My first few days in Japan, still jet lagged from the 13 hour difference, I woke up before dawn to a giant crow who lived nearby, his call lower pitched than American crows. What are you trying to tell me, crow? Haw haw haw. Every morning I wondered, and listened. Haw haw haw.  

We will be celebrating our fifth Big Forest Uta-Kai (Japanese Poetry Gathering) in the bloom of May.  Early May was also when I met Enta Kusakabe, the founder of Gogyohka, or the five long song, and who I just got back from visiting and absobring.  Sakura (cherry blossom) season is just ending in Japan, but ours is just beginning.  Let’s cross-pollinate our hearts and breaths as we practice this hybrid poetic form that is so Japanese—short, with compact lines—and so American, too—full of freedom to speak the crazy truth of your heart—a way to express that itself was born, like Enta himself, out of the cross-cultural collision that occurred during the American military occupation after WWII.

Listen.  To your song and the songs around you. We will make a bursting bloom of our words, and plant a garden of communal care.

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No experience reading or writing is required. Please bring paper and a pen or pencil with you. This is not a poetry workshop. No critical evaluation of your poetry will take place.  A heart cannot be questioned, only encouraged.

Soup, bread, good times, an embodiment practice, writing gogyohka, and optional sharing. Gogyohka Uta-Kai is super fun!

Sliding Scale 15/20/25/30