June 28th
Arriving at The Friends Meeting Place before the Woloman Room filled up with 10 Limestone Tanka Poets ready to settle into their first face-to-face (but self-distancing) meeting since February, the usual welcoming ambience enveloped us. However, instead of making a close circle of chairs the space between was measured, hands sanitized and the novelty of seeing each other a joy. It wasn’t long before the laughter began. There were tanka competitions to remind us there is still a sort of normalcy in the publishing world. We had submissions to workshops, suggestions and knowledge to share and tea and coffee in a thermos or two to keep us sustained.
Three hours later and all points of view side by side the effort to be safe was worthwhile. What was of importance was not yet another discussion on the way in which covid 19 has made it hard for us to meet, but the unspoken joy of friendship and respect that has developed among us as poets was activated once more. This is something to really celebrate.
Kathy Kituai
Founder and facilitor of Limestone Tanka Poets
Australian Haiku Society 