Clear your mind, take a short nature hike and live the haiku moment! Ray McNiece, Two-time Cleveland Haiku Death Slam Champion and author of two Haiku collections — wet sand raven tracks and breath burns away, will give a brief introduction to the form with classic and contemporary haiku examples then lead a Ginko, aka haiku hike. During the walk, haiku writers will pause at varied micro climates to practice mindfulness meditation, sensory awareness and, using their zen GPS, compose haiku. The Ginko will start at Shaker Lakes followed by a sharing of haiku moments created along the way. In keeping with the traditional format of a haiku collection, this will be the first of four seasonal hikes.

Session will begin on site (Shaker Lakes) with a lesson on Haiku including examples of classic and contemporary haiku, (20-30 minutes) followed by the hike, stopping at several micro climates, (45-60 minutes) and conclude with a group sharing of generated haiku (30 minutes).


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Details: Haiku Hike with Ray McNiece takes place Saturday, June 7th from 10:00AM-12:00PM

Prerequisite: None

Genre: Poetry

Level: All Levels

Format: Craft Talk

Location
: This class will meet at Shaker Lakes Nature Center - 2600 S Park Blvd. Cleveland, OH 44120.

Size: Limited to 25 participants.

Scholarships: Two scholarship spots are available for this class for writers in Northeast Ohio. Apply by April 28.

Cancellations & Refunds: Cancel at least 48 hours in advance of the first class meeting to receive a full refund. Email info@litcleveland.org.

Saturday, June 7, 2025
10:00 am
 - 
12:00 PM
Class Level:
All Levels
All Levels
Class Categories:

Work with the best...

Ray McNiece

Ray McNiece is the author of nine books of poems and monologues, most recently Love Song for Cleveland, a collaboration with photographer Tim Lachina and Breath Burns Away, New Haiku. He toured Russia with Yevgeny Yevtushenko, and he toured Italy twice with legendary beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. He fronts the blues rock band, Tongue-in-Groove.

Nature Center at Shaker Lakes

2600 S Park Blvd. Cleveland, OH 44120

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