For our most recent meeting, the group held a ginko in the beautiful Treasury Gardens on the fringe of the Melbourne CBD. In attendance were Myron Lysenko, Rodney Williams, Louise Hopewell, Anna Fern, Maurice McNamara, Grant Caldwell, Tom Landgraf and Rob Scott. We also had virtual participation by Diana Cousens and Marisa Fazio.
The ginko was conducted along the lines of the traditional Japanese manner of ginkos, finishing up at our home base at the Athenaeum Theatre Library where we submitted and discussed our haiku, eventually choosing a favourite.
The group assembled at the John F. Kennedy Memorial in the gardens, a tranquil setting surrounded by Japanese maples and an ornamental lake inhabited by a very healthy-looking flock of ducks.
Despite being only a few weeks away from winter, the theme for the ginko was ‘early autumn’, as summer has lingered here in Melbourne, with temperatures barely falling below the low 20’s throughout April and May.
Poets spent the next hour strolling through the gardens which were carpeted by fallen leaves under a bright blue sky. It was a perfect day for walking and writing haiku.
Upon return to the library, poets submitted 1-2 haiku anonymously which were drawn randomly out of a hat for discussion. Each haiku raised different points of discussion about the art form which were debated in typically forthright Fringe Myrtles fashion.
At the end of the discussion, each haiku submitted was voted on, with Myron Lysenko’s comical and mischievous haiku coming out on top.
Kennedy Memorial –
a falling leaf just misses
his head
Myron Lysenko
Australian Haiku Society 