Poetry Corner: Regional Reading – Haiku Sunglasses in Seattle

POETRY CORNER – The Regional Reading

Seattle from a ferry (Photo – Kathabela Wilson).

– 10/04/17

Hosted by Kathabela Wilson

Many places have well kept secrets because those who live there like to keep it to themselves! For Seattle, famous for rain and cloudy skies, see what a wonderful local poet has to say about sunglasses! This may lure you there more often! Our solo poet today is Michael Dylan Welch, one of the organizers of Haiku North America, which hosted the Regional Reading. Michael added a special element of surprise and gave away some secrets when he performed in our Regional Reading program! Our Regional Reading in Santa Fe was a great success. Excerpts from all the Regional Poetry Corners were performed aloud by the poets who wrote them! We have traveled the world in these corners.

This is the twentieth in our series of Regional Reading haiku Poetry Corners featuring haiku poets who visited Santa Fe, New Mexico in September for Haiku North America 2017*. I have a couple of interesting “epilogues” before we move on to new adventures!

~ Kathabela

Seattle without sunglasses (Photo – Kathabela Wilson).

Michael Dylan Welch

Although the Seattle area is known for its winter rain, it has a huge secret—wonderful summers with lots of sun, but not super hot. Shhh, don’t tell anyone! Usually from about late May or early June into late September, we enjoy long stretches of sunny skies. It’s all great weather for hiking, family trips, or being a tourist in our own back yard.

unfurled awning—
the café crowded
only in the shade

The preceding poem could be anywhere, but it’s really from Seattle—on one of our many warm days in summer. There’s been a long-standing claim that more people buy sunglasses in Seattle than any other major American city. Even though that isn’t actually true, this rumour is a way of hinting at how wonderful our summers often are. The mountains around Seattle offer lots of hikes, often with patches of snow at higher elevations, well into summer. The forests offer deep shade and picturesque lakes. And the islands are like no others in the world.

July sun—
cedar chips still cover
the Christmas tree lot

Another distinctive attraction in the Seattle area is our ferries. They go across the Puget Sound to the Kitsap peninsula, all around the San Juan Islands, and across to Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. Amid the islands, we can often see glacier-clad Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier, or the Olympic Mountains rising in the distance. Ferry trips are a treat at any time of the year, but especially in summer, when something about the light, especially in the San Juans, makes these boat trips magical.

inner harbour
the fog lifts
my spirit

Michael Dylan Welch has served two terms as poet laureate of Redmond, Washington, where he has also curated two monthly poetry reading series for more than a decade. His poems, essays, and reviews have appeared in hundreds of journals and anthologies in at least twenty languages, and he runs National Haiku Writing Month. His latest books include Jumble Box, Seven Suns / Seven Moons (with Tanya McDonald), and Becoming a Haiku Poet. Michael also enjoys racquetball, skiing, hiking, travel, and photography. He can be reached at his personal website.

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*The Regional Reading was performed live at the conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in September, 2017, led by Kathabela Wilson. The dramatic presentation were accompanied by Rick Wilson on flutes of the various regions. Poets from Australia, India, Canada, United States, and many other regions presented.

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