Category: Book Reviews

Windfall: Australian Haiku, Issue 10, 2022 – Review

The 10th and final issue of the much-loved journal, Windfall: Australian Haiku, was released in January 2022.

Windfall is an annual journal edited by Beverley George and published by Peter Macrow at Blue Giraffe Press. The cover artwork is by Ron C. Moss, with design and layout by Matthew C. George.

Originating in Japan, the popularity of this short poetic genre has spread widely around the globe. Australian interest in haiku dates as far back as 1899 when an Australian haiku competition was conducted(1). Subsequently, in the 1970s, Janice Bostok produced Australia’s first haiku magazine, Tweed(2).

Continue reading “Windfall: Australian Haiku, Issue 10, 2022 – Review”

Windfall: Australian Haiku Issue 9, 2021 – Review

Review by Simon Hanson

How fortunate we are to have a journal like Windfall: Australian Haiku, showcasing as it does, the best of Australian haiku— bringing together familiar and new voices (and the new voices are exciting). This issue, like those before it celebrates many and varied aspects of Australian life in its country, coastal, urban and domestic settings accompanied by a host of perceptive observations around season, landform, flora and fauna and the lives of people.

we slow our stroll
to another time
outback town

Glenys Ferguson

perching magpie
the blackened stump
seamed with ash

Gavin Austin

Continue reading “Windfall: Australian Haiku Issue 9, 2021 – Review”

Book Review – breaking my journey

breaking my journey by Gregory Piko

reviewed by Cynthia Rowe

breaking my journey, published by the prestigious Red Moon Press, is delightfully produced. The cover, designed by Ron C. Moss, a digital photograph, is particularly striking. The book is smoothly finished, and a pleasure to hold.

The collection contains ninety-eight individual haiku, two haibun, a rengay and haiku shuffle, wherein Gregory Piko extols the things we take for granted, the essence of what makes us ‘us’. He extracts beauty from the everyday, makes us see the world in a fresh light; that which seems banal on first viewing is elevated to the extraordinary, universal in its appeal.

Continue reading “Book Review – breaking my journey”

Number Eight Wire – Review by Vanessa Proctor

anthology coverNumber Eight Wire is the long-awaited Fourth New Zealand Haiku Anthology. The last anthology, the excellent The Taste of Nashi, was published a decade ago. The title Number Eight Wire is a reference from a haiku by Karen Peterson Butterworth to the New Zealand trait of innovation and resourcefulness – to be able to mend anything with number eight wire. It’s a fitting title which holds together a strong selection of 330 haiku from 70 poets which are, as the editors state in the introduction, ‘100% pure Aotearoa’, yet also universal. Continue reading “Number Eight Wire – Review by Vanessa Proctor”

Persimmon

This book is a delight, square in shape and persimmon-coloured, it is beautifully produced with deep green flyleaf covers and plenty of space around the text giving the haiku the room it deserves. The artwork of persimmons on the front cover by Eiko Mori and Richard Steiner’s artwork on the back is appealing and gives the reader the impression that a great deal of thought has gone into this book’s creation. Continue reading “Persimmon”

Blowing up Balloons – review

A collaboration between Vanessa Proctor and Gregory Piko, Blowing up Balloons, is a collection of 90 haiku and senryu about the experience of becoming and being a parent. The moments shared relate to the stages in a child’s life from the first hint of pregnancy:

distracted the curve of a new moon

to the early years of childhood:

bathtime / they re-enact the sinking/ of the titanic

walking home from ballet/ my daughter pirouettes/ through the blossom

These sensitive and tender poems evoke a sense of wonder and amazement that bringing a new life into the world gives rise to, and of the joy that can be found in the presence of these little human beings entrusted to our care. The opening haiku perfectly encapsulates this:  Continue reading “Blowing up Balloons – review”

Paper Wasp Volume 22, number 2, winter 2016: Review by Vanessa Proctor

It seems hard to believe that this issue is the last print edition of paper wasp.  Paper wasp, a quarterly journal of haiku, and Australia’s first dedicated haiku journal, has been part of the Australian literary landscape for over twenty years.  Its journey towards publication began in Brisbane, with John Knight, Jacqui Murray and Ross Clark as the founding editors.  Subsequently Janice Bostok and Katherine Samuelowicz joined the editorial team.

Much has changed in the Australian haiku scene over the last two decades.  Poets have come and gone and new poets have emerged as haiku has become increasingly popular worldwide. The journal has increased the number of haiku in each issue over the years while retaining the same format. Continue reading “Paper Wasp Volume 22, number 2, winter 2016: Review by Vanessa Proctor”

Review of ‘Windfall’ in ‘A Hundred Gourds’ 5.3

Included in the Expositions section of the final edition of A Hundred Gourds – just released – is a review of Windfall 4, written by Australian haiku poet Jo McInerney, who is becoming increasingly respected as a commentator on haiku.

Through accessing the following link, readers will be able to appreciate Jo’s response to the latest edition of Windfall, an annual selection of Australian haiku edited by Beverley George and published by Peter Macrow’s Blue Giraffe Press:

http://www.ahundredgourds.com/