Mukai Farm & Garden’s fifth annual Haiku Festival will kick off on April 1, 2024. Each year, the event draws hundreds of haiku submissions from Vashon residents and poets from abroad. In 2023, Mukai received over 500 hundred haiku submissions from Vashon residents, as well as poets from 13 countries.
According to Leah Mann, Mukai Farm & Garden Executive Director, “The Haiku Festival is an expression of Mukai’s mission, to celebrate the contributions Japanese Americans have made for over 100 years to Vashon’s economy and community.”
Haiku submissions will be accepted over a two-week period, closing on April 15. Winners will be announced at the Festival Finale on April 28th.
Visitors to the Festival Finale will hear famed poets Shin Yu Pi and Tom Pruiksma read from their work. Ms. Pi is best known for her award-winning podcast “Ten Thousand Things” on NPR. Mr. Pruiksima, a Vashon resident and teacher, poet, and author, recently published a translation of a classical Tamil masterpiece on ethics, power, and love.
Haiku is an ancient style of Japanese poetry, structured into three lines with the pattern of 5-7-5 syllables. Haiku categories are:
- Heritage Award: Most eloquent portrayal of the history or some other aspect of the Mukai Farm & Garden
- Nature: Most elegant and poignant depiction of some aspect of nature.
- Social Justice Award: Shedding unique insight on social equity
- The Young Poet Awards: Best haiku for children (grades K-6), and young adult (grades 7-12)
According to Kay Longhi, Festival Organizer: “So many people enjoy strolling the garden to read the haiku each spring and summer, but the large number of submittals has become overwhelming. We are asking people to limit themselves to just one entry each this year so we can better display everyone’s creative work.”
Find more details and the online haiku submission form at mukaifarmandgarden.org. Donations are gratefully accepted.
