Finding a warm community

software update
the maple releasing
its obsolete

                       l

                            e

                                       a

                                v

                       e

                            s

“software update” is 11x14, made with acrylic paint, paper, pen and glue on cradled wood. This is a page from my 2025 calendar. A card version reads, “have a wild and crazy birthday”. © Annette Makino 2024

I had a wonderful time at the Seabeck Haiku Getaway last month! It was four days of marinating in all things haiku with fellow poets in beautiful Seabeck, Washington.

Since the conference theme was maps, I recruited my geographer husband, Paul W. Blank, to lead a “Walk on the World” session with his giant maps that show the world at 16 miles to the inch. It was great fun wandering across Eurasia in our stocking feet! Many haiku emerged from his session and others.

The schedule was packed with presentations and “Write Now” exercises, many on the theme of maps and travel. Featured guest Crystal Simone Smith shared her moving haiku inspired by 19th century fugitive slave ads; she also led us in exploring new haiku approaches.

The Seabeck Haiku Getaway always includes a kukai, a contest of haiku written at Seabeck that is judged by the participating poets. I was honored that both of my submissions placed, tying for first and sixth. Here is my first-place poem:

Geographer Paul W. Blank, far right, explains the big maps at the Seabeck Haiku Getaway in October 2024.

Tokyo alley
I run into
the moon from home

But for me, the best part of the long weekend was deepening my ties to the haiku clan. During communal mealtimes, walks in the woods and late-night socializing, I got to reconnect with poet friends and meet others I’d only known by name. Basking in this community was especially precious to me since I live far from any in-person haiku groups.

Earlier this year haiku poet P. H. (Peter) Fischer and I co-edited the conference anthology for the 2023 Seabeck Haiku Getaway. Published by Haiku Northwest, it was distributed at last month’s gathering. Winds Aloft features terrific cover art of Seabeck and six haiku comics by graphic novelist David Lasky, as well as poems by almost all of the 56 conference participants that year. Here’s one of mine inspired by the bigleaf maples at Seabeck:

the last rays of sun
offered back to the sky
yellow maple

As Peter and I wrote in the introduction, “Haiku poets are a special breed. The habit of keenly observing life’s details tends to make people more attuned, thoughtful and appreciative. Or perhaps it works the other way around. In any case, each year this unique tribe gathers at Seabeck to create a warm community of like-minded folks. In the words of physicist Douglas Hofstadter, in this kind of synergy, ‘The soul is greater than the hum of its parts.’ We appreciate everyone who added their own unique hum to the magic that is Seabeck.”

In these turbulent times, we need community more than ever. So on this, my eighth time at Seabeck, I was grateful once again to be welcomed into the fold.

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Makino Studios News

These are just four of the notecard sets on sale at 20% off in the Cards section. Sale ends this Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024.

SALE on notecards: I’m offering 20% off all holiday and everyday notecard sets. These come eight to a box with eight kraft envelopes. Normally $20, they are on sale through midnight this Sunday, Nov. 17 for $16 with promo code NOTECARD20. Most of these designs are also available as single cards with words.

2025 calendars: So far this season, more than 500 of my mini-calendars of art and haiku have gone out the door! Still just $12 each, these lovely little calendars make great gifts for friends and family.

Greeting cards: You can find most of my newest single cards at the top of this collection of 70 designs. These cards are made with fiber from responsibly managed forests and the mill uses green energy and carbon offsets. They are printed in Arcata, California by an independent small business and go for $5 each.

Holiday shipping deadlines: For arrival on or before December 25, please place your order no later than December 17. The mail has been slow these days, so even sooner is safer!

Made in Humboldt Fair: This event at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka, CA runs through Dec. 24. There you can find my book (Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku), signed and matted prints, 2025 calendars and notecard sets.

Arcata Holiday Craft Market: This fundraiser for the Arcata Recreation Department’s youth scholarship program takes place Dec. 14-15 at the Arcata Community Center in Arcata, CA. Look for the Makino Studios booth on the lefthand side of the main room. This is my only in-person event this season and I will be offering some deals and closeouts.

Social: I’ve given up on Twitter/X, but I regularly post art, haiku, news and more on Instagram and Threads as @annettemakino and on Facebook as Makino Studios (links below). See you over there!

Thanks: I always appreciate your feedback, whether by email, on social media or here in the comments.

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Credit: “the last rays of sun” - 5th place tie, kukai at Seabeck 2023; in Winds Aloft: 2023 Seabeck Haiku Getaway Anthology, Eds. Annette Makino and P H. Fisher, Haiku Northwest, 2024

New cards and calendars galore

Happy October! This harvest season I’m excited to share a release of ten new card designs for birthdays, condolences, holidays and more. You can browse all 70-plus single cards, as well as boxed notecard sets, in the card section.

I am also now shipping my 2025 mini-calendar of art and haiku. The Eureka Times-Standard just ran this fun feature called A calendar tradition on the origins of my haiku calendar, going back to a childhood art project with my two sisters. (Journalist Heather Shelton was inspired by my last blog post/e-newsletter about this history.)

Shipping is free for orders of $35 and up; just enter promo code FREESHIP35 at checkout.

tilted axis
we slide
into fall

NEW! 2025 mini-calendar of art and haiku - Japanese-inspired collage

$12.00

NEW! funny frog card - you’re so cute and cool but I like you anyway! (464)

$5.00

NEW! get well card of love and healing - beach landscape collage (460)

$5.00

NEW! non-traditional sympathy or birthday card - redwood tree with haiku (459)

$5.00

NEW! redwood tree non-traditional holiday card - collage of giant redwood (457)

$5.00

NEW! funny playful cat birthday card - tuxedo cat catching autumn leaves (456)

$5.00

NEW! sea turtle birthday card - may you live long and well - tropical ocean collage (455)

$5.00

NEW! river and ocean friendship card - so grateful to share this world with you (461)

$5.00

NEW! funny birthday card of dog playing at the beach - many happy returns (458)

$5.00

NEW! non-traditional sympathy card - ocean wave collage with haiku (462)

$5.00

NEW! beautiful egret birthday card - wishing you a wonder-full birthday (463)

$5.00

persimmons holiday notecard set - wishing you joyful holidays

$20.00

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Makino Studios News

The Made in Humboldt Fair at Pierson Garden Shop runs Nov. 5 through Dec. 24. I will have books, prints, calendars, and notecard sets there.

The Arcata Holiday Craft Market takes place Dec. 14-15 at the Arcata Community Center. Look for the Makino Studios booth on the lefthand side of the main room.

I'm looking forward to the Seabeck Haiku Getaway Oct. 24-27 in Seabeck, Washington. Highly recommended for new and experienced haiku poets alike!

Makino Studios orders will not be shipped while I’m traveling Oct. 22-30. Avoid the wait by ordering now!

The tale of three sisters and a blank calendar

“egret wings” is 8x10, made with paper, acrylic paint, pen and glue on cradled wood. It is part of the Makino Studios 2025 calendar of art and haiku. A card version reads, “wishing you a wonder-full birthday”. © Annette Makino 2024

First of all, I’m excited to share that my 2025 calendars have arrived! This is the twelfth year in a row that I’ve produced a mini-calendar of my art and haiku (and they are still only $12). I’m so pleased to be able to share the culmination of a year’s worth of art-making with you.

fresh calendar
the squares empty
with promise

But today I want to tell you about the deep roots of this calendar project. I co-produced my first art calendar back in 1976, at the ripe old age of 13. My mother, two younger sisters and I were living in Basel, Switzerland with my elderly grandmother that year. One fall afternoon, my mom brought home a calendar for the following year with a blank space for each month’s image. She asked us three girls to create the art. We set to work with our colored markers on the floor of our shared bedroom. I remember drawing a scene of the birch woods near my grandmother’s house, fiery in yellow and orange leaves. Our mom, who always encouraged our creativity, loved the calendar.

"Another Makino Production" - art calendars by Erika, Annette, Yoshi and Yuri Makino

Back in the US the next year, we three created another calendar from scratch, photocopied it and gave copies to close friends and family for the holidays. We continued to make these every year through our teens and college years, labeling them “Another Makino Production.”

Through the 70s we drew unicorns, butterflies and mimes. In the early 80s these gave way to punk/New Wave-inspired designs and absurdist pen and ink sketches with titles like “Mr. Zapkins Takes a Bath.” When we were in late high school and college, the calendars included portraits of boyfriends and, in the case of my sister Yoshi, detailed assignments from art school. Besides pen and ink drawings, we featured scratch board art, black and white photos and linoleum block prints—anything that would Xerox well.

"Birth of Annette" by Annette Makino, December 1966 (age 3-1/2).

But as we got busy with the rest of life, it became harder to come up with four artworks apiece. One year we stretched our offerings by producing a “special artistic retrospective” that featured some charmingly strange drawings from our toddler days. One depicted my birth, or so I explained at the time. We also included sketches by our mom, Erika, as a guest artist.

Untitled, by Yuri M., produced around 3 a.m. some night in late 1980 (age 13)

Another year, my sister Yuri stayed up till 3 a.m. the night before our deadline, making a sketch of one of her running shoes, laces trailing. It was a decent likeness, but oddly small and pathetic on the page. It looked like the desperate last-minute measure that it was, and we have laughed about it ever since. Though my sisters and I stopped producing our calendar in 1987, my collection is a precious time capsule of our youth.

Fast waaaay forward to 2013, and I created the first Makino Studios calendar of my art and haiku. To my surprise, the 400 calendars I printed that year sold out—even though my customers were not all blood relatives! Over the past dozen years, these annual calendars have continued to earn fans—I love hearing how people ship them to friends around the country and abroad. And my sisters still provide valuable critiques of my works in progress.

November rain
the swaying palms
on the calendar

While my artistic technique has improved since I was 13, I still get just as much pleasure from creating a usable collection of art and sharing it with the world. In fact, I consider the Makino Studios mini-calendar to be a tiny rotating art gallery. Thanks to all who have served as curators by hanging one on your wall! There are no unicorns (or running shoes) in the 2025 edition, but I hope you will enjoy it all the same.

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Makino Studios News

These 2025 mini-calendars measure  5-1/2” wide by 7” tall closed (5-1/2” x 14” open). The calendar includes an artist’s bio and some background on haiku and haiga (haiku art). These are professionally printed in the USA on substantial paper and saddle-stitched.

NEW! 2025 calendars: Featuring original haiku and Asian-inspired collages of peaceful landscapes and animals, my mini-calendars are $12 each. Special thanks to those who agreed to serve as my focus group, helping me decide which pieces to leave out and which to put on the cover.

New cards coming: Birthdays, sympathy, get well, holiday and everyday—I have ten new card designs coming off the press soon. Check for them around Sept. 25 in the card section of the Makino Studios site!

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

Henderson Haiku Awards: This year I was honored to serve as one of the two judges for the Haiku Society of America’s flagship haiku contest. Fellow haiku poet P.H. Fischer and I pored over more than 1200 poems to find our favorites. Check out the winning poems and our commentary.

Seabeck Haiku Getaway: Sponsored by Haiku Northwest, this fun and inspiring gathering takes place in Seabeck, Washington October 24-27. I will be there and can highly recommend this annual event for beginning and experienced haiku points alike. P.H. Fischer and I co-edited the conference anthology for last year’s getaway, sparking memories of a great long weekend of marinating in haiku.

Made in Humboldt Holiday Fair: I’ll have Makino Studios wares, including 2025 calendars, notecard sets and books at Pierson’s Garden Shop in Eureka, CA November 5-December 24.

Arcata Holiday Craft Market: Mark your calendars: my only in-person event of the whole year will take place Saturday and Sunday, December 14-15 at the Arcata Community Center in Arcata, CA. This festive event raises scholarship funds for low-income youth to participate in the City of Arcata’s recreation programs.

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The haiku “egret wings” was first published in Wales Haiku Journal.

“November rain” was first published in Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America

"The Three Sisters" by Yuri Makino, 1971 (age 4).

Campaign twist

“mixed ancestry” is 8x10, made of a letter and envelope from my Swiss grandmother, Japanese washi paper, buttons covered with kimono fabric, a feather, acrylic paint, thread and glue on cradled wood. It is on view at Medium Gallery in Ukiah, CA through August 2024. © Annette Makino 2021

What a wild stretch we’ve had on the political front! Just three weeks ago, with Joe Biden insisting he was staying in the presidential race and the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, things felt very dire to me. The mood at the Republican National Convention was triumphant as surveys of voter opinion showed Biden slipping farther and farther behind Trump.

dry thunder
the latest polls
roll in

But then, as you possibly may have heard, Biden graciously withdrew his reelection bid. With uncharacteristic speed, the Democrats united around Vice-President Kamala Harris as their presumptive presidential nominee.

campaign twist
our menu options
have changed

It’s been amazing to see the tsunami of energy and excitement this has unleashed among Democrats: endorsements, donations, volunteer signups, voter registrations, even TikTok memes! Although the race is still very tight right now, I take heart that many polls are starting to favor Harris. We may not be doomed to another Trump presidency after all. In an unfamiliar turn of events, reading the headlines is actually making me happy!

election news
with a side of ice cream
the taste of hope

I’m struck by how much I have in common with Kamala Harris. We are both Democratic women around age 60 from Northern California. We are both married with two adult children, stepkids in her case. Her husband is Jewish; mine is half-Jewish. She has a sister named Maya, like my daughter. We were both raised by immigrant parents: hers from India and Jamaica, mine from Switzerland and Japan. We both grew up partly overseas but mainly in the United States. And we are both biracial, specifically half-Asian.

True to form, Trump has leaned into racist attacks on Harris and questioned her Black credentials because she is also Indian, saying, “So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”

But over 12% of Americans identify as multiracial. We understand that you can embrace more than one race just as you can have both German and Irish ancestors. Yes, it can be trying when strangers ask, “What are you?” In the Facebook group Subtle Halfie Traits, people who are part Asian lament the challenges of navigating their different races or not being fully accepted by one side or the other.

But overall, I love my blend of ethnicities and cultures. Because of my mixed parentage, I lived in both Switzerland and Japan as a child. I speak several languages and have traveled widely. My world is so much richer thanks to my hybrid background.

mixed ancestry the warp and weft of me

Nothing is guaranteed; we have to work for it. But I am fired up to elect our first female, Black and Asian President. (Oh, and I love her boisterous laugh and joyful energy; what a contrast with Trump!) I’m sure that if Harris wins the November election (knock on wood), her unique background will be a valuable asset to our nation. Her leadership will draw from a firsthand understanding that diverse races and cultures only strengthen the vibrant tapestry that is America.

spacious skies
the bald eagle leans
into the wind

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Makino Studios News

2025 calendar focus group: I have almost finished the collages for my 2025 mini-calendar of art and haiku! I could use some input on which image to use for the cover and which of the 13 pieces to leave out. If you’re interested in getting a sneak peek online and voting on the contestants, please let me know by email (link below). Thanks!

Rattle Editor Timothy Green interviews Annette Makino about her haiku on Rattle’s podcast on July 21, 2024. Starts at the 2:00 mark.

Rattle podcast: I’m delighted that my “dry thunder” haiku was selected for Rattle Poetry’s weekly Poets Respond feature. On their July 21 podcast, I spoke briefly with Editor Timothy Green about how I came to write the poem. Watch it on YouTube starting at the 2:00 mark.

Q&A: A Closer Look with Annette Makino: Erica Goss recently interviewed me for her Sticks & Stones poetry newsletter about how I combine art and haiku in my haiga. Erica is an award-winning poet and a friend since babyhood; check out her site.

Anywhere But Here: Several of my collages, including “mixed ancestry,” shown above, are on display this month at Medium Gallery in Ukiah, CA. The exhibit features reflections on time and place, longing, wanderlust, and exploration. The show runs until August 31.

Made in America II: A Humboldt Celebration of Asian Artists: The Humboldt Arts Council will host a show by thirteen Humboldt County artists of Asian descent at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in Eureka, CA in May 2025. I’m honored to be part of the group and am organizing an accompanying poetry reading and haiga slide show.

Obon Festival: The annual Humboldt Obon festival takes place in Arcata, CA this Sunday, August 11 from 4-8 pm. This traditional Japanese festival, which remembers and honors our ancestors, will be held on 9th Street in front of the Arcata Playhouse. Although I won’t have a booth there this year, it’s always a fun and festive time!

Solving the puzzle

“baby sparrow” is 11x14, made from paper, acrylic paint, pencil, charcoal and glue on birch panel. It is one of two pieces now showing at the Medium Gallery in Ukiah, CA. The image is also available as a card reading, “so happy you were born.” © Annette Makino 2022

First of all, Happy Fourth of July! To celebrate, I’m offering 20% off everything in my Makino Studios shop (except original art) on orders of $20 or more. Just use code 4JULY at checkout before midnight this Sunday.

In the months since I last wrote, I’ve spent a lot of time caregiving for my 96-year-old mother. I’ve also been been traveling—I spent most of April exploring and hiking through the gorgeous, otherworldly Southwestern US (see pics on my Insta and Facebook, links below).

red rock canyon
just a matter
of time

But my main activity of the past few months has been making art. While some artists can create under any conditions, I need everything to be just so to feel ready to work. A cluttered art studio and too many urgent items on my to-do list are creative turnoffs: I need a clean space and a clear mind. Since my artistic urge is such a fragile flower, I try to nurture it whenever it blooms.

After a creative dry spell of several months, conditions have been right for a very productive artistic streak. At the moment I have eleven new collages waiting to be scanned and combined with haiku. With several more ideas percolating, there should be plenty of pieces to choose from for my 2025 calendar of art and haiku. Many of these pieces will also become cards once I figure out the words. I’m excited to share the new work with you this fall!

Sometimes while struggling with a piece, I wonder why I bother making collages. They can take as much time or more as regular paintings. So why bother fiddling with little bits of colored paper to make an image that I could just as easily paint, with more realistic results?

Well, after a decade of making fairly representational paintings in Japanese watercolors and sumi ink, I felt I had come to the end of that approach. My 2021 book, Water and Stone, was the culmination of that ten-year period. Though several notches short of mastery, I had reached a level of ability where there was not enough of a challenge left to interest me. Even though it can be uncomfortable or scary to try something new, I enjoy being stretched.

baby sparrow
the thin line between
falling and flying

I also love solving puzzles. For a couple of years I was hooked on playing the Scrabble-like game Words With Friends on my phone, absurdly spending up to an hour to find the highest-scoring word for each turn. Some years earlier, while staying in a Swiss village with my family, I got so addicted to completing a jigsaw puzzle that I missed out on a magical, snowy New Year’s Eve walk—as my husband keeps reminding me.

a thousand-piece puzzle deeper into winter

Alas, I was denied the satisfaction of finishing that puzzle: the last piece was missing.

thrift store puzzle
the holes
you can never fill

I recently realized that I enjoy making collages because it’s a continuous process of solving puzzles. The challenge: using only torn bits of paper, how can I create the picture I have in my mind? Which collage papers from my stash best represent the colors, textures and sizes I need to create that image? Sure, I can paint papers specifically for a particular need, but that is time-consuming and messy—I much prefer to hunt for the right piece from the collection of papers I’ve already painted.

Process shot of the golden retriever piece.

A couple of weeks ago I was working on a scene of a golden retriever at the beach. I leafed through my collection of painted blue papers for a way to represent the waves. Aha! A sheet printed with slate blue paint in a lively texture obtained by wrinkling tin foil and then rolling paint over it. And a bit of lacy white rice paper that could serve as the foamy edge of the wave. Oh, and for the dog’s chest, a deep gold piece of a map with Arabic place names that could imply long, wavy fur. Puzzle pieces falling into place. And the collage takes form.

rustling paper
          becomes wings
                    becomes wind

I’m looking forward to lots more puzzling ahead as I figure out how to make my collages come alive. Here’s wishing you a fun July 4th weekend and a fulfilling summer!

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Makino Studios News

Fourth of July sale: Cards, notecard sets, prints, books and more—take 20% off site-wide through this Sunday at midnight on orders of $20 and up! Enter code 4JULY at checkout. Offer excludes original art.

Paper, Paste, and Pulp: I have two collages in this show at Medium Gallery in Ukiah, CA. The opening is during First Friday tomorrow, July 5, from 5 to 8 p.m. and the show runs until July 27. The gallery is in the Pear Tree Shopping Center near Bank of America. I can’t attend the show but if you happen to make it, please send pics!

Anywhere But Here: I’ll also be represented in the Medium Gallery’s August show, with reflections on time and place, longing, wanderlust and exploration. The opening is during First Friday on August 2 from 5 to 8 p.m. and the show runs until August 31.

Made in America II: A Humboldt Celebration of Asian Artists: The Humboldt Arts Council has accepted a proposal for a show by thirteen Humboldt County artists of Asian descent, to be held at the Morris Graves Museum of Art in May 2025. I’m honored to be part of the group and plan to organize an accompanying poetry reading and haiga slide show.

Away on retreat: I will be on creative retreat at the Klamath River for the week of July 13-20, making collages and writing haiku. Makino Studios orders will be shipped out on my return.

Obon Festival: The annual Humboldt Obon festival takes place in Arcata, CA on Sunday, August 11 from 4-8 pm. This traditional Japanese festival, which remembers and honors our ancestors, will be held on 9th Street in front of the Arcata Playhouse. Organized by Humboldt Asian Pacific Islanders (HAPI), this is a fun, family-friendly community event. I don’t plan to have a booth there this year but it’s always a good time!

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Publication credits: “baby sparrow” - The Heron’s Nest; A New Resonance 13: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku; 2023 calendar of art and haiku by Annette Makino

“red rock canyon” and “a thousand-piece puzzle” - The Heron’s Nest

“thrift store puzzle” - Modern Haiku

“rustling paper” - Kingfisher

Lucky 13

“fields of lupine” is 8x10, made with acrylic paint, washi paper, part of a map, colored pencils and glue on cradled wood. It is part of the 2024 Makino Studios calendar. A card version reads, “love you, mama bear.” © Annette Makino 2023

Today is the 13th anniversary of Makino Studios! A huge thank you to all the customers, store buyers and fans who have made this art business possible for a lucky thirteen years. To celebrate, I’m offering 13% off everything in the store though this Sunday with code 13YEARS.

And tomorrow marks the official return of spring! Here in Northern California, it’s been a very dark and soggy winter, which has inspired many a haiku about the relentless rain.

cold winter rain
the swollen creek also
rushing home

At times it seemed even the wildlife was complaining about the weather.

wild geese
kvetching across the sky
March bluster

Over the winter, algae colonized the outside of my Prius while mold made itself comfortable inside. Those were solvable problems, but in far worse news, a mysterious leak completely destroyed the electrical system in my husband’s eight-year-old RAV4. So far his car has spent six weeks at the repair shop; it seems the insurance company is going to call it a total loss. Perhaps these were signs to just sit out the winter at home by the fire . . .

Starting work on the collage above.

Pale and moldy ourselves, we’ve been grasping at every hint of spring—the first trillium blooming along the creek, the earliest cherry blossoms unfurling along our road. These past few days we’ve reveled in the precious sunshine, gardening and taking walks.

I used colored pencils to add subtle light and dark accents to the bears.

My husband, son and I did a favorite hike last week, the Lyons Ranch loop in Redwood National Park. A couple of springs back, we saw a black bear cub from that trail, prompting a long, nervous pause as we tried to spot the mother. (She was nowhere to be seen, and we continued without incident.) The collage and haiku featured here came out of that experience.

Here’s hoping you survived the long winter better than our cars did. Happy spring equinox!

fields of lupine
against all odds
spring again

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Almost done, just considering different purple papers for the lupines.

Makino Studios News

Anniversary sale: Take 13% off everything in the Makino Studios shop through midnight on Sunday, March 24. Enter promo code 13YEARS at checkout.

New! Custom prints: By customer request, I've made some designs available in my shop as prints in several sizes that you can order on demand. If there’s a piece you’d like to order that you don’t see there, let me know.

Vacation plans: I will be taking a break and not filling orders April 5-26. Sorry for any inconvenience. Stock up now!

Mother’s Day and graduation: I’ve printed cards for Mother’s Day (May 12) and graduation (Cal Poly Humboldt commencement is May 11). Browse all 70-some card designs and notecard sets.

Social: I’ve mostly given up on Twitter/X (at least until it gets a less toxic owner), but I regularly post art, haiku, news and more on Instagram as @annettemakino and on Facebook as Makino Studios (links below). See you over there!

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Haiku credits: “cold winter rain” - tinywords; “wild geese” - The Heron’s Nest; “fields of lupine” - 2024 in art and haiku by Annette Makino

Taylor Swift and the Trope of the Tortured Poet

“dawn’s early light” is 8x10, made from Japanese washi papers, metallic gold paper, book pages, paint and glue on cradled wood panel. It is the February art for my 2024 calendar. A card version reads, “you light up the room.” © Annette Makino 2023

I must admit I ignored Taylor Swift for years, thinking a pop star with such mainstream popularity, a pretty blonde beloved by teenage girls, would not be my cup of tea. But with the 2020 release of her folk-pop album Folklore, I took another listen—and became a fan. I belatedly discovered she is a gifted songwriter who writes original and interesting lyrics.

As you’ve probably heard, Swift has announced a new album called The Tortured Poets Department, to be released April 19. So does Swift consider herself a tortured poet? As evidence, there is a hand-written poem she recently posted to Instagram that includes lines like “my muses, acquired like bruises” and “my veins of pitch black ink.” Another subtle clue: it’s signed “The Chairman of the Tortured Poets Department.”

And yes, her lyrics often convey suffering. In “All Too Well” she sings, “you call me up again/Just to break me like a promise/So casually cruel in the name of being honest.” And on “Cardigan” she sings, “You drew stars around my scars/But now I’m bleeding.”

But the pain she describes is just one element of her persona; other songs talk about falling in love or tell colorful stories about fictional characters. I suspect Swift’s use of the “tortured poets” label is at least partly tongue-in-cheek, offered with her trademark combination of confession and self-deprecating humor. I guess we Swifties will just have to wait until April 19 for further clarity on this burning issue!

Meanwhile, the album title raises the question: do poets need to be tortured to write good poetry? The poster child for this stereotype is Sylvia Plath, a brilliant poet of pain and despair who took her own life at age 30. For awhile I found that my darker haiku had higher acceptance rates than my neutral or upbeat poems—proof that such poems are inherently stronger or more compelling? (See my anonymous 2013 letter on this question to the Haiku Maven advice column.) But of course, one can write about hard times from a place of acceptance rather than agony.

Despite the trope of the tortured poet—a corollary to the trope of the starving artist—there are plenty of life-affirming poets. Consider Mary Oliver’s lines, “When it’s over, I want to say: all my life/I was a bride married to amazement.” Maybe it comes from spending a lot of time in nature and learning to notice small details, but haiku poets in particular really seem to appreciate life’s gifts.

“scattered feathers” is 5x7, made of watercolor paper, an airmail envelope, washi paper, a vintage Janaese stamp, feathers, paint, thread, ink and glue on paper. © Annette Makino 2021

Tortured or not, I think the most effective poems come from being present and attuned to the world around you. You don’t necessarily have to suffer to write good poetry, but you do need access to depths of feeling and the gift of observation. This helps you write poetry that is accessible, involving some experience readers can relate to even if they have never gone through that exact event. An example:

dawn’s early light
the neighbor’s peacock
tunes up

Poetry—and I include Taylor Swift’s lyrics in that category—helps us make sense of this shifting world, the major triumphs and tortures along with the small moments that, strung together, make up our lives.

scattered feathers
the weight
of being human

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Makino Studios News

Red Moon Anthology: I am thrilled to have the following poem in Upside Down, the 2023 anthology from Red Moon Press of the best English-language haiku of the year. Editors nominated more than 3000 poems for the latest edition, and I’m honored that mine was one of the 146 haiku that made the cut. My thanks to the anthology editors.

alone at the beach
someone else’s dog
brings me a stick

Mother’s Day and graduation: I’ve stocked up on these cards for Mother’s Day (May 12) and graduation (Cal Poly Humboldt commencement is May 11). Browse all 70-odd card designs.

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Publication credits:
“dawn’s early light” - Mariposa; “scattered feathers” - Modern Haiku.