Wednesday, September 4, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Misty meadow... Farmers market to host haiku contest What¾s small, mysterious, and bursting with flavor? A truffle, perhaps. A perfectly ripe raspberry. Or a tiny poem about delicious local foods. The State of Oregon¾s official Poet Laureate, Kim Stafford, has signed on as the judge for the Food & Farm Haiku contest at Sisters Farmers Market¾s first Tea & Poetry event, which takes place September 22. Deadline for entrants is September 18. “Small, dusky, and mys- terious, a haiku passes before you like a bat, sweeping away the mosquitos of annoyance, and startling you awake to the magic of the moment,” said Stafford. A poet, educa- tor, and delightful storyteller, who has roots in the Sisters area. When he was young, his family — including his father, poet William Stafford — built their own cabin near town. You don¾t have to be a poet to dream up a short poem and enter the contest. All ages are welcome to jump on in and try. Prizes have been donated by Metolius Tea, Jackson¾s Corner restau- rant, Mahonia Gardens farm, Paulina Springs Books, Suttle Tea, Seed to Table education farm, Mountain Rose Herbs, and Bedouin clothing store and café. Winning haiku will also be published in The Nugget Newspaper, media sponsor of Sisters Farmers Market. “We invite you to cel- ebrate the seasons and really sink into your senses,” said Tea & Poetry organizer T. Lee Brown. “Write about food, farms, or tea. Think about how foods smell, look, and taste; what they feel like roll- ing around in your mouth; what memories they invoke.” Entrants may use the popu- lar American style of writing haiku: a three-line poem fea- turing a five-, seven-, five- syllable structure. Alternately, they may choose to write in the Japanese tradition, focus- ing on how their words and imagery evoke the seasons rather than counting syllables. With help from Aude Girin, Seed to Table¾s education coordinator, Brown led the audience at a recent Sisters Farmers Market talent show in a group tasting and writing exercise. An example: Crisp green cucumber Rests beside a bursting peach— Harvest time is near. Food & Farm Haiku con- test entries may be dropped off at Paulina Springs Books or Sisters Farmers Market. The deadline for in-person entries is September 18; there is no fee. Entrants may submit electronically via Submittable.com for a small fee. Details can be found online at http://tinyurl.com/ foodhaiku. Sisters Farmers Market is open through the end of September, on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Fir Street Park, one block north of Cascade Avenue/Highway 20. Co-presented by New Oregon Arts & Letters, the Tea & Poetry event is funded in part by grants from The Roundhouse Foundation and the City of Sisters. PHOTO BY JIM CORNELIUS In the wake of thunderstorms, Sisters saw a misty dawn on Thursday. Entertainment & Events SEPT 4 WED By Michael Kohn The Bulletin BEND (AP) — Danny Martinez stood on a concrete slab just off a remote road on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation and described an unusual sight he witnessed earlier this summer: water gushing out from under the concrete, greening up an oth- erwise yellow hillside. The source of the water was a failing pressure release valve under Martinez¾s feet. Water was escaping at a rate of at least 100 gallons a min- ute. Cattails had grown near the slab, creating an envi- ronment that appeared well- suited to frogs. Without con- sistent pressure, the water sys- tem was failing further down the pipeline, too. “It was blowing out pipes and hot water heaters all over the community, including my office,” Martinez, emergency manager for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, told The Bulletin.