Month: September 2016

Gathering of Haiku @ The Oaks, Canberra, on Monday 19 September 2016

Morning drizzle and mists gave way to blue sky and sunshine as six of us met around an outside table with our coffee, tea, a tempting cake or two, and assorted bits of haiku and tanka.  A persistent wattle bird tried to join our gathering — for gourmet reasons rather than poetic — before heading to test his luck elsewhere.  Duck parents shepherded their lone baby duckling on the wet green lawns. Continue reading “Gathering of Haiku @ The Oaks, Canberra, on Monday 19 September 2016”

Winner of Spring AHS Haiga Kukai: Seasonal

Greetings haiku poets,

I would like to thank everyone who entered into the spirit of this image kukai and I feel it has been a great success. There are many fine poems using various haiku techniques and subjects linking to the image.  What I would like to do is talk briefly about my selection and the things that appeal to me. The very best haiga are strong in image and haiku, each can stand alone, but something special is created by their merging together.

I would also like to thank the AHS committee for making this event possible and allowing me to showcase some of my favourite images. The real reward is I get to choose from the selected haiku some worthy winners and I hope this has made it a fun event for all.

Warm regards,

Ron C. Moss

First Place

some coolness still
deep in the buds
sunshower

Marietta McGregor Continue reading “Winner of Spring AHS Haiga Kukai: Seasonal”

Winner of Spring AHS Haiga Kukai: Non Seasonal

By offering a non-seasonal image I wanted to allow poets to explore different themes and touch on matters of human interest, perhaps exploring the concept of wabi sabi. Once again linking between image and haiku are very important to create something that tells a story with a moment that resonates.

First Place

winter light
his last words
left unheard

Rajandeep Garg

This is a fine haiku which links to the image and creates a mood that is interesting and offers us a subtle mystery without being too overt or confusing.

We might wonder who he is, and wonder about his relationship to the woman in the photo, and what was unheard and not spoken. The image was not a seasonal one, but the poet has added winter light, which evokes another dimension of emotion.

Ron C. Moss

Continue reading “Winner of Spring AHS Haiga Kukai: Non Seasonal”

Red Kelpie Haiku Group Meeting & Ginko #9

Over this past week of heavy rain on Melbourne, I’ve found that I finally have an intuitive and bodily understanding of a modern (gendai) Japanese haiku that has previously evaded me:

water of spring
as water wetted
water, as is 

— Hasegawa Kai

http://gendaihaiku.com/hasegawa/hasegawa-kai-haiku.htm

 Everything is so saturated that one experiences the sensation that the rainwater itself has reached a point of maximum saturation too! Continue reading “Red Kelpie Haiku Group Meeting & Ginko #9”

Paper Wasp Volume 22, number 2, winter 2016: Review by Vanessa Proctor

It seems hard to believe that this issue is the last print edition of paper wasp.  Paper wasp, a quarterly journal of haiku, and Australia’s first dedicated haiku journal, has been part of the Australian literary landscape for over twenty years.  Its journey towards publication began in Brisbane, with John Knight, Jacqui Murray and Ross Clark as the founding editors.  Subsequently Janice Bostok and Katherine Samuelowicz joined the editorial team.

Much has changed in the Australian haiku scene over the last two decades.  Poets have come and gone and new poets have emerged as haiku has become increasingly popular worldwide. The journal has increased the number of haiku in each issue over the years while retaining the same format. Continue reading “Paper Wasp Volume 22, number 2, winter 2016: Review by Vanessa Proctor”