Tuesday 5th September
First there was the ‘good’ news that the weather was favourable for our planned ginko walk at a local park – the first since December last year. Then there was the ‘bad’ news that two of our members, Ros Pitt and Patricia Meredith would be unable to attend. They are both dealing with health issues at present so we wish them well and hope they will be able to join us again soon. Rita was obligated to stay close to home, so invited us to relocate and have a ginko in her garden. Naturally her invitation was accepted, which allowed the rest of us to meet – Margaret Mahony, Rita Potente, Alison Miller and Carol Reynolds.
The change in plans opened our eyes to a garden with an eclectic mix of plants and objects. A Japanese inspired mural and torii gate set the scene. During our garden tour we took notes on what we saw, heard, smelled, touched and felt. It was interesting to later compare what each of us had observed. Hopefully we will read some future haiku inspired by these observations.
During the meeting attention was drawn to the various opportunities for participation coming up on the haiku calendar in September, including submission opportunities to Echidna Tracks, the NZ Kathryn Mansfield contest, Samurai Haibun contest and another Gadigal Ginko. Looking much further ahead, the second Haiku Down Under Conference will be held in August, 2024.
Members were encouraged to explore two of the latest offerings on The Haiku Foundation website – THF Galleries and THF Librarians Cache – for further inspiration.
Jenny Macaulay, convenor of Port Arlington group, volunteered to organise the first ever collaborative activity between Port Arlington, Bombora, Bindii and Illawong haiku groups. A kukai with ‘Spring’ as the theme was decided on. Following agreed guidelines, 27 haiku were compiled into an anonymous list, which has been circulated. Each member who contributed will vote on their three favourites and Jenny will announce the most popular three at the end of September. This initiative has been enthusiastically embraced by our members and, being the first opportunity to make considered choices from so many haiku, discussions ensued as to how to approach the task.
With the business end of our meeting over, we talked about the program ‘Awe Hunters – Finding the Extraordinary in the Everyday’ recently featuring on ABC television. I think the conclusion we reached was that ‘awe’ is in haiku devotees’ DNA.
During lunch, discussions got away on us, but we managed to read the offerings from the haiku bowl just before closing our meeting.
Carol Reynolds
Group Coordinator
Australian Haiku Society 