The Old Man Gloom is Zozobra, a giant puppet that people stuff with negativity – such as divorce papers. The puppet is burned during the the Santa Fe Fiesta that takes place on Labour day weekend. Wouldn’t it be great if you could stuff it with bad haiku?
You just came back from a haiku conference and now there’s a pile of haiku on your desk.
It’s a good problem to have, but still a problem. I learned from previous experience that if I don’t read the trifolds I picked up at a conference right away, I never will.
In the past, I’d treat my freebies like collector’s items: I’d store them and never touch them again. But this year, after coming back from HNA2017, I decided I would read them. So one morning I took a pile of freebies and read them while in transit.
I decided to start with the Sante Fe themed trifolds. It seems a few people attending the HNA 2017 conference had already been to Santa Fe and shared their experience of New Mexico in their trifolds.
First on my list was a trifold by Kath Abela Wilson recalling her experience moving to Santa Fe with her young family, and becoming the apprentice of jewellery maker Ross LewAllen.
meeting in Santa Fe
I wear earrings I made here
forty years ago
— Kath Abela Wilson
In Keeping Time: haibun, Penny Harter shares memories of fishing in the canyon:
from abandoned cliff
dwellings ravens call into
the past
— Penny Harter (from “Fishing in the Canyon”, first published in Exit 13)
In Santa Fe Summer of 2011, Charles Trumbull shares one-line haiku with New Mexico season words.
solstice heat a lizard scuttles through acequia sand
up the Rio Grande ill winds from Arizona
moon blazes red over the Sangre de Christos
— Charles Trumbull
This trifold by Carole MacRury features a photo of Bandelier Park and a selection of her best haiku such as:
well-worn path –
I take my memories
for a walk
–Carole MacRury
In a colourful trifolds featuring Mount Fuji on one side and a zen garden on the other side, Susan Diridoni laid out her gendai haiku on strips of paper:
kimono backwards her bunraku dream
– Susan Diridoni
In Ghost Notes, Beverly Acuff Momoi caught my attention with a very original kigo:
my biggest fears
are nameless
moons of Jupiter
— Beverly Acuff Momoi
In low doorways, paul m. shares haiku inspired by his visit to the Ephrata Cloisters, a semi-monastic community:
dawn chorus
a brother’s snore
part of it
— paul m.
To celebrate its 25 years, the Haiku Poets’ Society of Western Massachusetts shared a selection of members’ haiku in a beautiful handmade card:
all these years
at the same table
salt and pepper
— Denise Fontaine-Pincine (Haiku Poets’ Society of Western Massachusetts)
In Night Mist, Jennifer Sutherland presents a series of haiku about horses:
fading daylight
horse and hill
become one
— Jennifer Sutherland (previously published in A Hundred Gourds, June 2014)
In Explorations 1, lynnej finds haiku in her surroundings:
after the storm
haiku strewn
along the shore
— lynnej
In Shawls of Rain, Marietta McGregor takes a humorous look at family:
petting zoo…
newlyweds stroke
each other
— Marietta McGregor
In A Few Gourds, Angela Terry reminds us:
taking the shortcut
and missing the journey –
a map of clouds
— Angela Terry (previously published in A Hundred Gourds)
In VanKuver, Jacquie Pearce offers a mini chapbook filled with haiku inspired by her city:
wet neon city
the young girl’s colourful
splash!
— Jacquie Pearce
In What’s Left Unsaid: 125 haiku (limited edition), Maxianne Berger allows us to play and form our own haiku with her interactive flagbook:
fireflies adrift
near her husband’s grave
we both smile
— Maxianne Berger
In On the Bridge (Japan 2014), you’ll find beautiful haiga by Lidia Rozmus, and a selection of haiku by Lidia, Cynthia A. Henderson, and Charles Trumbull:
one breath
one brush stroke
one
— Lidia Rozmus
In by the way (limited edition, 35 copies), Don Wentworth takes us on a journey:
translating
a poem differently each time—
the autumn sky
-Don Wentworth
In Breakfast Alone, Michael Dylan Welch offers us a series of haiku about taste:
breakfast alone
slowly I eat
my melancholy
— Michael DylanWelch
Whether you take the trifolds on transit, read them while curled up in your favourite chair, or enjoy them while having breakfast, my advice is to read them right away while the memory of the conference, and the people you met, are still fresh.
In case you missed my cartoonist-in-residence presentation at Haiku North America 2017 (September 17, 2017), here’s a short edited version featuring comics only.
It includes:
0’00 A short introduction to Old Pond Comics
3’31 HNA 2017 conference comics
6’15: Kaleidoscope haiku-cartoons featuring haiku by Jim Kacian, Alexis Rotella, Tanya McDonald, Terry Ann Carter, Kala Ramesh, Brad Bennett.
Thanks to the wonderful audience at Haiku North America.
The Haiku North America conference took place in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from September 13-17, 2018.
Before the trip, I read a lot of guidebooks and they all mentioned you should drink a lot of water to avoid altitude sickness, so I did.
Luckily, the Hotel Santa Fe provided free bottles of water for guests at the front desk. When I brought a bottle of water to my roommate, she exclaimed, “Aw, it’s nice!” I replied, “‘No problem.” She said, “No, the water… it’s nice!” She showed me the label and it turns out Nice was the brand name.
Drinking lots of water can cause some inconvenience, such as a full bladder. Is it why they have a bodily fluid clean-up kit on board the Santa Fe free pick up shuttle? I wonder.
In Santa Fe, you’re surrounded by mountains. When you look up at mountains, it’s easy to forget you’re already standing at a high altitude of 7,000 feet.
View from the Santa Fe Hotel Hacienda (I sneaked in to take a picture).
I made a rookie mistake: on my first day in Santa Fe, instead of taking it easy to acclimatize to the high altitude, I went straight to Museum Hill which is, you guessed it, on a hill and even higher than Santa Fe.
View from the Santa Fe Botanical Garden on Museum Hill.
There’s less oxygen at high altitude, so you have to take it easy. When I walked at my regular pace, which is fast, I quickly became out of breath. I learned I had to slow down, and walk at a slower pace.
View from the Museum Hill Cafe.
So, yeah, this rookie mistake is probably the reason I had to spend a few hours in bed with strong headaches and flu-like body pain.
Despite high altitude sickness, I had lots of fun exploring Santa Fe and attending the HNA conference. It was an amazing destination and an unforgettable conference.
Have a look! You can browse through my HNAA 2017 conference photos and comics.
The Haiku North America conference took place in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from September 13-17 2017. It was an amazing conference. I was the cartoonist-in-residence during the event and captured the conference in cartoons.
Before heading to HNA, I read a lot of Santa Fe and New Mexico. One of the subjects that fascinated me was the roadrunner.
The roadrunner is the official bird of New Mexico. It can run up to 20mph and sometimes eats rattlesnakes.
When I arrived in Albuquerque airport, I took a hotel shuttle to Santa Fe. A few minutes after we left the airport, someone pointed the side of the road and said: “Hey, a roadrunner!” I turned my head, but it was too late. I had missed it.
I made it my objective to see a roadrunner during my trip. During excursions, I would scrutinize the side of the road, but it was not meant to be.
In Santa Fe, the only roadrunner I saw was the one on the RailRunner commuter train at the station.
I imagined Master Kawazu would hop on a real roadrunner to go to the conference. That would be a lot of fun.
So I didn’t see a roadrunner during my trip, but I did enjoy all the haiku talks at the conference.
View all HNA 2017 conference photos and comics.
Old Pond Comics 