Haiku @ The Oaks, Canberra

Tuesday 22 August 2017

Sunlit pink blossoms along the lane through Weston Park welcomed us to another haiku buzz at The Oaks Brasserie. After Canberra’s bitter winter, it was a joy to sit around an outside table and to feel the warmth at last, while miners and currawongs squabbled in branches overhead. Despite a residue of snow on the hills, spring is surely awakening once more.

There were five of us – Greg Piko, Glenys Ferguson, Hazel Hall, Kathy Kituai and Jan Dobb. Unfortunately we missed our sixth member, Marietta McGregor, who is ill with the lurgy and stayed away.

This time we were pleased to welcome a visitor, David, who has recently become a member of AHS and is keen to learn about writing haiku. This instigated a lively ‘how-to discussion’ (Hazel’s words) as we talked about the ‘rules’ that are really ‘not rules’ and surprising ourselves at how many we came up with. We stressed the significance of haiku spirit, of which the ‘rules’ are merely the framework. We read and recited examples. We recounted our own experiences of haiku, both as writers and readers. We appreciated David’s queries and responses. We welcomed his interest and enjoyed his company.  We agreed to keep in touch.  We hoped David didn’t have a headache!

Time flew by quickly and after a little sharing of our own ‘haiku / tanka news’ it was time to go – till next time. We went away feeling animated by the afternoon’s brainstorm refresher.

Jan Dobb