December 2024 – Australian Haiku Society

White Pebbles Haiku Group

Summer meeting report

The White Pebbles Haiku Group has been meeting once every season for the past seven years at the splendid Gosford/Edogawa Commemorative Garden. For our summer ginko on Saturday 14th December, Beverley George (founder and convener), Michael Thorley, Kent Robinson, Maire Glacken and Samantha Sirimanne Hyde caught up first at the Art Centre’s café. We missed members Marilyn Humbert, Gwen Bitti, Colleen Keating and Pip Griffin who had sent in their apologies.

Catchment – Poetry of Place : third edition

Now available online, December 2024

Readers are welcome to enjoy the third edition of Catchment – Poetry of Place, available now on the Baw Baw Arts Alliance website via Latest Edition.

AHS Summer Solstice Haiku String 2024

This String has now closed. Please enjoy the haiku posted in the comments. Thanks to all the poets worldwide who have contributed to this event. The event lasted eight days, from 12.30 am ACDT on 21 December 2024. The String closed at 12.30 am ACDT on 29 December 2024.

The Australian Haiku Society welcomes contributions from haiku poets worldwide to the Summer Solstice Haiku String.

We will be holding the Haiku String on the day of the Southern Hemisphere Summer Solstice, which occurs in Australia this year on Saturday, December ^21st. To accommodate international poets who may wish to participate, the String will remain open for contributions until Sunday, December ^29th, 2024. Contributions may be made on the website during these dates only (not before).

Haiku String – Instructions (please read all the instructions including formatting).

For many Australians summer means a relationship with water or the lack of it. Visits to the seaside or river to relax, swim or surf, precious dam storage, irrigation of crops, fighting bushfires, dealing with floods, and the many other aspects of water are a part of summer.

Report on the Bindii Meeting November 17 2024

Julia Wakefield, Maeve Archibald, Subha Goonaratne, Ewan Rourke and Lynette Arden met on Saturday November 17 at 3pm, using Zoom.

Preliminary Notice: AHS Summer Solstice Haiku String 2024

The Australian Haiku Society welcomes contributions from haiku poets worldwide to the Summer Solstice Haiku String.

We will hold the Haiku String on Saturday, December 21st, the day the Southern Hemisphere Summer Solstice occurs in Australia this year. The String will remain open for contributions until Sunday, December 29th, 2024, to accommodate international poets who may wish to participate. Contributions may be made on the website during these dates only (not before).

Wild Whispers Poetry Magazine submissions open

Submissions for the first edition will open 14th December to 14th February 4pm GMT

December 2024 Members’ News

President’s Message

Since the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar in 1873, the New year is counted as a brief season on its own In Japanese Saijiki. The New Year period in Japan is a time for family gatherings with festive meals over several days. There are many traditions and observances that appear as kigo, including decorations, cards, gifts, games and special food, as well as numerous kigo with the first of something, such as first sunrise. While we may not follow kigo in our Australian haiku, we do write poems that reflect the festive season of family and social gatherings, celebratory meals and other traditions, as well as marking new beginnings and reflecting on the past year.

Featured Haiku – Under the Same Moon (Australian Haiku Anthology)

This week’s featured poet from ‘Under the Same Moon’, the Fourth Australian Haiku Anthology, is Sydney-based poet and current president of the Australian Haiku Society, Leanne Mumford.