In memory of my mother

“the shape of a life” is 11x14, made of acrylic paint, paper and glue on cradled wood. The original has sold but the image is available as a greeting card and is also part of the Makino Studios 2025 calendar.

My beloved mother, Erika Makino, passed away a month ago at age 96. I was by her bedside, holding her hand, and my two sisters had been with her in recent days and hours.

From growing up in Switzerland during World War II to traveling the world, teaching special education, writing stories and making art, my mom led a fascinating life, as described in her obituary. Also see “An Adventurous Spirit,” a much longer version of her life story with more photos.

I’m learning that no matter how old you are and no matter how inevitable it seemed, it is still really hard to lose your mom. Who else could love you like your own mother? It was not always easy to grow up as the child of a free spirit: money was tight, and somehow we were always moving. By age 16 I had lived in three countries, eleven cities and 20 homes, including two stints in campgrounds. But through it all, I never doubted my mom’s unconditional love for me. What a huge loss. What a huge gift.

Over the past month of mourning, I’ve found comfort in knowing that my mother led a long and full life, getting to do most everything she wanted even into her 90s. And she had the kind of death we all wish for: at home in bed, with loved ones near, in no pain, at peace. I’m also grateful for the ability to grieve, laugh and reminisce with my sisters.

Annette Makino, left, with mother Erika Makino in Santa Barbara in 2013.

Since then my mother has visited me several times in my sleep, a loving and comforting presence. Even in scenarios that involved corpses and coffins, the dream character of my mom conveyed that these were merely the outward trappings of death, while her spirit lives beyond. Other dreams have echoed our close bond: in one I asked her if she needed anything, and she replied simply, “hug.” In another I was washing her dear face with a washcloth, very tenderly, just as I did while caregiving for her in recent years.

My mother not only gave me unconditional love, she modeled how to live an authentic life. As one of my sympathy cards reads, “those we have loved are always with us.” I am truly blessed to be my mother's daughter and to carry her in my heart.

the shape of a life
one sparkling wave
returns to the sea

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Makino Studios News

Debut in Rattle poetry journal: This month I am honored to have my first appearance in the print version of Rattle, a general poetry journal with a 0.2% acceptance rate, one of the toughest poetry journals to get into. My haibun (prose with haiku), “Migration,” connects the monarch butterfly stopover near one of my childhood homes to my father’s absence.

Anniversary sale: To celebrate Makino Studio’s 14th anniversary on March 18, and in thanks for your years of support, I’m offering 14% off everything in the shop through Tuesday, March 18 at midnight. Enter code 14YEARS at checkout.

Featured poet at Mann Library site: I’m pleased to have a haiku featured every day in March on the Mann Library Daily Haiku site at Cornell University, curated by Tom Clausen. You can follow along on the site daily and find work by many other terrific haiku poets in the archives.

Red Moon Anthology: A haiku sequence I wrote last year about caregiving for my mother, “Shorter Days,” is included in Telling the Bees: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2024. I’m delighted to be included in this annual collection of the finest haiku published around the world.

Ten Thousand Gates: A Humboldt Celebration of Asian Artists: The Humboldt Arts Council will host a show by a dozen Humboldt County artists of Asian descent, including myself, at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in Eureka, CA, opening from 6 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, May 3 during Arts Alive.

Ink to Paper: I’m organizing an accompanying poetry reading and slide show of haiga (art with haiku) by Humboldt-area Asian-American poets at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 4 at the Morris Graves. There are several other interesting Asian heritage events in Eureka in the works for that weekend; stay tuned . . .

The path unfolds

“leaf light” is based on a 19×12 original, painted with sumi ink and Japanese watercolors on rice paper. It is available as a signed 11×14 digital print or a card. © 2013 Annette Makino

Our daughter started college this fall. Before it happened, I couldn’t fully understand how much lies behind that simple statement—hope and excitement for your child’s future mixed with worry and sadness at their leaving.

For weeks after we dropped Maya off, the smallest thing could bring me to tears, like measuring oatmeal for three instead of four. My husband, son and I all miss her effervescent spirit, affectionate nature and hilarious observations. She has left our home quieter, tidier, and less exciting. It seems unfair that after eighteen years of the hard work of parenting, now that she’s pretty much perfect, she’s gone!

But happily, I got to visit Maya at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington earlier this month. (In a sweet bit of synchronicity, my freshman roommate at Stanford lives ten blocks from campus, so I also got to visit this dear friend.) To my delight, Maya decided to accompany me to the Seabeck Haiku Getaway.

geese arrowing south
part of my heart
in the passenger seat

For four days along beautiful Hood Canal, fifty poets talked, wrote and shared haiku, and I enjoyed giving a presentation on the process of creating my haiga (haiku art). As ever, it was a fun and inspiring retreat, and there was even time to hike through the woods and soak up sunlight by the lagoon.

awakened
by the breakfast bell—
sun through cedars

Haiku ahead! Annette Makino and daughter Maya at the Seabeck Haiku Getaway, October 2015.

Between studying and writing essays for school, Maya penned some fine haiku of her own, like this one:

autumn clouds
all the people
I could be

And at the end of the long weekend, two of my poems, less than an hour old, won prizes in the “kukai” haiku contest. This one, written while lying under a big maple tree with Maya, is a gentle message to myself in this time of transition:

a gust of wind
swirls through the maple—
the art of letting go

Back in 2013, when I returned from Seabeck, I created the “leaf light” piece above based on a forest trail there. Thinking about Maya’s leaving, it is a reminder to have faith in times of loss, change and uncertainty—and to keep walking.

leaf light
tree by tree
the path unfolds

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Makino Studios News

2016 calendar: A wall calendar of art and haiku, featuring twelve of my paintings of landscapes, animals and flowers, is now on sale in stores and online. From ocean waves to oak-covered hills, this mini-calendar provides a monthly dose of Zen wisdom.

New cards: I’ve posted eleven new and updated card designs to the MakinoStudios Etsy shop and they are also available in stores.

Made in Humboldt: More than 50 card designs, plus prints and calendars will be offered at this holiday sale at the Garden Shop of Pierson Building Center in Eureka, CA Nov. 17-Dec. 24.

Holiday Craft Market: Makino Studios will have a booth at this fair in the Arcata Community Center in Arcata, CA on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 12-13.

Connecting: I appreciate the kind responses to my last post, “One brushstroke at a time.” You can also get news, art and haiku on my Makino Studios Facebook page and my Twitter feed.

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"leaf light" has been published in The Sacred in Contemporary Haiku, edited by Robert Epstein, 2014; and in the 2013 Seabeck anthology, A Warm Welcome (it is also used for the cover art).

Ripples from a stone

“forest clearing” is 11×14, painted with sumi ink and Japanese watercolors on paper. A holiday card version reads, “all is calm, all is bright.” © 2014 Annette Makino

I’ve been thinking about cause and effect—and ripples. Even we fuzzy artsy types, who met our college science requirement by taking “Physics for Poets,” know that when you throw a stone in the water, the effect is not linear: the ripples radiate out in concentric circles, farther and farther from the source.

So it goes in the rest of life: while actions certainly have consequences, you can never clearly predict what they will be. A tossed pebble may create a wave that washes a bug up to safety on the far shore. And sometimes the effects radiate out much farther than you think.

This month my friend Amy Uyeki and I have a joint show featuring images combined with haiku and other words. We named the show “Ripples from a Stone” based on the idea that we all influence each other in surprising and unpredictable ways.

In fact, both of our work in this show was inspired by Amy’s grandmother, Shizue Harada. I never met her, yet this Japanese woman, who emigrated to the US in the 1920s in an arranged marriage and only began writing poetry late in life, indirectly launched me on my path as an artist and poet.

For more about this story and details on the show, see this article in the Eureka Times-Standard. And if you’re in Humboldt, we’d love to see you at our reception this Saturday, Nov. 22, 4-6 p.m. at the Adorni Center in Eureka, California.

By putting our work out in the world, we have tossed a stone into the river. Who knows what might come of that?

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Artists Amy Uyeki, left, and Annette Makino at their joint show, “Ripples from a Stone,” at the Adorni Center in Eureka, California in November 2014.

Makino Studios News

Ripples from a Stone: This show by mixed media artist Amy Uyeki and me will run at the Adorni Center in Eureka, CA through Nov. 30, with a reception on Saturday, Nov. 22, 4-6 p.m.

Holiday Open Studios: Visit artists Joyce Jonté, Patricia Sennott and me 11-5 on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 6-7 at StewArt Studios in Arcata, CA.

Made in Humboldt: My cards, prints and calendars are on offer at this holiday sale at the Pierson's Garden Shop in Eureka, CA now through Dec. 24.

Holiday Craft Market: Makino Studios will have original paintings, prints, cards and calendars at this fair in the Arcata Community Center in Arcata, CA on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 13-14.

Holiday at Mateel Gallery: A few of my original paintings, plus cards and calendars, will be available at this group exhibit in Garberville, CA Nov. 22 through Dec. 27.

Living Room Retrospective: I am one of nine artists featured in this exhibit at MikkiMoves in Eureka, CA, opening Saturday, Dec. 6. The show runs through January.

New Cards and 2015 Calendar: Several new holiday and everyday card designs are now available online in my Etsy shop, along with my wall calendar for 2015.