational 2012

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As leaves started falling outside, I took some time to read the winning cherry blossoms haiku from the VCBF Haiku Invitational 2012 announced recently.  The Contest Judge was Beverley George from Australia.

Here are some of my favorites:

Best International Haiku

school for the blind
every fingertip sees
a different pink

David Terelinck, Pyrmont NSW, Australia

 

Best United States Haiku

cherry petals falling
the pond’s oldest koi
slowly surfaces

Michele L. Harvey, Hamilton, New York




Sakura Awards

  • sent from

    • my iPhone—
    cherry blossoms

    Beth Skala
    Nanaimo, British Columbia

  • weeping cherry—

    • a petal lands
    in my bento box

    Pamela Cooper
    Montreal, Québec

  • blossoms

    • opening, opening
    each face

    Terra Martin
    Toronto, Ontario

  • construction site—

    • the hunk in the hard hat
    sweeping blossoms

    Carole MacRury
    Point Roberts, Washington

  • late spring,

    • this cherry blossom tree
    one flower from darkness

    Glen Fletcher
    Maldon, Australia

 

Honorable Mentions

@YVR Status Update:
cherry blossoms spotted
#collectivesighofrelief

Jackie Poon
Richmond, British Columbia

  • cherry blossoms

    • at last the chance
    to speak to her

    Peter Brady 
    Gatineau, Québec

  • cherry blossoms . . .

    • the unfinished poem
    in my pocket

    Margaret Dornaus
    Ozark, Arkansas

  • moving day

    • still in bud
    weeping cherry

    Yukiko Yamada
    Osaka, Japan

  • her stilettos

    • clicking on the sidewalk—
    pick up mud with pink petals.

    Grace Zhu, age 11
    Vancouver, British Columbia


Zine making

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After wanting to make a zine for 5 years, it took the 24-hour zine thing challenge for me to finally make my first zine.

July is international zine month and the challenge consist of picking a day in July to create a zine in 24 hours.

A zine is a handmade publication created with photos, text, collage, glue and scissors. Here’s a photo of what my table looked like during the process:

 

zinemaking

 

The text of a zine is usually handwritten or typewritten.  I got to use my old Royale typewritter and I realized how much I missed typing with it.

typewrtter

 

I’ve decided to do a zine about cherry blossom. I’ve printed some of my photos and added some words to them (mostly spontaneous bits of text).  Here are some sample pages:

 

petalsoverpetals 

pickingblossoms

 

After the pages were finished, I created a mockup to determine the order of the pages.

zinecollating

Then I assembled them into a 24 pages booklet that I hand binded since I didn’t have a long stapler.

When you’re done with your zine, you send a copy to the organizer who will send you back a button stating you have completed the challenge.

You can still register and make a zine! It’s really fun and it can be on any subject and any format you like as long as it is 24 pages.

 

Imagine a world without cherry blossoms

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“The soup, the salad… everything is covered by cherry blossoms” — Basho

The cherry petals stick to my shoes, my umbrella, my clothes, my hair…. If I were a frog, I would be covered head to toe with petals and I imagine it would be very hard to get rid off. Therefore Kawazu is not too enthusiastic about cherry petals in this cartoon.