A haikupalooza for Haiku Poetry Day

Today, April 17, is International Haiku Poetry Day, which falls in the middle of National Poetry Month. As it happens, I have four upcoming public events focused on poetry and art: a haiku festival, an art opening, a poetry reading and an open studios weekend. All very exciting—see below for dates and deets!

Every day last month, the Mann Library Daily Haiku site at Cornell University featured one of my haiku, selected by editor Tom Clausen. To celebrate Haiku Poetry Day, here are a dozen of my favorites. You can read all 31 poems here along with publication credits.

“maybe we too” is an 11x14 mixed media collage made with paper, acrylic paint, ink, colored pencil and glue on cradled birch panel. © Annette Makino 2024

for better or for worse
our lights and darks
tumbling together

home from errands—
a hero’s welcome
from the dog

our easy silence
every puddle
sky-deep

fog-shrouded coast
we listen
to the view

art studio
a full day’s work
under my nails

hunger moon
a descendent of wolves
licks our plates

lights out—
we discuss
our extinction

maybe I too
have softened with age
moss-covered stones

long before language the S of the river

cowlick
some part of me
still wild

what remains
of the mountain
sand between my toes

redwood time
the steady journey
from earth to sky

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Makino Studios News

ukiaHaiku Festival: The 23rd annual ukiaHaiku Festival takes place on Sunday, April 27, 2-4 p.m. at the Grace Hudson Museum’s Wild Gardens in Ukiah, CA. I’m honored to be the keynote speaker this year, a cool twist for a Ukiah High grad! The organizers write, “Join us to celebrate Ukiah’s palindrome with readings of past haiku contest winners from various local luminaries followed by an all-ages open mic for those who wish to read a haiku of their choosing.” It’s free and open to the public. I’ll have a Makino Studios table with some books, calendars, prints and cards.

A dozen artists ages 36 to 92 will show their work at “Ten Thousand Gates - A Humboldt Celebration of Asian Artists.”

Ten Thousand Gates - A Humboldt Celebration of Asian Artists: This art show at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in Eureka, CA will feature a dozen local artists of Asian descent. The show opens during Arts Alive on Saturday, May 3 from 6 to 9 p.m. The exhibition runs April 26 to June 8. The art ranges from traditional landscapes to contemporary street art. Techniques include Chinese brush painting, ceramics, photography, spray paint, junk art, airbrush, collage and digital art. The artists are Karla Kaizoji Austin, Cate Be, Jeremy Hara, Ted Hsu, the late Suk Choo Kim, Ali Lee, Thao Le Khac, Amy Leon, Annette Makino, Yoshiko Skelton, Amy Uyeki and Libby Yee.

Six poets will share their work at “Ink to Paper - A Reading by Asian American Poets of Humboldt.”

Ink to Paper - A Reading by Asian American Poets of Humboldt: This is the first public reading by poets from our local Asian American community. The event will take place at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in Eureka, CA on Sunday, May 4 at 2 p.m. Poets include Tony Wallin-Sato, Mark Shikuma, Daryl Ngee Chinn, Annette Makino, Libby Yee and Amy Uyeki reading poems by her grandmother, Shizue Harada. Three of us will show slides of our art with the poems.  

Asian and Pacific American Month: The art show and reading are among several Humboldt County events in May held in conjunction with Asian and Pacific American month. See the Humboldt Asians and Pacific Islanders in Solidarity (HAPI) site for details. Events also include a chorale opera about the Eureka Chinatown expulsion and a Chinatown street festival. 

Open Studios: After several years off, I will be able to share my art and process during the 25th anniversary of North Coast Open Studios. I’ll be joining half a dozen international artists-in-residence plus local artists at Creekside Arts in Freshwater, CA on the second weekend, June 14-15.  

Mother’s Day and graduation: Mother’s Day is coming up on Sunday, May 11. Cal Poly Humboldt commencement is Saturday, May 17, and local high schools hold graduation in mid-June. See my card collection for these occasions and others.

Travel plans: I will be on vacation May 20 to June 8, and Makino Studios orders will go out slowly while I’m gone. Sorry for the inconvenience!

Free shipping: I offer free US shipping on orders of $35 or more. Just enter promo code FREESHIP35 at checkout.  

Summer vacation for the mind

“cloud sun cloud,” which sold recently, is 8x10. It was created with painted book pages, washi papers and glue on birch wood. Art © Annette Makino 2021.

An earlier version of the haiku was published in Frogpond 36:1 (Winter 2013); reprinted in A VAST SKY: An Anthology of Contemporary World Haiku, edited by Bruce Ross, Koko Kato, Dietmar Tauchner and Patricia Prime, Tancho Press, 2015; and in Wishbone Moon (Women’s Haiku Anthology), edited by Roberta Beary, Ellen Compton, Kala Ramesh; Jacar Press; 2018.

Well, the news is certainly grim these days. Appalling Supreme Court rulings on abortion and climate change. Multiple mass shootings. The ongoing assault on democracy. The grinding war in Ukraine. The endless Covid pandemic (and please don’t talk to me about monkeypox, I can’t even).

But just for today, I’m going to set all that aside. Instead, I want to share some fun haiku on the general theme of summer travel. Here’s hoping this small dose of humor and lightness will help carry you through these dark days—a mini-vacation for the mind.

the cramped seats
in Economy
mini pretzels

Kingfisher Journal, Issue 2, December 2020

palm frond hut
all night the rooster
announcing dawn

Presence, Issue 68, December 2020

beginning Spanish
I practice staying
in the present

Kingfisher Journal, Issue 1, June 2020

desert flower
I try to pee
generously

Kingfisher Journal, Issue 1, June 2020

Grand Canyon our very small talk

Frogpond, Vol. 43:1, Winter 2020

white hill town
the herder shakes down cherries
for his goats

Presence, Issue 68, December 2020

Following is a rengay, a form of linked verse written together with Cynthia Anderson.

Western Wind

worn atlas
his finger travels
a new route

airing out
the musty suitcase

open road
the dog’s ears
streaming

western wind
the first whiff
of ocean

a row of sand dollars
on the front porch

rocking chair
his head nodding
with the waves

Annette Makino
Cynthia Anderson

Hedgerow, Issue 137, published Dec. 31, 2021

Despite all the madness, here’s wishing you a happy Fourth of July weekend and a fun and relaxing summer!

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Thanks Ukiah! I had a great time reading my poems at the ukiaHaiku Festival in May (shown above), and again as the featured reader for the Writers Read series at the Grace Hudson Museum last week. I appreciate everyone who turned out!

Makino Studios News

Merit Book Award: I am thrilled that Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku has received Honorable Mention for Haiga in the Merit Book Awards sponsored by the Haiku Society of America! The commentary by judges Agnes Eva Savich and Bill Cooper was just published in Frogpond: “Perfectly painted pretty colors, poignant haiku, the best kind of storytelling haibun: this decade’s worth of the artist-poet’s work contains all the delights one could dream of from an inspiring haijin of our greater haiku family.” [NOTE: A haijin is someone who writes haiku.]

Art retreat: I will be on a creative retreat the week of July 9-16, writing haiku and making collages. So please get your orders in this coming week!

Solo show: The first-ever show of my collage art will take place at Just My Type in Old Town Eureka, CA in September, with an opening during Arts Alive! on Saturday, September 3. This show is made possible in part by an Artists’ Resilience Grant from The Ink People Center for the Arts.

“Water and Stone” makes a splash

“sun-baked orchard” is 11x14, painted with sumi ink and Japanese watercolors on paper. Like many of the works featured in Water and Stone, it is available for sale. © Annette Makino 2018

Well, what a nice welcome for my new book, Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku! All the orders, raves and reviews—it feels like a hat full of cherries. Thank you!

The Makino Studios site now offers Water and Stone. Please note that it can only ship to US mailing addresses. You can also order it on Amazon, which ships worldwide and probably soon throughout the solar system.

This is a full-color, 8x10 book, and runs 124 pages. It features 50 of my watercolor haiga (art + haiku) and 15 haibun (prose + haiku). The cost is $24.99 plus tax and shipping.

I’m happy to share that these stores in Humboldt County, California now carry my book:

Eureka
Eureka Books
Eureka Natural Foods
Northcoast Co-op

Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku at Northtown Books in Arcata, California.

Arcata
Northcoast Co-op
Northtown Books
Plaza
Wildberries Marketplace

McKinleyville
Blake’s Books
Eureka Natural Foods
Miller Farms

Trinidad
Trinidad Trading Company

Here are a couple of Amazon reviews. And if you order from there and enjoy the book, I’ll be grateful if you post a review.

5.0 out of 5 stars •  Beautiful and relevant

Annette Makino’s work is wonderful — her haiku reveal ideas that are instantly relatable and yet profound. Her joyful, expressive art pairs perfectly. This collection of ten years’ work makes for a lovely gift or a book to enjoy yourself.

My mother, Erika Makino, turned 93 last month. What a pleasure to be able to give her a copy of the book I dedicated to her!

5.0 out of 5 stars • Wisdom, insight, humor, beauty.

Annette’s book is a joy. Each haiku is unexpected, like a good joke that takes a sudden turn. But instead of guffawing you will wryly smile and gain a nugget of insight into the ways of the world. Annette weaves her personal stories throughout so that each haiku succinctly, humorously, and with wisdom expresses the essence of the tale. Her lovely illustrations tie it all together. A delightful book.

Thanks for reading. Here’s hoping you are enjoying some sweet summer days despite the madness around us.

warmly, Annette Makino

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Makino Studios News

Studio Space: I am excited to share that I will be one of the featured artists on the second season of Studio Space! This is a ten-part series on local Humboldt artists produced by Eureka PBS station KEET-TV. A crew of six was here for four hours recently, interviewing me and filming me at work in my studio. It was quite a to-do! The new season will air in late spring of 2022. It will be available to stream online for free for three weeks, and then only to PBS/KEET members.

North Country Fair? This annual fair on the Arcata Plaza is scheduled to take place Sept. 18-19 this year, if COVID-19 safety permits. I am waiting to hear if it is still a go, given the rise in Humboldt County cases, and will let you know.

New calendars and cards: My 2022 calendar of art and haiku is going to press next week! This will feature 12 of my Asian-inspired collage haiga. I am also designing some new cards. These should all be ready in mid-September. Stay tuned!

The business of art: My column on “the business end of the paintbrush” for the weekly Business Sense series in the Eureka Times-Standard is now available online.

Best of Humboldt: Thanks to everyone who voted for me for Best Local Artist in the 2021 Best of Humboldt contest! Congratulations to the first place winner, mural artist Duane Flatmo, and to my fellow finalist, mural artist Blake Regan. 

Free shipping on books, cards and prints: Use code FREESHIP35 to get free first-class shipping on cards, prints, or other items on US orders of $35 or more on the Makino Studios site.

A silver lining

“long before language” is 8 x 10, made of paper, acrylic paint, and adhesive on illustration board. It is available as a greeting card reading “may all good things come your way.” The haiku version appears in my 2021 calendar. © Annette Makino 2020. 

We made it through the election—whew! Now back to our regularly scheduled pandemic anxiety. Today I’m happy to share with you this really nice article about the new artistic direction I’ve been developing during this strange time, written by Heather Shelton for the Eureka Times-Standard.

A ‘silver lining’: Amid the pandemic, a local artist finds a whole new artistic approach (Nov. 13, 2020)

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Makino Studios News

Porad Haiku Award: During the recent Seabeck Haiku Getaway, I was excited to learn that out of 663 haiku from 14 countries, this one-line haiku of mine won first prize in the Porad Haiku Contest:

long before language the S of the river

You can read all the winning haiku along with the judge’s thoughtful commentary on the Haiku Northwest site. 

Holiday notecards: I’ve produced boxed sets of holiday notecards as well as a landscape set. There are eight cards and eight kraft envelopes per box.

2021 mini-calendar: My new calendars of art and haiku are now available online and in select local stores. They feature 12 of my new collages with original haiku. Buy one for yourself and a few for holiday gifts!

Made in Humboldt fair: You can find my calendars, small prints and boxed notecards at the “Made in Humboldt” event at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka, CA through Tuesday, Dec. 24. This will be the only fair where you can find my work this season.

Free shipping: I offer free first-class shipping on US retail orders of $35 or more. Use code FREESHIP35 at checkout.

Interesting times

“trust that the future” is 8x10, made of paper, acrylic paint, and adhesive on illustration board. It is available as a greeting card. A haiku version appears in my 2021 calendar. © Annette Makino 2020.

What an intense and stressful time we're living through: a fraught election, a worsening pandemic, economic distress, racial unrest and climate-driven disasters, just for starters. The year 2020 embodies the ancient curse, “may you live in interesting times.” 

Long-term, I honestly don't know if we will get through this as a species, especially at the rate we’re destroying our home planet and its climate.

lights out—
we discuss
our extinction

But just days before the end of the election, I am finally daring to hope. Massive early voting shows we may be amidst a sea change, a shift away from the politics of hate and divisiveness.

Voting in staggering numbers, young people especially are giving me hope. The three young folks in my house are closely tracking the election news and urging their social media followers to vote. My daughter and I have written several hundred letters and postcards to voters.

Meanwhile, when the stress becomes overwhelming, I try to take my own advice in the card shown above, part of my new collage series:

trust that the future
is already unfolding
from long-planted seeds

And if the election goes badly for us, we can always emulate the migrating birds:

campaign season
geese practice leaving
the country

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“lights out” was first published in Acorn, No. 45, Fall 2020

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Makino Studios News

NEW: Holiday notecards: I’ve made boxed sets of holiday notecards from three of my new collage designs. There are eight cards and eight kraft envelopes per box. These cards are also available as single 5x7 cards.

NEW: 2021 mini-calendar: My new calendars of art and haiku are now available online and in select local stores! They feature 12 of my new collages with original haiku. These make great holiday gifts!

Made in Humboldt fair: You can find my calendars, prints and boxed notecards at the “Made in Humboldt” event at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka, CA from Tuesday, Nov. 10 through Tuesday, Dec. 24. This will be the only fair where you can find my work this season.

Seabeck Haiku Getaway: I will be giving a reading of my haiku and presenting my new collage haiga (art with haiku) at this annual gathering, which is being held on Zoom this year. This free event takes place this weekend, Oct. 30-Nov. 1. Registration is now open to everyone.

Sneak preview of the new collage collection

“fog becoming redwoods” is 8 x 10, made of paper, acrylic paint, and adhesive on illustration board. © Annette Makino 2020.

First of all, I want to thank everyone who responded to my last post (Big Changes in the Studio), where I shared my new artistic direction creating Japanese-inspired collages. I was genuinely uncertain whether this big shift in style and technique would appeal to my longtime fans and customers. 

But based on your enthusiastic responses, I have gone ahead and designed a line of fifteen new greeting cards based on my collages. These new cards should be back from the printer on Monday. To sneak a peek at the new collection, see this page of all my Makino Studios card designs. I’m excited to share my new designs for the holidays, birthdays, sympathy and more.

I’m also very happy about my new 2021 calendar of art and haiku. This is my eighth year of producing these—and my favorite yet. Arriving next week, these mini-calendars feature a dozen of my new collages along with original haiku.

I’m not able to do any in-person holiday fairs this year, and some of my retailers are seeing reduced sales during this pandemic. Consequently, I have printed 100 fewer calendars than usual. So order soon to be sure to get enough for yourself and for holiday gifts!

My collages, using discarded materials such as old letters and canceled checks as well as hand-painted washi papers, may be a fitting medium for this strange, disjointed time. In adapting to the pandemic, we are all having to gather bits and pieces from our old lives, then transform and rearrange them in unexpected ways. 

Please let me know your thoughts on the new collection, and enjoy! 

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“what remains” is 8 x 10, made of paper, acrylic paint, and adhesive on illustration board. © Annette Makino 2020. The haiku was originally published in With Cherries On Top, Press Here (2012).

Makino Studios News

Seabeck Haiku Getaway: I will be giving a reading of my haiku and presenting my new collage haiga (art with haiku) at this annual gathering, which is being held on Zoom this year. This free event takes place Oct. 31-Nov. 1. Registration is full but you can sign up for the Seabeck waiting list; the organizers hope to make room for more participants.

Made in Humboldt fair: You can find my calendars, prints and boxed notecards at the “Made in Humboldt” event at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka, CA from Tuesday, Nov. 10 through Tuesday, Dec. 24. This will be the only fair where you can find my work this season, as the annual holiday fairs at the Arcata Community Center and Redwood Acres are canceled. My cards and calendars are also available in select stores.