Old Pond Comics: A fun way to Learn Haiku Through Cartoons

Haiku Conferences

Attending a conference is a great way to meet other haiku poets and make new friends.

Haiku Canada (Toronto, 2012) | Haiku North America (Seattle, 2011) | Haiku Canada (Vancouver, 2009)

Haiku Canada Toronto 2012 (Toronto, ON):

Arriving at Glendon College:

Old Pond Comics: frog riding a turtle's back (inspired by a sculpture behind Glendon Manor where the conference was taking place.

All haiku poets took picture of the strange sculpture of a frog riding a turtle's back located at the back of Glendon College where the Haiku Canada conference was taking place.

Renku with Marshall Hryciuk:

Leaving Toronto, the wheels of my luggage broke down. It was the second set of luggage I lost in the rough streets of Toronto:

Haiku North America 2011 (Seattle, WA):

Kaeru at HNA 2011

1. Gingko walk to the international fountain:

Kaeru enjoyed the International Fountain in Seattle during HNA 2011.

2. Gingko walk to the Monorail:

Taking the monorail during the gingko walk at HNA 20111 (Seattle, WA)

3. Gingko walk at Pike Market:

Gingko walk at Pike Market.

4. Early morning tai chi and haiku writting session with with Don Baird:

Taichi with Don Baird at the HNA 2011 conference in Seattle, WA

5. Bruce Ross discussed Spaciousness in haiku:

Spaciousness in haiku, by Bruce Ross at HNA 2011 (Seattle, WA)

6. Wanda Cook discussed sensual haiku in a dim-lit room filled with lavender smell (mmmmhhh):

Some like it hot: erotic haiku, by Wanda Cook

7. David G. Lanoue presented 30 haiku about frogs written by Issa (2 comics):

8.Eve Luckring showed examples of montage techniques from classic russian cinema to explain video renku:.

9.Carlos Colon showed great examples of concrete poems and I felt like trying one myself:

10. During the Haiku Bowl, two teams - appropriately named the Birds versus the Frogs (which I believe was an hommage to the famous haiku "On how to sing the skylark school and the frog school are arguing") - faced off to answer the hardest haiku quizz I've ever head!

Update: Oh-oh, I must have spaced out towards the end, Michael Dylan Welch e-mailed me recently to say that it's the Frog team (his team) that won the game, not the Birds. Anyway, a comic featuring birds pooping is always funny, even though I the score is wrong (sorry, frogs!)

11. Garry Gay took the Conference Group photo:

Conference Group photo at HNA 2011 (Seattle, WA)

Kaeru means "frog" in Japanese, so yes, technically, all these frogs were "Kaeru".

12. Banquet at the Space Needle

Banquet at the Space Needle during HNA 2011 (Seattle, WA).

(Someone should have told the frogs that the party was inside!)

13. A surprise performance by Carlos Colon, dressed as Elvis Presley and reciting hilarious "KingKu" was a big hit during the banquet:

14. La Famille Léger gave a great Folk Music Performance and got all of us dancing!

La Famille Léger gave a great performance at HNA 2011 (Seattle, WA)

15. Jim Kacian gave good examples of Monoku (one-line haiku). One of my favorite moment of the conference occured when Jim Kacian asked Cor Van Den Heuvel to read his famous one-word poem "tundra".

Cor Van Den Heuvel stood up, his charismatic presence filling the room, then with a powerful voice he blurted "TUNDRA!" His voice resonnated in the room with so much power, it was like the word exploding in the middle of a white page. We were all blown away.

Here's my (frog-version) hommage to Cor Van Den Heuvel reading his one-word poem:

Published in FrogPond volume 34:3, Fall 2011, p.114

16.Gingko walk... at the Experience Music Project

I confess that I cut short on the gingko walk at the Museum of Art to visit the Experience Music Project where I realized one of my teenage dreams: to play the drums! Oh, my frog! It was so much fun! And the EMP building - shaped like a melted guitar - that was really something!

A haiku poet went crazy at the Experience Music Project