September 2017 – Australian Haiku Society

White Pebbles Haiku Group

The Gosford/Edogawa Japanese Gardens on the Central Coast was the venue for the inaugural meeting of this group on September 23rd. Members travelled from Sydney, Newcastle and various parts of the Coast to attend. We began with a relaxed orientation session on the terrace overlooking the garden while we determined our group name, frequency of meetings and general procedures.

It was unanimously decided that we would meet four times a year, once in each season, and would bring several haiku in response to prompts sent in advance of the meetings. However the main activity would be a ginko to observe and record the changes the seasons brought to this authentically designed garden, with many of its features gifted from Japan.

Continue reading “White Pebbles Haiku Group”

Watersmeet Ginko, 3rd September

Hobart haikuists had planned to meet on the last Sunday of winter for a walk in St David’s Park. The previous night brought bitter weather preceding the State’s coldest August day, with snow at low levels on Kunanyi/Mount Wellington. Rather than face the icy winds we postponed until the following Sunday when we enjoyed a window of sunny calm and the company of two members who had been unable to attend the week before.

St David’s Park is on the site of Hobart’s first cemetery. Buried there are many of the First Fleeters and early settlers. When the cemetery fell into disuse and was made into a place of recreation some of the original headstones were embedded in sandstone walls that form a memorial walk. Stone seats built into the wall are sunny spaces out of the wind. We met near the rotunda and then dispersed to walk silently through the English-style gardens, then came together again in the shelter of the memorial wall. Here we shared our writing and observations, giving comment and feedback to each other before adjourning to a nearby café in Salamanca Place for coffee and further conversation.

bench in the sun
the company
of camellia blossom
Continue reading “Watersmeet Ginko, 3rd September”

Call for Submissions: AHS Spring Haiga Kukai: Seasonal

in purple

The Spring Australian Haiku Society Haiga Kukai is now open for entries. We would like to invite poets to send one haiku per image until 29th September. The winning haiku will be displayed on the AHS website.

Please note that if more than one haiku per image is submitted by any individual, only the first haiku sent will be considered.
Submissions will only be accepted if entered in the comments section.

By entering the competition, entrants agree to make their haiku available for use on the AHS website, although the copyright will remain with the author.
No correspondence will be entered into regarding winning entries.

Good luck!

To enter, select the post title (or click here) and enter your haiku in the comment box below the post. Please scroll to the bottom of the page.

Please make sure that your name appears on your entry as you would like to see it on the website.

Call for Submissions: AHS Spring Haiga Kukai: Non-Seasonal

capture

Please note that if more than one haiku per image is submitted by any individual, only the first haiku sent will be considered.
Submissions will only be accepted if entered in the comments section.

Good luck!

To enter, select the post title (or click here) and enter your haiku in the comment box below the post. Please scroll to the bottom of the page.

Please make sure that your name appears on your entry as you would like to see it on the website.

What Haiku Means to Me: by Vanessa Proctor

Haiku brings me joy. It brings me joy when I experience a moment of inspiration and it brings me joy when I am able to translate that moment into poetry. Writing haiku encourages us to be present, to look, really look at the world in which we live to see things with a fresh perspective. When we stop and take time to observe, we experience our surroundings fully with all our senses. We truly live in the moment.

I enjoy trying to capture in words the unique and distinctly Australian character of my local area, noticing the changes in seasons, the plants, birds and animals. I also enjoy thinking about how people interact with each other and with their landscape. Filling my notebook with poems gives me great satisfaction. There is a sense of solitary joy, but joy also comes from reading the work of others, especially when I read a brilliant haiku and it continues to resonate with me in what Wordsworth described as ‘that inward eye’.

Continue reading “What Haiku Means to Me: by Vanessa Proctor”

The 2017 AFL Grand Final Haiku Kukai

On Saturday 30th September, two teams will play off in the Australian Football League (AFL) Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. To celebrate this famous day on the Australian sporting calendar, haiku poets from all over the world are once again invited to take part in a real-time footy haiku kukai for the duration of the match.

This will be the 6th year this event has been staged, after Rob Scott, Myron Lysenko and other haiku enthusiasts spontaneously started writing haiku over social media during the 2012 grand final. The event has grown steadily over the years and last year more than 60 die-hard poets from around the globe participated, producing a record 200+ haiku. That’s about one haiku every 30 seconds of the game – virtually a call of the game in haiku!

Continue reading “The 2017 AFL Grand Final Haiku Kukai”

Prior Notification of AHS Spring 2017 Haiga Kukai

The Australian Haiku Society is delighted to announce that it will be holding a Haiga Kukai on the spring equinox 2017. Two images by Ron Moss will be displayed on the AHS website from 22nd September and poets are invited to submit one previously unpublished haiku inspired by each image from that time until 29th September. Ron will then select the winning haiku which will be displayed on the AHS website. Continue reading “Prior Notification of AHS Spring 2017 Haiga Kukai”

Red Kelpie Haiku Group Meeting # 13

Haruo Shirane’s ‘vertical axis’ continues to prompt members of the RKHG to find and query examples. Those who’ve read Bashō’s Oku no Hosomichi (奥の細道, originally おくのほそ道) (translated variously as Journey to the Interior, Narrow Road to the Interior and Narrow Road to the Deep North) will be familiar with at least one version of the opening passage, itself an homage to the work of the Chinese poet, Du Fu:

“The months and days are the travellers of eternity. The years that come and go are also voyagers. Those who float away their lives on ships or who grow old leading horses are forever journeying and their homes are wherever their travels take them.” (Trans. Donald Keene)

Continue reading “Red Kelpie Haiku Group Meeting # 13”