April 1, 2023

The Garden of Verses
at the California
Botanical Gardens

DEADLINE
please respond to:
William Scott Galasso
by March 12, 2023

When: The Garden of Verses will be held on April 1, 2023 (no joke)

Where: The California Botanical Gardens
1500 N. College Ave.
Claremont, CA 91711
(Phone: 909-625-8767)

Who: Members of SCHSG as we will focus on haiku, 
senryu, and tanka. However, as long as you’re within
your time I don’t want to say you’re not permitted to
read “a free verse” piece, just stay within your time.

Time: The event will we held from 11AM-4PM.

1. We will have some chairs pre-set and I’ll have
a table for people to sell books including our anthology. 
Debbie our moderator will assist so I can take 
a short break. (I will be arriving early for set up).
I will provide water but BYO lunch or snack as
they don’t offer much of that at the gardens though
there is a small shop on the grounds.

2. We will have a short (roughly 1/2 hr.) workshop
where participants can write and read their haiku etc.. 
probably around 1PM which is halfway through our reading.
We will likely offer a few prompts to help facilitate writing,
likely Spring references Cherry blossoms, tulips, May, etc.
(We’ll roughly divide writing time and reading time at that point).
Reason being it provides a break and a bit of interactive
audience participation. 

3. Deadline: If you are planning on attending and reading,
please let me know no later than March 15th., that way
we can let people know c. how much time they will have
to read their work. We want to give equal time in so far
as that’s possible. I will likely read, somewhere between
12:30 and 1:30 as I will be moderating the event and will
introduce our readers. Please prepare a 50 word bio
so that I can introduce you as we will have guests
besides of course our members.

4. Also we will attempt to accommodate those who need 
to read early or late–but understand not everyone can 
read in the middle of the program. In addition, depending
on the number of readers and guest we have there “may
be” free time towards the end of the program. I, at least
will stay until 4PM regardless.

5. I’m going to resend this message on March 7th but I
recommend that we have a first come, first serve basis 
in terms of a reading time preference. Once we get to
the 15th I can send our reading schedule out to the group
so everyone will know when and how long a time they’ll have. 

6. Recommendations: Be on time for your own reading
once the schedule has been sent out, so things run smoothly.

Keep your introductions to a piece or book short, the scheduled 
time will be “fixed.” If each person for example gets 15 minutes
and you take five minutes to introduce a piece, your reading time
will be 10 minutes. This way we stay on track and no one will
have their time cut into.

The idea is to be fair to everyone. I will have a timer and there 
will be a sign in the first row that says 1 minute, if you go over
we’ll have to cut you off.
If you want to opt for a shorter reading than the time slot allows
let me know ahead of time, that way we may be able to give
someone a little extra to avoid “dead time.” Or, we can give
people time to peruse “books for sale”, including our anthology.

Once the schedule comes out, practice a “timed” reading.
this will allow equal time for all. We all also come off as 
professionals in our approach. 
I look forward to seeing all of you who can make it in person.
Take some time to walk about too as the grounds are lovely
and we usually have a pretty spot with an arbor where we are.
Last point, it takes (depending on your mobility) a bit
of time to go from the parking area to our “spot,” so factor
that in to you planning.
There will be books for sale, if you’re selling have some
change. if you’re buying bring a few $. Those selling can 
choose the payment method best suited to them, personal
choice. This last point may seem obvious but you’d be
surprised how we busy people can forget the basics 
because well…we’re busy.

Cheers to one and all,

Scott