Watersmeet Haiku Group held its Spring ginko on 16th November at Princes Park, Battery Point. We were a small group. Irene McGuire, Leanne Jaeger, Ron Moss and Lyn Reeves were joined by Jenny Barnard, an original member of Watersmeet, who had been unable to come to meetings for some time. It was a delight to have her with us again.
In the park, swallows wheeled in swift circles across the grassy hill that sloped down towards the road, and one or two solitary walkers traversed the paths. A mother and her toddler climbed on the wooden boat-shaped play structure that gives the green space its local name of The Boat Park. The new green leaves of shade trees ruffled in a slight breeze from the waterfront where the CSIRO’s research vessel, Investigator, had docked that morning after a month-long voyage studying currents around Antarctica.
I was intrigued to find, on the base of a monument at the lower end of the park, thirteen willow hair garlands interwoven with flowers and leaves. What strange ritual did they signify? Curious, I later looked up the date in a lunar calendar and learned that the previous night marked the beginning of the waxing moon’s first quarter, an auspicious time in the Wicca year. That would also explain the yellow ribbon Irene found discarded in the grass.
xxxxxleft in the park
xxxxxunicorns dancing
xxxxxon a ribbon
xxxxxxxxxxxxIrene McGuire
After our contemplative walk, we headed to a coffee shop in Battery Point for lunch and conversation. We shared our own haiku efforts and I handed out copies of poems sent to me by Peter Macrow and Jane Williams, neither of whom could be present but who welcomed our feedback. Some of these haiku provoked lively discussion. Peter Macrow had generously donated copies of haiku books to our members, and these were distributed to those who didn’t have them in their libraries. Among them, the reprint of Beverley George’s Spinifex (Kenilworth Road, 2018), first published by Pardalote Press in 2008 and now available again from Beverley for poetry lovers to enjoy.
It’s such a long time to wait for our Summer ginko, so we are planning a Christmas picnic at the Royal Botanical gardens, where Watersmeet first began, to celebrate the group’s revival and our year of haiku friendship.
xxxxxmorning park
xxxxxmoonlit secrets
xxxxxin the sway of trees
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxLyn Reeves
Australian Haiku Society 
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