The Fringe Myrtles held a special meeting on the evening of Friday 17th April to celebrate International Haiku Day. Of course, due to the Covid-19 lockdown, the meeting took place virtually on ZOOM. This was our second virtual meeting since the outbreak of coronavirus, and it is clear that we are managing to adapt fairly quickly (some faster than others!) to the technological demands. One of the sweet ironies of this whole pandemic experience, particularly in relation to social distancing, is that technology is allowing us to keep in contact more frequently than usual.
For this meeting, poets were asked to share one or two of the best haiku they had written since the previous IHD, as well as any haiku they had written on the day itself. The haiku were flowing almost as fast as the wine and the meeting was a very enjoyable experience. It really was a joy to hear the haiku being read out from the living rooms of the various poets.
One of the group members, Louise Hopewell, shared the following haiku that she has had published over the past 12 months;
magpie feather
the charred trunk
of a ghost gum
Windfall #8
smoke haze
over the cathedral
our prayers for rain
Human Kindness #2.1
Another member of the group, Takanori Hayakawa, shared the following haiku which he had written on the day.
distant steam train
the summer I put
my ear against the track
Takanori Hayakawa
– Rob Scott
Australian Haiku Society 