Poetry Corner: Regional Reading – Wonders of the Pacific Northwest

POETRY CORNER – The Regional Reading

Space Needle (Photo – Angela Terry).

– 08/09/17

Hosted by Kathabela Wilson

I love these musings interspersed naturally, as these two brilliant haiku poets consider where they live, in the Pacific Northwest, and how things have changed. Both of these poets are like sisters to me, just as the Pacific Northwest feels somehow like a sister region to our own Southern California! The drama of mountains and lakes moves our hearts inward, and gives an overview and excitement to life as we ferry our ways with poetic wonder.

This is the eleventh in our series of Regional Reading haiku Poetry Corners featuring haiku poets who will be visiting Santa Fe, New Mexico in September for Haiku North America 2017*. Our corners develop from the themes highlighted by their poems and concerns.

~ Kathabela

Angela Terry

Ferry (Photo – Angela Terry).

I remember 1962, and the summer of the World’s Fair that changed Seattle, both its skyline and its identity, forever. That first ride up the elevator to the viewing deck, or better yet, the revolving restaurant, was a thrill for each of us. But it was what we saw from the top of the Space Needle that was so spectacular (at least when it wasn’t raining).

“Wheedle on the Needle”
a red light flashing
through morning rain

With a 360 degree view over the course of an hour, there was the city spread out below us. The waters of Puget Sound were sprinkled with islands, and the ferries were gliding back and forth across it, with the Olympic Mountain range out to the west.

crossing the shipping lanes –
a car ferry
and a pod of orcas

Lake Washington and the Cascade range spread out to the east, with the four glowing glacier capped volcanoes to the north and south. Mount Rainier (affectionately known as “The Mountain” to locals), was the closest and tallest, standing out as the jewel in the crown.

the mountain outside
my window as the plane lands –
home again

Angela Terry is the Haiku Society of America Regional Coordinator for the newly formed Pacific Northwest region that includes Washington and Alaska.

Ο Ο Ο

Ce Rosenow

(Photo – Ce Rosenow).

North Lake in Washington State is one of several small, natural lakes between Seattle and Tacoma. It is home to a range of birds as well as otters, turtles, and fish, including rainbow trout and largemouth bass.

light wind –
ripples meeting ripples
in the grebe’s wake

My family has lived on the lake since the 1930s. At various times, aunts, uncles, and cousins resided there, but for the last decade only my parents remained.

carrying my father’s tackle box
in from the dock –
sundown

This year, after my father’s death, my mother sold the house and moved to Oregon.

leaving North Lake –
my last
reflection

Ce Rosenow’s poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies in the US and abroad. She has published several books and chapbooks, including her collection of haiku, “North Lake”. She is the past president of the Haiku Society of America and the publisher of Mountains and Rivers Press in Eugene, Oregon.

Ο Ο Ο

*The Regional Reading will be performed live at the conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in September, 2017, led by Kathabela Wilson. The dramatic presentation will be accompanied by Rick Wilson on flutes of the various regions. Poets from Australia, India, Canada, United States, and many other regions will be presenting. Look for their haiku in future Poetry Corners. Anyone can​ register for the conference and send their haiku to Scott Wiggerman for the anthology.

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