Victoria Park Reserve, Dalwood via Alstonville, NSW
Thursday 22 October 2020
Victoria Park Reserve is at Dalwood, eight kilometers out of Alstonville on the Far North Coast of NSW. This was the group’s eighth visit to the rainforest remnant, a favourite venue.
There were seven of us. Although we kept our prescribed distance from each other, with no shared nibbles and no hugs, it was a relief to experience the familiar fellowship within the group as a ‘back to normal’ ginko.
The threatened rain held off, and a gentle drizzle on one occasion enhanced that fresh scent that arose from the forest floor.
A month or so prior to the gathering one of our poets, who, on reading some international haiku journals, had become a bit confused, posing the question by email, “What makes a good haiku?” So this time, before the silence, we each offered for discussion some puzzling published haiku, and focused our discourse on this conundrum. Naturally this was not resolved, but made for some stimulating deliberations.
After the silence and the writing and sharing of first drafts, the question arose relating to the expression of ‘time’ in haiku. The capturing of one moment, for instance, when the female doesn’t answer the whip bird’s call? However there were many delightful ‘one moment’ haiku experienced and captured. [Don’t worry … we have resolved the ‘time’ query!]
The Round Robin followed. We decided to continue thinking about ‘What makes a good haiku?’ (with examples) for further discussion at our next ginko (summer) in January.
Quendryth Young
Australian Haiku Society 
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