The autumn meeting of the White Pebbles Haiku Group took place at Gosford / Edogawa Gardens on March 10th. Present were Marilyn Humbert, Gail Hennessy, Maire Glacken, Verna Rieschild, Kent Robinson, Beverley George, Colleen Keating, Rozanne Collins and Wendy Stringer. Apologies were received from Samantha Hyde and Anne Birt, both of whom were travelling. We look forward to seeing them at our winter meeting on June 16th.
As usual, we met at 10 for an informal half hour chat and coffee on the café patio, before commencing our ginko promptly at 10:30. We work from a pre-distributed handout which includes prompts and examples to get us comfortably started and soon we are scattered throughout the garden’s expanse individually writing what we are observing.
After about 35 minutes we gather in the garden’s tea hut which opens on to a white pebble beach, koi-splashed pond and colourful pagoda. We begin to share our writing.
Early in the meeting yesterday, a member who teaches music raises the topic of the power that lies behind music, the spaces and the silences. Later, a different member wrote about the physical spaces between white pebbles, tree branches etc. and the discussion focused for a while on the concept of ma.
Another poet wrote so convincingly about her impressions of the Hawkesbury River islands she often travels past that her words sparked responses from others of us who also see this location frequently.
As always it is interesting as we start to share haiku to note how varied the topics are; how details come alive in our minds of sights we also saw clearly on our ginko, but did not select to write about. Just one example was how the water lilies’ petals stood up stiffly after rain.
A member who had driven four hours to be with us wrote a haiku from his journey that sparked an idea that we might all participate in a single sequence some time. Another poet wrote a lovely closing haiku in celebration of our autumn ginko and we ended the meeting with this.
Beverley George
Convenor
White Pebbles Haiku Group
Photograph by Wendy Stringer
Australian Haiku Society 