Author: Leanne Mumford

President, Australian Haiku Society

Autumn Equinox 2026 Selections

The autumn equinox – when day and night are of equal length – has been an important marker of seasonal change throughout human cultures. With the observance of seasons a significant aspect of haiku practice, the Australian Haiku Society chooses to mark the solstices and equinoxes each year. This Southern hemisphere autumn, as leaves of exotic trees begin to change colour and many of our native plants come into flower, we invite you to enjoy a selection of favourite poems submitted to Haiku Strings in previous autumns. You can find PDF booklets of all the Haiku Strings we have held to date on our Resources page .

footy siren
picking the last
ripe tomato
Louise Hopewell, 2023

morning moonset
the black swan’s bill
blood red
Cathryn Daley, 2023

disagreement
morning walk together
alone
Carol Reynolds, 2020

dancing breeze
a hoop pine seed
glides in to land
Quendryth Young, 2023

outdoor café
more dogs in trendy coats
than people
Kathryn Woolfe, 2019

park bench
a two o’clock shadow
holds my hand
Barbara Tate, 2019

Opera House
an autumn breeze
fills the sails
Gavin Austin, 2019

flooded street
a man rescues
a teddybear
Kathleen Earsman, 2019

fire glow
the baby’s breath
on my cheek
Margaret Mahony, 2021

schoolchildren’s protest
their hearts displayed
on recycled cardboard
Marietta McGregor, 2019

chilly breeze
a spider’s thread shifts
the moonlight
Lyn Arden, 2023

rain clouds
blackening the sky
Carnaby’s cockatoos
Maureen Sexton, 2023

last song . . .
the busker turns
to his dog
Madhuri Pillai, 2020

slow steps
a curving path
walking to her grave
Maurice Neville, 2021

dogs long gone—
all their feeding bowls
overflow with rain
Ron C. Moss, 2020

Report on Gadigal Ginkō, Autumn 2026

With possible severe storms forecast, in the end only two poets gathered at Barangaroo on Wednesday morning 18th March. Remarkably, despite the heavy cloud, the rain held off for the whole time. The headland reserve was quiet, with few people about, so there was ample scope for contemplative walking.

Penny set off on the middle path through the naturalised scrub and woodland, while I followed the rocky foreshore. The Barangaroo headland may have been artificially created, but it is slowly re-wilding.

We found inspiration among the weathering sandstone blocks undergoing colonisation by shellfish, lichens and moss, in the grasses, trees, and shrubs, some of which were flowering, from a couple of darters and the ubiquitous noisy miners, and the general activity of the harbour.

At the end of the ginkō we sat in a café on one of the old finger wharves nearby exchanging draft poems and discussing the value of workshopping with diverse poets.

Leanne Mumford
Convenor, Gadigal Ginkō

Call for Submissions: 2026 confluence Poetry Prize

What does it mean to die? To accompany another being as their life ends? Or to face your own death? Poets across the ages have responded with grief, rage, wonder, acceptance, and beauty. We want to read what death and dying mean to you.

confluence invites you to submit one haiku, tanka, or other Japanese short-form poem on the theme of death and dying. The best poems will share in $500 in prize money and be published in confluence. Submissions are open now through May 1, 2026. There is no fee to submit.

Learn more and submit your poem at www.confluencehaiku.com/prize

Submitted by Rowan Beckett Minor, Associate Editor, confluence

Catchment – Poetry of Place: submissions open 21 March

Catchment – Poetry of Place will remain open for contributions between 21 March and 21 May, towards release of the journal’s 6th issue online on 21 June, 2026. Guidelines and our submission portal can both be accessed through the following link:
https://www.bawbawartsalliance.org.au/bcms/catchment/

As before, Australian poets working in Japanese-based forms can offer: either up to 5 tanka of a stand-alone nature; or a sequence of pieces, no larger than 4 tanka in total.
Contributors may submit up to 3 poems in free verse also/ instead, each as long as 30 lines, likewise showing a sense of location.
A biographical statement (no more than 50 words) should be submitted for each issue as well, please.

Discussions of Tanka on offer

In the meantime, 2026 will continue to bring you essays on poems of place, released each month under Catchment News & Views, accessible on the journal’s home page.

To coincide with the opening of our upcoming submission period, on 21 March I will be posting an evaluation of mine about portrayals of the marshland bird snipe in both haiku and tanka.

AHS members may likewise be interested in listening to a half-hour interview with me about tanka – broadcast recently on 3CR Community Radio (855 AM) – as presented by Di Cousens, a fellow member of the Fringe Myrtles Haiku Group in Melbourne:
https://www.3cr.org.au/spoken-word/episode/discovering-tanka

On 21 April, readers can also look forward to a new piece by our co-editor Jo McInerney, who will discuss interactive sequencing created by tanka poets working in collaboration.

Rodney Williams
Editor, Catchment – Poetry of Place
Baw Baw Arts Alliance, Gunaikurnai country, West Gippsland, Victoria

Two upcoming events for Sydney poets 18th & 24th March

The next Gadigal Ginko will take place on Wednesday 18th March, 2026 from 10am at Barangaroo. Please see the Gadigal Ginko webpage for further details and to register.

As previously announced, the Illawong Haiku Group invites other Sydney poets to join them at the Hurstville Museum and Gallery on Tuesday, 24th March from 10.30 am to 12.00 midday for a writing session based on the current ‘Snakes & Mirrors’ exhibition.

Illawong Haiku Group