Fringe Myrtles bend the senses: Report on the Fringe Myrtles Meeting March, 2025

The first Fringe Myrtles meeting for 2025 was held on Sunday 16 March. Ten Myrtles braved the torrential rain (following a 33-degree day—classic Melbourne weather!) to gather at our haiku home, the beautiful Athenaeum Theatre Library.

Attending in person were Rob Scott, Jennifer Sutherland, Myron Lysenko, Robyn Cairns, Di Cousens, Rodney Williams, Louise Hopewell, Anna Fern and first timer Maurice McNamara. Alice Wanderer also Zoomed in from further down the bay.

Inspired by a Marietta McGregor’s thought-provoking presentation at Haiku Down Under 2024, Louise led the Myrtles on a deep dive into synaesthesia, exploring the additional depth, complexity and wonderment that sense shifting can add to our haiku. After studying some examples of synaesthesia, we moved on to challenge our brains and write some poems using this technique.

As always, there was the opportunity to share haiku news. Myron has had a poem selected for the forthcoming Red Moon Anthology, Di launched her collection of poetry and photography One Breath, Louise published her first-ever tanka, Jennifer has had two haiku selected for Haiku21, Alice is working on a chapbook of haibun and Rodney continues to edit poetry journal Catchment.

The Myrtles also discussed how we can ‘give back’ to our supporting venue, the Athenaeum Library, including running a beginners’ haiku workshop for library members.

Here are some of the haiku written on the day:

misty morning
the crescent
of a curlew’s cry

– Robyn Cairns

gulls shimmy
in a muddy puddle
shades of rain

– Rodney Williams

xylophone waves
all the yachts
bump together

– Alice Wanderer

heat-stressed elm
the blistering red
of the north wind

– Louise Hopewell

her words pour
out of her eyes
new widow

– Myron Lysenko

cars lapping
Albert Park Lake
exhausts fume red

– Di Cousens

returning home
to my silent umbrella
autumn drizzle

– Rob Scott