DATE: Thursday 9 November
PLACE: Bicentennial Park, Ballina
TIME: 10 am
The weatherman had a lot of trouble deciding what our day would bring, but all was well. There were blue skies, not too hot, and a new venue to be explored at the Bicentennial Park in Ballina, with picnic facilities along with some first-growth coastal forest.
There were six of us: Laurel Astle, Robbie Braithwaite, Vivien Royston, Angela Smith, Norma Watts and Quendryth Young. Our stalwart member since our original gathering in 2005, Nathalie Buckland, had recently been hospitalised and is convalescing. She joined us in a virtual ginko from her own home.
As this was our spring ginko, poets were asked to contribute at least one, or up to five, haiku using a spring kigo. These were shared around the table. Then we revelled in exploring the contents of the Fourth Australian Haiku Anthology, ‘under the same moon,’ and some of those without a copy decided to buy one. It was pleasing to note that there are six Cloudcatchers included in these pages: Laurel Astle, Robyn Braithwaite, Nathalie Buckland, Max Ryan, Pamela Smith, and Quendryth Young.
Before the forty minutes silence we added another element to our creativity. This time it was the mutual witnessing of the simple scene of a pied butcherbird drinking from the container left under a tap for dogs. We all witnessed the same incident and were thus challenged to produce a haiku relating to the same image. These were shared later. Some similar challenge will no doubt be undertaken at subsequent gatherings.
In Nathalie’s absence, it was Robbie who prefaced our silence by acknowledging the Bundjalung people who have trodden this very land for thousands of years, focusing our thoughts as we explored this new venue. Then we walked, observed, and scribbled our first drafts.
Lunch was at ‘The Shawsy’, a hotel situated on Shaws Bay, an estuary of the Richmond River. Here we shared first drafts around the table.
Poets were asked to submit by email at least one, or up to five, haiku from the day, for a Round Robin discussion. This has now been completed, and distributed to all participants.
Australian Haiku Society 