Month: January 2018

HAIKU @ THE OAKS, CANBERRA

25 January 2018

We were just gathering round our shady table when the darkening clouds began to rumble. So we headed to The Oaks marquee instead, a wise move we agreed, when shortly a rainstorm came drumming down.

As we unpacked our show-and-tell, we remarked on the number of copies of Windfall 6 on the table! Yes, we had all noticed that this issue contains haiku by each one of us – Gregory Piko, Hazel Hall, Kathy Kituai, Marietta McGregor, Glenys Ferguson, Jan Dobb. The chummy tone of the afternoon ‘deepened’. Continue reading “HAIKU @ THE OAKS, CANBERRA”

Why Haiku? : Lorin Ford

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photo: Lyn Reeves

 

Why not free verse, sonnets or ghazals? (I‘ve written some). Or bush ballads? (I love horses).

My involvement with haiku started with an unexpected discovery in 2004. Carla Sari read out a haiku by Dhugal Lindsay:


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxpicking up a jellyfish . . .
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxmy lifeline
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxclear and deep

I was immediately transported to my early childhood on the beach at Seaford, holding a moon jellyfish from the shallows (they’re non-stingers) in the palm of my hand, where it became a shining lens. In this first ‘aha moment’ it seemed to me that a haiku could be a lens which, focusing on a detail or two, could evoke an entire scenario and mood, an experience of participation rather than a story told. Continue reading “Why Haiku? : Lorin Ford”

Yarra Haiku Poets

Yarra Haiku Poets is a new regular event to be held every second month in Melbourne and surrounding areas.

The intention is to encourage poets to meet, discuss and share haiku related topics in a social setting.

According to Wikipedia, the Yarra river was a meeting place for indigenous Australians and the name Yarra  was a mistranslation of the Wurrundjeri term Yarro-yarro meaning  “ever flowing”.  This term aptly also represents the diversity, creativity and pleasure we enjoy with our involvement in haiku.

These events are open to any interested individual whether established poet or new to the genre. Continue reading “Yarra Haiku Poets”

Travelling Through the Unexpected by Lynette Arden

You are invited to join Lynette Arden for the launch of her poetry book: Travelling Through the Unexpected, with works of haiku, senryu, tanka, haibun and free verse selected by Graham Rowlands and published by Ginninderra Press. Rob Walker will be the guest speaker at the launch. You can listen to Lynette Arden speaking about the book in a radio interview on  5 MBS for the Kaleidoscope program, broadcast on Wednesday 17 January at 6 pm, with a repeat on Saturday 20 January at 11 am. The interview is also available as a Podcast

Come along to the launch at Halifax Café, 187 Halifax St, Adelaide at 2 pm on Saturday 10 February.

Travelling Through the Unexpected is available through Ginninderra Press: https://www.ginninderrapress.com.au

The book is also available through on line bookstores such as Booktopia, Book Depository, Fishpond, and Amazon in hard copy and eBook versions.

Continue reading “Travelling Through the Unexpected by Lynette Arden”

My Writing Practice: Dawn Bruce

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photo: Lyn Reeves

The discipline of haiku guides me to appreciate the ‘now’ of my day. How wonderful it is to jot down images and tiny events that show the extraordinary in the ordinary.

My haiku are not made up of seventeen syllables but usually far fewer. However, I try to keep to the short/long/short format unless I feel the haiku should be a one-liner. I have also written a few two-liners when that is the way they fell.

Though I often use the visual sense in my haiku I also try to catch the other senses of sound, taste, smell and touch. The seasons are used to good effect in most haiku and I too follow this course. I find now I’m older many of my haiku use the autumn season to express thoughts and moments.

The core of the haiku is that light touch and simplicity which shines on the spirit of the poem…that certain something that is almost impossible to explain…maybe wabi sabi.

My favourite haiku is the text of a sensitive haiga by Ron Moss. I admire its lightness and achingly beautiful simplicity: Continue reading “My Writing Practice: Dawn Bruce”

White Pebbles Haiku Group Christmas Meeting and Ginko

Present on this pre-Christmas occasion were Maire Glacken, Gail Hennessy, Samantha Hyde, Colleen Keating, Verna Rieschild and Beverley George.

We slipped easily into our optional routine of catching up briefly for coffee and chat prior to our ginko but at 10:30 sharp we were all out of the door and walking silently in the beautifully designed Gosford/Edogawa garden, noting seasonal changes and listening to the waterfall, cicada hum, the flurry of duck wings and the splash of koi. Red dragonflies skimmed over reeds and water lilies and the bed of white pebbles beside the pond were gleaming in sunlight.

Armed with worksheets of suggested haiku topics we strolled and jotted before meeting up in the tea-hut to exchange our ideas.

Seasonal busyness meant that several members were unable to attend this particular occasion but we all look forward to catching up for our autumn meeting on March 10th.

Beverley George
Convenor: White Pebbles Haiku Group
December 9th, 2017