On July 5 between 11 and 1, the Central Coast branch of the Australian Sister Cities Association will host an event at the Gosford/Edogawa Commemorative Garden. This is to celebrate International Sister Cities Day.
Entertainment will include drumming, haiku reading and “Spirit of the Coast Harmony. Refreshments are provided and entry fee is $5. RSVP Margaret Hardy 02 4369 4534 Margarethardy1@bigpond.com
Focus for this meeting was on the June solstice and other aspects of winter.
The meeting took place – most appropriately – in a Japanese style private garden and concluded with quietly listening to Poetica and enjoying the readers’ voices and the expert sound engineering of that program.
Time: 7.15 for 7:30pm
Venue: The Space, Victorian Writers Centre, Nicholas Building, 37 Swanston St, Melbourne 3000.
Cost: Non-members – $9, Concession, $7, members $6
Light refreshments provided.
Haiku and Rooku
Leanne Hills and Matt Hetherington will lead participants towards developing haiku or rooku (an Aussie version of haiku) which demonstrate a genuine connection to the land, with tips for getting your rooku on board Moving Galleries.
http://movinggalleries.org/
In the latest edition of “HAIKU” – Magazine of Romanian-Japanese
Relationships – a haiku is included, written by Quendryth Young:
sick neighbour –
the bare branches
of her magnolia
This was awarded second prize in the Romanian Haiku Society’s
International Haiku Contest, Bucharest, May 2008.
The same edition of the magazine carries a review by Vasile Moldovan
of Quendryth’s book of haiku, The Whole Body Singing, both in English,
and in translation into Romanian.’
sent in by John Bird
During the month of April I felt quite close to Basho. I visited Japan in cherry blossomtime with haiku on my mind, experiencing first hand the environment that inspired hiswriting. I also discovered some evidence of Basho in central Honshu.
The highlight of my quest was visiting the Basho Museum near the Sumida River
in Koto City, Central Tokyo, close to Fukugawa where Basho once lived. Although the
explanatory texts in the museum were in Japanese, there was a handout in English that was
helpful.
ISBN 978l 74027 4760, 92pp, $20.00
Dawn Bruce’s sustained engagement with Japanese poetic genres informs her free verse too, imbuing it with spare elegance and a keen sense of the immediate. This is disciplined writing that prunes the extraneous and allows us to see the clear images upon which this poet bases her commentary on human experience. Dawn’s love of and commitment to poetry is evident in every line.’- Beverley George
Available from: Dawn Bruce contact through somersetpoets@ozemail.com.au $20 including postage
or Gleebooks Sydney $20 plus postage www.gleebooks.com.au for details
or from Ginnindera Press…see website www.ginninderrapress.com.au
A Japanese Poetry Competition was conducted recently by the Friendly Street Poets in Adelaide. Sixteen awards were made. Of the eight awards for the categories that were open Australia-wide, four went to members of Cloudcatchers. This group comprises a small gathering of haiku enthusiasts who live and ginko together on the Far North Coast of NSW.
We would like to thank the Friendly Street Poets for offering this
opportunity to compete, and HaikuOz for the notification of the
competition in the first place.
Quendryth Young
Convenor Cloudcatchers
Melbourne General Cemetery
Cemetery Road, Carlton, Melbourne Australia
Contact information
Phone: 03 9387 4323
Email: myronpoet@hotmail.com
Come for a walk in the beautiful surrounds of the Carlton cemetery and experience the graveyard through the calm, non judgmental eye of a haiku with poet and teacher, Myron Lysenko.
cost: $15.00
Meet at the Main entrance, Cemetery Rd, 11 am sharp
bring some lunch and lots of paper to write on.
walking through
our dead friend’s garden
we turn the torch off
– Myron Lysenko
our old dog
buried in the garden
with all her bones
– Michael de Valle
Australian Haiku Society 