Author: Simon Hanson

White Pebbles Haiku Group Christmas Meeting and Ginko

Present on this pre-Christmas occasion were Maire Glacken, Gail Hennessy, Samantha Hyde, Colleen Keating, Verna Rieschild and Beverley George.

We slipped easily into our optional routine of catching up briefly for coffee and chat prior to our ginko but at 10:30 sharp we were all out of the door and walking silently in the beautifully designed Gosford/Edogawa garden, noting seasonal changes and listening to the waterfall, cicada hum, the flurry of duck wings and the splash of koi. Red dragonflies skimmed over reeds and water lilies and the bed of white pebbles beside the pond were gleaming in sunlight.

Armed with worksheets of suggested haiku topics we strolled and jotted before meeting up in the tea-hut to exchange our ideas.

Seasonal busyness meant that several members were unable to attend this particular occasion but we all look forward to catching up for our autumn meeting on March 10th.

Beverley George
Convenor: White Pebbles Haiku Group
December 9th, 2017

Members’ News December, 2017

So much has happened haikuwise over the last year as poets continue to enrich the world in the particular way they do and we so look forward to your creations of 2018.

‘Another year over and a new one just begun . . .’

Summer Solstice Haiku String

The Summer Solstice has come and gone for us in the Southern Hemisphere. Thank you to all those who contributed and thanks also to those who simply visited the String to enjoy the offerings. It was especially heartening to have poets from around the world join us in contemplating our theme of Peace including our friends from the Northern Hemisphere sharing some of their Winter Solstice haiku of snow and ice – reminding me that we all hurtle around the same star on this little sphere open to an infinite sky . . .

Please feel free to revisit the string here
 Continue reading “Members’ News December, 2017”

Butterfly Dream: Call for Submissions

Haiku poets are invited to send their best published haiku (please provide publication credits) or new work and a bio sketch (50 words max.) with the subject heading “Published or Unpublished Haiku, Your Name and Submitted Date” to Chen-ou Liu via email at neverendingstory_haiku(at)yahoo.ca

Send no more than twenty haiku per submission and no simultaneous submissions. Please place your haiku in the body of the email. Selected haiku will also be translated into Chinese.

Deadline: December 31, 2017.

For further details please click here.

Red Kelpie Haiku Group # 14 December 2017

On Sunday December 3rd the weather . . . specifically the threat of possible heavy rainfall . . . caused us to change our venue from the Botanic Gardens to the more easily accessible Federation Square. Four RKHG group members, Madhuri Pillai, Robyn Cairns, Janet Howie and I, met in the Atrium but held our meeting in a quiet hallway between the bookshop and a gallery: an ideal spot, thanks to Robbie’s explorations. Apologies received from Earl, Marisa and Taka.

Our discussion topic, prepared and led by Madhu, was ‘Senryu’. What is it? What might distinguish EL senryu from EL haiku? Is EL senryu just an inferior sort of haiku? Should we feel insulted if someone refers to our ku as senryu?

sketches from life –
my eraser
leaves smudge marks

(Lorin Ford, Failed Haiku#23, Nov. 2017)

The louring cloud cover on the day of our December meeting seemed to match the grey area in which, nevertheless, EL senryu has not only survived but thrived, often by any other name. Continue reading “Red Kelpie Haiku Group # 14 December 2017”

Bowerbird Tanka Group meeting # 17 November 25, 2017

It was a delight to welcome 14 Bowerbird members to “Wirraminna,” our home in Pearl Beach, on Saturday 25th 2017. Present were Dy Andreasen, Carolyn Eldridge-Alfonzetti, Beverley George, Margaret (ML) Grace, Gail Hennessy, Marilyn Humbert, Julianne Jameson, Karen Lieversz, Kent Robinson, Catherine Smith, Michael Thorley, Julie Thorndyke, Jo Tregellis and Beatrice Yell.

After a brief welcome and the chance to enjoy a cuppa following the long drives involved in getting here, our workshop opened with appraisals of favourite tanka written by someone whom the presenter had never met.

Continue reading “Bowerbird Tanka Group meeting # 17 November 25, 2017”