A handful of haiku for Haiku Poetry Day

“dogwood blossoms” is 8x10, made of painted washi and other papers glued onto cradled wood. © Annette Makino 2021

This Sunday is both Easter and International Haiku Poetry Day! To celebrate, I’m sharing a sampling of my published haiku and senryu (haiku’s wry, funny cousin).

Easter brunch
even the teen
is risen

Frogpond, 44.1, Winter 2021; String Theory: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2021, Ed. Jim Kacian and the Red Moon Editorial Staff, 2022

Covid variant
another wave sucks the sand
from under our feet

Mariposa, #46, Spring/Summer 2022

seventy-one now
he chooses to leave
the candles burning

Modern Haiku, 53.1, Winter-Spring 2022

ponderosas
the soft thud of snow
landing on snow

The Heron’s Nest, 13.2, June 2021

a thousand-piece puzzle deeper into winter

The Heron’s Nest, 14.1, March 2022

again I fail
the robot test
winter solitude

The Heron’s Nest, 13.1, March 2021

writer’s block
the saw-whet owl’s
one-note tune

Modern Haiku, 51.1, Winter-Spring 2020

ninety-one—
she decides she’s done
reusing teabags

Kingfisher, Issue 1, June 2020

lifting fog
color seeps back
into the dunes

Modern Haiku, 51.2, Summer 2020

dogwood blossoms
the catch and release
of evening light

The Heron’s Nest, 12.4, December 2020

wind blowing upriver
one of the ripples
becomes an otter

Kingfisher, Issue 2, December 2020

all-day sunset
leaves coated in ash
from a distant forest 

Kingfisher, 4, November 2021

still waiting
to outgrow my freckles
silver oaks

Frogpond, 44.3, Autumn 2021

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Makino Studios News

Etsy strike: Along with more than 20,000 other Etsy vendors, I’ve put my Etsy shop on vacation mode to support the strike this week. Etsy recently announced it is raising seller fees by 30% while making record profits. I've had an Etsy shop since 2011, but over the years, the corporation has gotten greedier and less respectful of makers. As a result, I have greatly reduced my offerings there and sell most of my cards etc. on my main site here. You can support independent creators by boycotting Etsy thru Monday, April 18 and buying directly from Etsy sellers instead. Thank you! 

The episode featuring Lori B. Goodman and me, called “Women of Washi,” will debut Thursday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. You can watch it online for free for the following three weeks via www.studiospace.tv.

Studio Space: I’m honored to be included among the 20 terrific Humboldt County artists featured on Season 2 of Studio Space, the popular series produced by our local PBS station, KEET-TV, which started on April 7. The episode featuring Lori B. Goodman and me, called “Women of Washi,” will debut Thursday, May 5 at 7:30 p.m. You can watch it online for free for the following three weeks, and then it goes behind a paywall for non-KEET members. See www.studiospace.tv for all episodes.

Pizza and Pottery: Join Peggy Loudon, Patrica Sennott, half a dozen other artists and me at a lovely May Day art fair on Sunday, May 1 from 11 to 5 at 135 Sunkist Lane, McKinleyville (park on Cummins Lane). Hosts Lauren and Mariah Sarabia are gourmet chefs who will offer wood-fired pizza and other goodies. Rain cancels.

ukiaHaiku Festival: I’ll give a brief presentation and reading at the 20th anniversary of this haiku festival in my hometown of Ukiah, CA. I’ll also have books, prints and cards for sale. This free event takes place Sunday, May 15 at 2 p.m. at the Grace Hudson Museum.

Writers Read: On Thursday, June 23 at 7 p.m., I’ll be back at the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah as the featured reader in this series, with a slide show of my haiga (haiku art) as well as a table of my art and haiku wares.

New notecard sets: By popular demand, I’m offering boxed notecard sets again, including a new animal series. I hope to have these back from the printer by the end of the month.

Prints to order: I’ve recently posted several of my designs on Fine Art America, where you can order them the size you want and even have them framed. If you’d like a print of a piece in my gallery that you don’t see on FAA, let me know so I can post it for you.

Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 8! Order these and other cards here.

Mother’s Day and graduation: Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 8 and many graduation ceremonies follow soon afterwards, so make sure you have your cards and gifts! I have a variety of cards for both occasions. And would your mom or grad appreciate a copy of Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku, or a signed art print by a local artist?

North Coast Open Studios: After a two-year pandemic hiatus, this event is taking place again June 4-5 and June 11-12 at artist studios around Humboldt County. I’m not sure if I will be participating as an artist as I don’t have a great place to host the public, but let me know if you have any leads on potential spaces. This is a great opportunity to visit local artists!

Just putting it out there

“did someone say cake?” is 8x10, Japanese watercolor and sumi ink on paper. The original does not have words. The card is available here. A haiku version may follow if I get inspired! © Annette Makino 2018

As I'm painting and preparing for North Coast Open Studios this weekend, I’m feeling excited about showing my art to the public. A painting doesn’t fully come alive for me until it is shared with others. And I love hearing stories from my customers and getting ideas from them.

But there is also a part of me that is feeling shy about the exposure—and not just because I’m an introvert! It feels risky to put my work out there for all to see, knowing I am far from mastery. I look at some of my earlier paintings and feel a combination of embarrassment and tenderness toward my less skilled former self. And I expect that soon enough, I’ll feel the same about my current work. 

I'm reminded of the New Yorker cartoon by Gahan Wilson that shows two gentlemen gazing at a child's awkward scrawl. One says, "Of course, it's a very early Rembrandt."

The other day I was listening to an all-Beatles channel on satellite radio that played some fuzzy recordings from their beginning years. I realized there was a good reason I had never heard those cover songs by the Beatles before—they simply weren’t very good! And yet, in those early years, the Fab Four were able to come up with some real gems, like “She Loves You.” Even if the song seems simple, the harmonies and catchy “yeah, yeah, yeah” chorus still convey a freshness and vitality more than half a century later.

“bright eyes” is 11x14, sumi ink on paper. It is available as a signed print here. © Annette Makino 2011

Although I could never aspire to the greatness of the Beatles, I can also see a few flowers among the weeds in my early work. The “bright eyes” piece to the right, of my dog Misha, was one of my first sumi ink paintings back in 2011. Since I was just starting my art business, the enthusiastic response from the public was very encouraging.

Seven years later, I can paint dogs much more realistically, as in the watercolor above of my friend’s dog Sukie. And I know my art will continue to evolve and improve over time. 

I have to remind myself that an artist’s development is never “finished,” so there’s no point in waiting until my work is perfect to put it out in the world. All I can do is play and have fun with the process. And share it with my wonderfully supportive customers. So bring on Open Studios! Yeah, yeah, yeah!

bright eyes, wagging tail
the universe, in dog form
invites us to play

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Makino Studios News

Open Studios: I will join artists Tina Gleave, Jennifer Rand, Amy Fowler and Araya Shon at the Samoa Women’s Club in Samoa, CA for North Coast Open Studios this weekend. We’ll be serving wine and appetizers tomorrow (Friday, June 1) at Art Night from 6 to 9 p.m. The main event is Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be art raffles, demos of our techniques, closeout sales and refreshments. More details and directions in the Facebook event.

Cards for Dads and Grads: Check out the Cards section to find cards for graduation, Father’s Day (June 17), weddings and birthdays.

On Vacation: I will be away on a painting vacation on the Klamath River all of next week and visiting family the week after, so I will not be able to ship out any orders until Friday, June 15.

ukiaHaiku Festival: I’m happy to share that the following haiku won first place in the Dori Anderson Award for haiku about Ukiah at the annual ukiaHaiku Festival last month:

sun-baked orchard
collecting cherries
in my hat

Eastward ho!

“mountain meadow” is 11×14, painted with sumi ink and Japanese watercolors on paper. © Annette Makino 2015

At the Seabeck Haiku Getaway in Washington last fall, we started with a fun icebreaker: write down five items from your bucket list, then walk around the room and share with other participants. (For more about Seabeck, see The path unfolds.)

After the exercise, my daughter Maya and I compared lists. I definitely don’t share her dream of working a stint as a bartender! But it turns out that we both had the exact same number one wish: to travel to Japan as a family.

Meanwhile, Makino Studios turned five years old in March. Thinking about how to mark this milestone, I remembered the bucket list exercise. It occurred to me that the best way to celebrate would be to use some of my earnings to take our family to Japan. How fitting that a business that draws deeply from the traditions of Japanese art and haiku would enable us to travel there.

So we are off early next month for three weeks of exploration and adventure! This will be the first trip to Japan for our teens; it is the fourth trip for me and the second for my husband Paul. My sister Yoshi will join us for the first and last few days of the trip.

Our itinerary includes visiting Japanese relatives in Tokyo and touring the venerable 320-year old Makino sake factory in Takasaki. We’ll also see the Makino temple and a cemetery there containing family tombs from ten generations.

My mother, sisters and I (standing, left) wear kimonos sent from Japan by my grandparents. (Santa Monica, California, 1969.)

I’m also excited to hike along the ancient Nakasendo trail in the Japanese alps, where stone tablets commemorate visits by revered haiku poets Basho and Shiki. We will soak in hot springs and explore Japanese temples, gardens, castles, and museums.

To experience Japanese life more deeply, we will mainly stay in ryokan (traditional Japanese inns) and a variety of homes booked through Airbnb. As lovers of Japanese cuisine, we are especially excited about the food! I imagine I’ll find much artistic inspiration throughout.

While the earnings from my art business are modest, the psychic rewards are incalculable. (I just don’t think I’d feel the same about bartending.) To all my store buyers, customers and supporters over the past five years, I bow in thanks.

salt breeze
all the countries
on my bucket list

warmly, Annette Makino

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Makino Studios News

ukiaHaiku Awards: At the ukiaHaiku Festival on April 24, this poem of mine won second place in the Jane Reichhold International Prize, out of 412 entries from six continents:

unconcerned
with divorce rates
mating butterflies

And this one took third in the Dori Anderson Prize for haiku about Ukiah:

a row of raindrops
hanging on the clothesline—
manzanita blossoms

Newest stores: The list of Makino Studios card retailers now includes Down to Earth in Eugene, Oregon; Three Sisters in Ukiah; and Swish Healdsburg in Healdsburg, California. If there is no store in your area, you can order online through my Etsy shop.

Order by June 1: As I’ll be traveling in Japan, I will not be able to fill online or store orders between June 2 and June 28.

Connecting: I appreciate the kind responses to my last post, on International Haiku Day. You can get news, fresh art and haiku on my Makino Studios Facebook page and my Twitter feed.

Publication credit: “salt breeze” was published in Exhaling, the Seabeck 2015 anthology; it tied for second place in the Seabeck kukai (a haiku contest determined by participating poets).