April is National Poetry Month, and today, April 17, is Haiku Poetry Day! In celebration, here is a sampling of haiku and senryu I’ve published over the past year. And if you’d like to try your hand at this subtle art form, you might enjoy “The Discipline of Haiku” by poet Michael Dylan Welch.

family dinner
our teen speaks
in hashtags

other lifetimes I brake for a frog

constellations
one barking dog
sets off another

chigger bites
my finger traces
the wilderness map

bush after bush
the dog’s news feed
juicier than mine

last molar
he leaves childhood
under his pillow

thrift store sandals
the long mile
in someone else’s shoes

sushi bar
through fish tank glass
they watch us feeding

new glasses          old dust bunnies

warmly, Annette Makino

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Makino Studios News

Healing images: To commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, Heather Shelton of the Eureka Times-Standard wrote this story about how my friend Amy Uyeki and I have each created healing art for Japan (March 26, 2016).

ukiaHaiku Festival: The ukiaHaiku Festival takes place on Sunday, April 24, at the SPACE Theater in Ukiah, California. Awards at 2 p.m., refreshments at 3 p.m. I will have cards and prints for sale.

New stores: Hello, Colorado! Poor Richard’s Books and Gifts, a big independent bookstore in Colorado Springs, now carries a selection of my cards. And here in Arcata, The Volunteers’ Gift Shop at Mad River Community Hospital is the latest store to carry Makino Studios cards.

Japan in June: An early heads up: since I’ll be traveling in Japan June 5-27, I will not be able to fill Etsy or store orders until I get back. I will also have to miss North Coast Open Studios this year, but you can always visit my studio by appointment.

Connecting: You can get news, fresh art and haiku on my Makino Studios Facebook page and my Twitter feed.

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Publication credits:

"empty bowl" - Modern Haiku, Volume 46.1, Winter-Spring 2015

“family dinner” - The Heron’s Nest, Volume XVIII, Number 1: March 2016

“other lifetimes” - Beyond the Grave: The Afterlife in Contemporary Haiku, Ed. Robert Epstein, Middle Island Press, October 2015

“constellations” - Modern Haiku, 46.3, Autumn 2015

“chigger bites” - The Heron’s Nest, Volume XVII, Number 2: July 2015

“bush after bush” - A Hundred Gourds, 4:3, June 2015

“last molar” - Frogpond, 38:2, spring/summer 2015

“thrift store sandals” - Prune Juice, Issue 16, July 2015

“sushi bar” - Prune Juice, Issue 17, November 2015

“new glasses” - Prune Juice, Issue 17, November 2015