Submissions closing 21st May & Public reading 19th May
With its first edition (from December last year) well received, Catchment – Poetry of Place will release a second issue on 21 June 2024. Again, it will publish both tanka and longer free-verse poems, showing a sense of location. Since the submission period is set to close soon — on 21 May — poets resident in Australia are encouraged to make contributions, using the following link:
https://www.bawbawartsalliance.org.au/catchment2/on-line-submissions/
Another exciting development in this project takes the form of a public reading of poems selected from Catchment’s first edition. This is set for a start at 2pm on Sunday, 19 May, at the Community Hub in Oak Street in the town of Drouin, Victoria.
Baw Baw Arts Alliance is collaborating with Off the Leash Theatre, as well as 3BBR-FM Community Radio, all not-for-profit groups working together to promote creativity in the Gippsland region of south-eastern Victoria, in Kurnai country.
Tanka poets from that area with pieces selected for reading include: Julie Constable, Agi Dobson, Jeannie Haughton, Jo McInerney, Julie Tawse & Rodney Williams (as contributing editor). But all states & territories of Australia will feature, as well as some locations overseas — tanka poets from further afield with work to be showcased include: Wanda Amos, Gavin Austin, Robyn Cairns, Lorraine Haig, Marilyn Humbert, Keitha Keyes, Jan O’Loughlin, Madhuri Pillai, Allison Reynolds, Kent Robinson & Margaret Owen Ruckert.
With admission at $10, bookings can be made via a second link to the Bbaa’s website: https://www.bawbawartsalliance.org.au/bcms/2024/03/26/catchment-poetry-reading/
Spanning both poetic genres, 50 poems from 37 contributors will be presented by poet-readers & Off the Leash performers — readings will be recorded for broadcast by 3BBR-FM. If distances involved make attendance impossible, AHS members may still have friends or relatives — living closer — who could appreciate this collaborative celebration of poetry of place, showcasing tanka as a verse-form arising from Japan, logging locations across Australia.
Australian Haiku Society 