Tuesday 15th March 2022
In light of the recent rain it was decided to hold our Autumn gathering at my home. Against the odds it turned out to be a beautiful day. Some disappointment was expressed that it would have been a perfect day for a ginko however everyone had an enjoyable time together regardless.
Everyone was present except Patricia who was unable to join us due to ill health however she is on the mend and will hopefully be with us next time. Unfortunately we forgot to take a photo to include with this report, something I must remember to put at the top of our next agenda.
We began our meeting with some members sharing their recently composed haiku for discussion while others shared haiku written by others.
Before moving on I made mention of the ‘by product’ of haiku. I refer to the additional knowledge both reading and writing haiku provides. The research that can follow from experiencing an ‘aha’ moment or reading one of the endless offerings available in the haiku arena results in finding out something new almost every day. That has to be a good thing.
I prepared a handout highlighting the Introduction and some haiku from a book featured in THF segment, ‘Book of the Week’ (7/3/2022) – ‘A Selection by H.F. Noyes of his Favourite Haiku Volume 2’. ‘Tom’ Noyes spoke of two secrets of haiku:
- Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity and
- Rather than attempting to choose the haiku moment, let the moment choose you
I think you will agree that the following haiku uphold those secrets:
two leaves
touch in the pond
and separate
Alexis K. Rotella
low tide-
sand filling
the anemone
Michael Dylan Welch
The same THF segment (14/3/2022) featured the book ‘Because of a Seagull’ by Gilles Fabre. Gilles introduction was an insight into his philosophy on life. I was particularly intrigued by his unique haiku style. A capital letter to start with, the extensive use of punctuation providing focus and in some cases writing from the subjects perspective, a technique often used in other forms of writing.
Derelict house
in the midnight snow – how
you must long for a family
Take care, fat fly,
this reading room
has carnivorous plants
Look, cat-our new
neighbours:
they have a dog!
We then moved on to the important task of discussing and voting on haiku for inclusion in THF’s ‘Haiku of the Day’ (previously Per Diem) segment. By chance it seems, our group was invited to be host editors for the month of September this year which of course we readily accepted. The process involves setting a theme, searching widely for appropriate haiku, seeking permission from the authors to use their haiku then forwarding the results on completion. For interested haikuists we will send an alert for inclusion in the Australian Haiku Society Newsletter just before September.
Thanks to the Haiku at the Oaks newsletter we were made aware of the 2022 Tokutomi Haiku Contest. Margaret Mahony and I decided to accept the 5-7-5 challenge. We certainly found it was a time-consuming exercise which isn’t necessarily a bad thing in today’s hurried world. Our haiku have since been submitted!
As always members contributed to a selection of goodies for morning tea and lunch over which there was plenty of light-hearted conversation. Until next time when hopefully the weather will allow us to have a long awaited ginko.
Carol Reynolds
Convenor
Illawong Haiku Group
Australian Haiku Society 