Month: April 2016

Entries welcome – 8th Yamadera Bashō Haiku Contest

Entries are invited for the 8th Yamadera Bashō Memorial Museum Haiku Contest.
The entry period will commence on April 1 – entries will close on Saturday, 4 June 2016.
Poets may submit either one or two haiku, previously unpublished.
In making an entry to Division Four, non-Japanese entrants are not required to provide a translation.
No entry fee is payable.
Entries can be submitted by email to this address:
bashoenglish-haiku@amail.plala.or.jp
Submissions can also be sent by post to this address instead:
Yamadera Bashō Memorial Museum
4223 Nanin Yamadera, Yamagata-shi, Yamagata-ken, 999-3301 JAPAN
Entries may even be faxed to this number: (0)23-695-2552
In each division, one grand prize and two distinguished work prizes will be awarded.

Prize winners will be notified by post or email.
Recipients will receive a certificate printed in English and Japanese, as well as an additional prize.
Prize-winning haiku poems and the haiku submission collection will be displayed on the Yamadera Bashō Memorial Museum website.
Haiku submissions and applicant names may be printed in the Haiku Submission Collection, displayed on the museum website, and otherwise made public.

Noboru Oba
Yamadera Bashō Memorial Museum

Red Kelpie Haiku Group – Autumn meeting & ginko #7

The long-term lack of rain down here in Victoria has left the water-level perceptibly low in the artificial lake beside the Terrace Tearooms at Melbourne’s Botanical Gardens, prompting dusky moorhens to wade around pecking for food in exposed mud beneath the stone walls, exactly where eels could be seen swimming under normal conditions.

With a range of other people involved unable to attend for a variety of reasons – including our leader, Lorin Ford – four members of the Red Kelpie Haiku Group still managed to gather yesterday (Sunday, 6 March) for our autumn meeting. Even if civic gardeners would have appreciated rain, the weather was beautiful – warm and sunny – while group discussion was positive and fruitful to match.

The Red Kelpie Group members joining me yesterday – Janet Howie, Jayashree Maniyil and Earl Livings – had been invited to bring along a draft version of a new haiku that was proving to be challenging. Productive conversation followed, with constructive feedback and helpful suggestions appreciated all around within this work-shopping process.

A second element of the gathering involved group members having also been asked to share a valued haiku – written by another poet – as a prompt towards dialogue, with no particular theme or technical feature specified in advance.

Continue reading “Red Kelpie Haiku Group – Autumn meeting & ginko #7”

South Australian Events

 

Langhorne Creek Writers’ Festival: Young people’s Haiku Competition 2015

Bindii Japanese Genres Poetry Group sponsored the four prizes awarded in this first year of the haiku competition. Ten schools from around South Australia participated. Fourteen teachers used the curriculum material provided by Bindii to the Langhorne Creek Festival organizers to teach haiku.

With an average class size of thirty, around 420 students were taught haiku by the Langhorne Creek Writers’ Festival. In each school the three best haiku from each grade category were entered. There were 26 entries. In addition to the four First Prize Winners, there were 10 commended poems.
In their report the judges (Lynette Arden and Lee Bentley from Bindii) commented: ‘the winning haiku in each of the categories were chosen because they have strong clear images with emotional impact and good haiku structure with two distinct parts to each poem. Among the other entries it was pleasing to see that the students have really looked at using concrete imagery in their haiku.’
At the award presentation, the winners were recognized with a certificate, the First Prize Winners won $50 and a basket of books for their school library.
All sixteen participating schools attended the Literacy Day at Langhorne Creek School on 14 September. Over 70 students attended.

http://haiku-bindii.blogspot.com.au/2015/09/langhorne-creek-writers-festival-young.html

AUGUST 22, 2011

Salisbury Writers Festival 2011 Haiga Results

Haiga results from Steve Davidson, Salisbury council arts officer.

Congratulations to the following:

Highly commended:
Sheree Furtak Ellis Haiga of the north
Lilliana Rose A moments rest
Sarah Reece After the storm

3rd Prize: Barbara Taylor Gingko window
2nd Prize: Margaret Rawlinson Breeze
1st Prize: Belinda Broughton Sunday

JUNE 09, 2010

Haiku/Haibun Workshop with Martina Taeker

Report on Haiku/Haibun Workshop given by Martina Taeker 5 June 2010

Sixteen people attended the haiku/haibun workshop organized by Friendly St Poets at the Box Factory in Adelaide on 5 June.

Martina Taeker gave a well devised and very clear presentation to help those starting to write both haiku and haibun, with plenty of examples to illustrate her points.

Some of the points she made first were to dispel the myth that haiku should be written in the 5/7/5 form in English. Martina pointed out the differences in English language sound syllables and Japanese written onji, which make seventeen English syllables appear far too long when compared with a Japanese haiku.

Other points she stressed were the importance of content in the Japanese poetry form and that haiku were objective and nature based. The reader must work to interpret the haiku. The reader must make the connections rather than have the poet spell them out. Such a short poetry form can contain a lot of depth and subtlety. She also stressed the importance of Australian poets using their own landscape in writing haiku, rather than imitating the language and imagery of Japanese poets.

Martina then touched on guidelines regarding seasonal references, punctuation, capitalization, titles and the importance of using concrete imagery from all the senses in haiku. She noted that the shape of the haiku on the page could enhance the effect of the poem: three, one, two and more rarely four lines being the most popular arrangements in English. She discussed the presence of people in haiku poetry and the senryu form.

A practice session in writing haiku followed this discussion, with Martina offering individual advice to participants.
Following a break for a sumptuous afternoon tea provided by Friendly St Poets, Martina presented information on haibun, again providing a number of examples to demonstrate the points she was making. Again, she emphasised the importance of imagery and urged those attempting haibun to focus on not too large a topic and to leave out extraneous detail. She also stressed the importance of the haiku in haibun.

This session was valuable not only to newcomers to the form, but as a reminder to those of us with more experience, of the beauty of a well expressed haiku or haibun.

Lynette Arden

South Australian Events

Salisbury Writers’ Festival Haiga Competition

The Salisbury Writers’ Festival is on again this year on the weekend of August 27 and so is the popular haiga poetry art exhibition and competition.

MAY 14, 2010

Friendly Street Poets haiku & habun Workshop

Friendly Street Poets
friendlystreetpoets.org.au
Haiku & Haibun Workshop

Where: The Box Factory 59 Regent Street South, Adelaide
When: Saturday 5t h June 2 – 4.30pm

Writer and experienced teacher Martina Taeker (past Haiku Oz
SA representative) will present a workshop which examines these
two highly popular, but often misunderstood forms of Japanese
Poetry. If you are starting out you will be given easy explanations
and examples, enabling you to begin writing. If you are already
writing you are invited to bring work to class for expert help and
advice in editing and developing your craft.

Cost: $20 concession & FS Poets members / $25 waged
Cost includes a delicious afternoon tea

Forms will be available at the Workshop for the
FSP Haiku & Haibun competition 2010

APRIL 26, 2010

SA news

Good news from South Australia that Friendly Street Poets intend convening
a haiku competition again this year.

Watch this space for details when available.

FEBRUARY 15, 2009

JAPANESE POETRY SEMINAR with Martina Taeker

Writer, poet and Haiku Oz SA representative Martina Taeker, is running a seminar on Japanese Poetry.
She will be focussing on :

TANKA & TANKA SEQUENCE.

WHEN : Saturday 21st February
2 – 4.30pm

WHERE: SA Writers’ Centre 2nd floor Boardroom
East Rundle Street
(old Malcolm Reid building, entry via Cafe Brunelli)

COST : $25 concession/ $30 which includes a delicious afternoon tea
Come along on the day & pay
or ring 08-8362 8704 and book your place

There will be a competition announced at the Seminar which will have both monetary prizes and publication oportunities

Friendly Street Poets Inc.
PO Box 3697
Norwood SA 5067

Haiga Workshop at Kensington & Norwood Writers Group

On the evening of 26 November 2008 Allison Millcock, the haiga editor of Lynx online magazine, presented a workshop on haiga to the Kensington & Norwood Writers Group. This also attracted the attention of other haiku poets and a number of them attended the meeting.Showing examples of her work via a PowerPoint presentation, Allison outlined various computer graphics techniques that she had used in making her images and described the ways of combining haiku with appropriate graphics. Successful combinations include link and shift (indirectly relating the text to the image), show rather than tell, and leading the eye from one point to the next. Her detailed presentation also described the use of borders and mats and the selection of appropriate fonts and signatures.

Allison distributed printed information about the techniques she used and the programs she used, which gave a valuable resource to those who attended. The handout also contains information on avenues for publication of haiga, both in print and online. Most avenues for publication of haiga in colour are in Internet magazines, because of the cost of printing in colour. It should be noted that Kensington & Norwood Writers Group regularly includes some black and white haiga, produced by members of the group, in their publication Writers on Parade.

We hope that this presentation will lead more South Australian writers of haiku to attempt work in this genre. Thank you Allison for your professional and inspiring presentation.

Allison Millcock has published a book of haiga called pausing for a moment.

Lynette Arden on behalf of Martina Taeker, HaikuOz SA representative.

Matsuri on Mobara – report by Martina Taeker

On Sunday October 26th, the Matsuri on Mobara was held to celebrate the relationship of Salisbury, SA, with its sister city Mobara in Japan. Cultural activities included demonstrations of martial arts, Japanese dance and music, and stalls featured origami, ikebana, calligraphy and Japanese food.

A Japanese poetry stall manned by Martina Taeker and Allison Millcock, was one of the popular attractions. The display of Allison’s haiga and Martina’s haiku scrolls drew a lot of attention. Many people were delighted to find that haiku was much more than the “boring 5-7-5 stuff” they had been taught at school. Information about Japanese poetry was also available, and bookmarks from HaikuOz, Eucalypt, and Wind Over Water were eagerly snapped up. Copies of ‘Gathering: Japanese poetry by South Australian poets’ were sold as were haiga and haiku scrolls. The level of interest the poetry stall received shows that Japanese poetry is enjoyed by people of all ages in Australia.

The announcement that the Salisbury Writers’ Festival, held in August 2009, would be running a haiga competition drew considerable attention.

Haiga is the combination of haiku and visual art. For this competition, haiga will be defined as a haiku/senryu poem (not tanka) in conjunction with a two-dimensional work of art (photograph, drawing, digital art, etc). Both must be the original work of entrants.

Prizes total $500. Entries will be displayed in the John Harvey Gallery, Salisbury, and at Wind Over Water, the 4th International Pacific Rim Haiku Conference.

Further details will be posted on the HaikuOz website when they become available in 2009, but for those of you who are interested you can get a head start on watching for haiga moments.

JULY 19, 2008

Adelaide Botanic Gardens Ginko

Adelaide Botanic Gardens Ginko
Date: Saturday 13th Sept
Time: 10.45 am.
Place: the café near the pond in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens.

Activities:
After meeting at the café at 10.45 am and a brief orientation, by Lynette Arden and Martina Taeker, there will be time for individuals to walk around the gardens or find a place to sit and soak up the surroundings while writing haiku or taking notes for later writing. After this we will gather at the café again for refreshments, and to share and write haiku.
We anticipate spending about three hours writing and enjoying haiku in the gardens. A more precise program will be decided on the day, taking into account the weather and the desires of those who attend.
Martina Taeker
Regional Representative SA

JUNE 08, 2008

Haiku and haibun in Adelaide- results of competition

More activities in Adelaide for Japanese poetry genres written in English

For results of haiku and haibun competiton, convened by Martina Taeker and others with a prize donated by Maeve Archbold visit

http://friendlystreetpoets.org.au/

full details are there

Haiku activities in South Australia

From Lynette Arden of the Kensington and Norwood Writers group comes news of small haiku workshops, a proposed ginko, and a proposed workshop on haiga by Alison Millcock.

This is a lively group of writers and it all sounds like great fun, in the spirit of sharing haiku

MARCH 29, 2008

Friendly Street Poets Inc. Japanese Poetry Competition

Friendly Street Poets Inc are running a Japanese Poetry Contest. The haiku section is restricted to residents of South Australia, but the haibun and haiku sequence sections are open to all. Closing date is May 6th 2008. For further details and an entry form visit http://friendlystreetpoets.org.au

JANUARY 27, 2008

Japanese Poetry Seminar

Friendly Street Poets Inc. is starting the 2008 seminar program with a Japanese Poetry Seminar on Saturday 16th February. Published poet and SA representative of HaikuOz, Martina Taeker, will be focussing on haiku, haiku sequence, and haibun.

Many people will already be familiar with Martina’s practical yet highly informative style of teaching and her ability to ensure that everyone enjoys themselves. Hopefully a yummy afternoon tea will also help the creative process along. The seminar will be held on Saturday 16th February, from 2 – 4.30 pm at the SA Writers Centre.

Following the seminar, Friendly Street Poets Inc will be running a competition in all three categories. Although the haiku section will be restricted to residents of SA, the haiku sequence and haibun sections will be open to poets from other states. More details about the competition will be released after the seminar.

DECEMBER 11, 2007

Congratulations – Dawn Colsey

Dawn Colsey, a South Australian writer, has won the Kaji Aso Studio “Remembrance” Poetry Contest 2007 Haibun Award, Boston USA. Dawn is a regular reader at Friendly Street Poets, a member of the Kensington & Norwood Writers Group, and belongs to Women Writing at Sophia, a feminist ecumenical women’s centre. She was first introduced to haibun at a workshop run at the South Australian Writers Centre in September 2006 by SA Regional Representative Martina Taeker. Congratulations Dawn

by Martina Taeker

Congratulations – Dawn Colsey

Dawn Colsey, a South Australian writer, has won the Kaji Aso Studio “Remembrance” Poetry Contest 2007 Haibun Award, Boston USA. Dawn is a regular reader at Friendly Street Poets, a member of the Kensington & Norwood Writers Group, and belongs to Women Writing at Sophia, a feminist ecumenical women’s centre. She was first introduced to haibun at a workshop run at the South Australian Writers Centre in September 2006 by SA Regional Representative Martina Taeker. Congratulations Dawn

by Martina Taeker

A different path from Basho’s Narrow Road

Longing for peace and calm after such a busy month, I must escape from telephone, email, meetings. Goolwa draws me: quiet country town, extensive ocean beach. At night distant lights will twinkle along the coast. Monday morning dawns, a bright day of holiday sunshine. I pack the car…

journeying…
I drive through jacaranda air
seeking stillness

The hilltop house is empty, cold, pristine though beautiful. A burst of yellow gazanias welcomes me. In the rear garden – natives in flower – Geraldton wax offers purple, and eremophila a paler mauve. In a vase these flowers give life to the solid wood of the family table. With dusk I begin to relax into the serenity of a sunset-painted sky. Darkness gathers. At night the storm breaks…

battering winds…
the house turbulent
my thoughts whirl

Can a dwelling less than five years old, even in a raging gale, be so clamorous? The gentleness of sleep is inhabited by clattering, banging, flapping. Footsteps on the stairs? The ghost of architect, builder, painter? For two nights, two days, wind and rain lash. At last the wildness ceases. Sun warms. Birds sing…

alone…
high above the wide bay
my loneliness becomes solitude

Dawn Colsey 8/3/07

JULY 07, 2007

Spinifex reviewed by Martina Taeker

Regional Rep Martina Taeker has a review of Spinifex published in the latest issue of Famous Reporter.

MARCH 28, 2007

Rain Haiku Winner

Australian haiku poet, Lynette Arden, has recently had one of her haiku selected to appear on a haiku umbrella as part of the Rain Haiku competition. Lynette’s haiku is one of only eight selected from the one thousand haiku received.

Her selected haiku:

city lunch in rain
neon lights flick colours
across the menu

HaikuOz congratulates Lynette on this fine achievement.

DECEMBER 09, 2006

Haiku and Tanka Events in South Australia

In September Regional Representative, Martina Taeker, gave a haiku workshop which was well-received by all who attended.

In November, when I was visiting Adelaide, I was privileged to be a dinner guest of the lively Kensington and Norwood Writers who have since celebrated a 20th anniversary event, attended by sixty people.

The members write in a variety of genres but were eager, along with several attendees from other groups, to explore tanka in a workshop I gave at the SA Writers Centre. The workshop considered the way in which tanka were written in the Heian Court Period in Japan over 1,000 years ago before looking at some modern examples and how to begin to write them.

I would like to thank Lynette Arden for her enthusiasm and kindness and send warm greetings to everyone who attended either or both events.

Beverley George
Editor: Eucalypt: Australia’s first literary journal dedicated to tanka www.eucalypt.info

OCTOBER 17, 2006

Tanka Workshop

South Australia Writers Centre– tanka workshop

On Thursday November 2nd, 6:30-9:30 pm, Beverley George will present a tanka workshop and is hoping to meet some HaikuOz poets there. Please contact the SA Writers Centre for further details or to make a booking.

This is the thirteenth workshop Beverley has presented this year but the first in another state. She is hoping the latter situation will change next year.

For information about tanka in Australia visit www.eucalypt.info

SEPTEMBER 09, 2006

Haiku and Tanka Workshops in Adelaide

Martina Taeker, Regional Representative for HaikuOz in South Australia, will present a workshop titled ‘The Essence of Haiku’ on 23 September 2006 from 1:30-4:30 pm at the SA Writers Centre in Adelaide.

On 2 November 2006, from 6:30-9:30 pm, Beverley George, President of HaikuOz, will present a workshop at the SA Writers Centre titled ‘Tanka: where East meets West’. Tanka is a 1300 year-old genre which is becoming increasingly popular with poets writing in English. The workshop will be limited to 15 people, to allow everyone the opportunity to participate. If interested in attending, you may wish to read in advance the foundation article, Tanka: the myriad leaves of words’ on www.eucalypt.info > Articles

JULY 03, 2006

Haiku and Visual Art: A Winter Ginko

Martina Taeker, RR for SA, recently conducted a ginko in the Art Gallery of SA and based on her experiences offers some thoughts on how a winter ginko might be conducted indoors. To read the full article go to the Haiku Musings page.