Welcome to our April news. It is most heartening to see that followers to our website continue to grow. Thank you all for your enthusiasm and support.
Autumn Haiga Kukai
Thanks to all contributors we have enjoyed another successful Autumn Haiga Kukai. Our gratitude also to Ron Moss for providing these images and for the considerable time and thought he puts into making selections.
The haiga image and accompanying haiku selected in the Seasonal category along with judge’s comments can be found here
First Place
laid to rest
her body sinking
into stone
Quendryth Young
Sometimes our creative gems emerge gradually and with the aid of conscious effort, at other times they seem to come all of a sudden and readymade. Both approaches are legitimate and most usually there are elements of both in the finished piece. Quendryth has kindly consented to sharing something of the back story to this winning haiku.
“I entered the kukai, as I usually do, to support this AHS project, not expecting to hear anything more. This time it was done quite hurriedly, when I realised it was the day before closure. So I am rather stunned as I wrote this haiku in five seconds flat, in immediate response to Ron’s image . . . the words just tumbled out without much thought”. Quendryth Young
A flash of gold in the stream.
You can revisit all entries to the Seasonal category here.
Image and selected entries in the Non-Seasonal category and judge’s comments can be read here.
First Place
lingering here – all my previous lives
Sheila K. Barksdale
All entries in the Non-seasonal category can be read here.
Haiku Classic
Gregory Piko has had the following haiku deemed a classic by Dhugal J. Lindsay, the haiku editor of The Mainichi .
now the wisteria
supports the trellis
father and son
Gregory Piko
First published: paper wasp vol. 9(2) (2003)
You can read the comments by Dhugal J. Lindsay here.
Echidna Tracks
A new online venture in Australian haiku has recently been launched and is open for submissions throughout May. Anyone can submit work that is relevant to Australia – but, as this is a website for the collection of haiku about Australia, the work we are looking for will come out of an authentic experience of either living in or visiting Australia. The theme for Issue 1 is: Places we Live: Cities, Suburbs, Towns. Visit the Echidna Tracks website for further information and submission guidelines.
Echidna Tracks is wholly independent of the Australian Haiku Society. Lynette Arden, Lyn Reeves and Simon Hanson look forward to your participation.
Groups and Gatherings
Feel free to catch up on Bindii’s latest gathering here
New Haiku Group
Having met recently for just the third time the Illawong Haiku Group is welcoming enquires to anyone interested in joining. Illawong is a picturesque region of southern Sydney. If you are interested feel free to contact Carol Reynolds by email
Wild Plum Haiku Contest 2018
Congratulations to Jan Dobb for an Honorable Mention with:
downpour
a zillion scents ascend
into summer
Jan Dobb
You can read all the poems selected in this award here.
The Haiku Foundation Junicho Renku by Lorin Ford
As a novice sabaki, I found the experience both stimulating and challenging. And yes, very time-consuming and sometimes daunting, too. I learned much as I went along, gaining confidence through re-reading John Carley’s ‘Renku Reckoner’ and Herbert Jonsson’s thesis, ‘’Haiku Poetics’’. With an online, open-to-all-comers renku, participation is the thing, rather than whose verse is selected. Those interested in renku are all learning what it is to be involved in a unique kind of communal, cooperative poetry of which Bashō was Master and through which he earned a living. Renku doesn’t always come easily to us ‘westerners’, who are more used to haiku competitions and the individual merits of ‘stand-alone’ and ‘stand-out’ verses. There is only one ‘stand-alone’ verse in renku, the hokku, and variety requires the gamut from elegant through unusual to plain, from the deadly serious through the poetic to the humorous, and more. Renku can certainly be an ‘ego-taming’ exercise. That done, it can be a lot of fun and participation becomes fellowship. I’m very pleased that some Australians participated and encourage them all to continue participating in future renku, whenever and wherever the chance occurs. Two Australians ended up with selected verses in this international renku of twelve verses with many participants from the world over. A fine showing, Barbara and Simon!
‘Sleigh Ride’, a Jūnicho Renku is now in THF archives of completed renku in pdf form:
Lorin Ford
Touchstone Awards
The Haiku Foundation Touchstone Awards for Distinguished Books and for Individual Poems have been announced. This is the third year running that Ron Moss has sat on the selection committee. All comments of the judging panel can be found here.
Asahi Haikuist Network
David McMurray has contacted us with a friendly invitation to enjoy reading and to submit to the regular fortnightly issues of the Asahi Haikuist Network. He has been the editor of this column since April 1995! Back issues accessed here. Themes to forthcoming issues can be found at the bottom of each column.
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Already May clamours with things to do, though in amongst it, daily wanders through the garden and a few idle hours in the hammock . . .
Members’ News prepared by Simon Hanson
Australian Haiku Society 