Month: June 2016

Winter Meeting of the Red Dragonflies

The winter meeting of the Red Dragonflies had to be postponed from the usual Saturday because of that particular weekend’s stormy weather and so was held on Monday, 20th June, 11 to 2pm at convenor Vanessa Proctor’s home in Pymble.
Barbara Fisher, Beverley George and Cynthia Rowe were present. There were only four of us because Dawn Bruce was overseas and, to our great sadness our much-loved member, Lesley Walter, died in May.

We began our meeting with tributes to Lesley, whose incisive and insightful haiku had always given us so much pleasure. Her poems were so fresh and original and often reflected her great sense of humour. Each of us read haiku we had written and dedicated to her. These were handwritten (by Vanessa) in a card and sent to her family. Continue reading “Winter Meeting of the Red Dragonflies”

Launch of New Australian Haiku Society Website – 21st June, 2016

On this Winter’s Solstice day, I am proud to announce the launch of the new Australian Haiku Society website. The website celebrates both Australian haiku and Australia itself. Our country is showcased not only through poetry, but also through many stunning photographs taken by our members. Our goals remain the same as they have always been, to promote the enjoyment of haiku within Australian and to bring Australian writers to the world haiku community. Continue reading “Launch of New Australian Haiku Society Website – 21st June, 2016”

Simon Hanson wins Jane Reichhold Prize

With the following poem, Australian haiku poet Simon Hanson has won first prize in the Jane Reichhold Haiku Prize, as recently announced at the 14th Annual Ukiah Haiku Festival in the United States:

hallway mirror
a vase of flowers
made of light

Annette Makino of California came second in this contest, with Scott Mason of New York third.

Sandra Simpson and Elaine Riddell from New Zealand both featured among the Honourable Mentions.

A Metaphor and a Milestone

The upstairs room of The Children’s Bookshop at Beecroft was filled to capacity on Saturday 28 May with an appreciative audience attending back-to-back afternoon events celebrating collaborative poetry and the tanka form.

In the first event Vanessa Proctor, President of the Australian Haiku Society, launched A Shared Umbrella. This joint project by Beverley George and David Terelinck is a collection of ten tanka sequences and thirteen rengay written over several years of collaboration.

Vanessa elaborated on the title metaphor, illustrated so enchantingly on the book cover by South African artist Tumi K. Steyn.  The cover, in a pleasing shade of gold with autumnal notes, features a traditional Japanese umbrella, or wagasa. To quote Vanessa:

“To share such an umbrella with someone, you need to stand close in order to be able to share the space together, to walk in step.  That walking in step is an art which Beverley and David have mastered beautifully.” Continue reading “A Metaphor and a Milestone”

Sharon Dean’s biography of Janice Bostok on THF

‘White Heron: The Authorized Biography of Janice Bostok’ by Sharon Dean has gone up on The Haiku Foundation website as the ‘Librarian’s Cache’ for the week.

It can be accessed at this link:

http://www.thehaikufoundation.org/2016/06/01/librarians-cache-the-life-of-janice-m-bostok/

As noted by Lorin Ford, ‘this is a piece (a major work!) that will be welcomed and applauded by all Australians at all interested in haiku.’

Red Kelpie Haiku Group Ginko & Meeting #8

As we did last year, the group met at Federation Wharf for our winter meeting, this time on a day full of umbrellas and continuous mizzling rain, which had the effect of muting the colours of the city and the river, but enhancing those of the deciduous leaves and the soft ochres and pinks of the Fed Square paving. Cormorants on the vacant tour boats hung out their wings despite the rain. The ever-present sparrows just shrugged it off.

We found a sheltered table outside one of the cafes by the river, where Robyn Cairns presented a copy of her recently published chapbook, In Transit (Picaro Poets Series, Ginninderra Press) to each of the other seven members present, then we moved on to our discussion.
Continue reading “Red Kelpie Haiku Group Ginko & Meeting #8”