Category: Cloudcatchers

Report on Cloudcatchers’ Spring Ginko No.23

A strip of land between sea and fresh water is a magical place. Cloudcatchers assembled for their Spring Ginko at Lake Ainsworth, Lennox Head, on Thursday 13 October 2011, savouring the salt spray from the ocean, which mingled with soft breezes from the banksias and tea-trees lining this tea-coloured lake.

Quiet contemplation allowed an immersion in the ambience of the abundant bird life, with its various rhythms of song, the soft peeling bark of the melaleucas, the gentle lapping of ripples on sandy banks, and a regular resident who was feeding the water dragons from his mechanised chair. Images were scribbled into notebooks during the meditative hour, which seemed to pass too quickly. Hastily constructed first-draft haiku were read around the picnic table, and now some of these, which have been reviewed and refined are being circulated among participants during a Round Robin workshop.

A summer ginko is planned for the first week after school returns in January 2012. If you would like more information, please get in touch with Quendryth Young at: quendrythyoung@bigpond.com.

Quendryth Young
Cloudcatchers Coordinator

Cloudcatchers’ Ginko No.22 (winter)

A dozen Cloudcatchers wore their scarves and woolly hats to the winter ginko at Torakina Park, Brunswick Heads, on Thursday 30 June 2011. This is our favourite site, at the mouth of the Brunswick River, and although it was the tenth time we have held a ginko here, it was our first in winter.

The sky was overcast, and choppy white water rollicked across the treacherous bar. There was a quietness about the beach. The bittou bush, usually buzzing with life, was bee-less. The wattle buds still bulged green. And then the sun came out. The river was spangled once more, and the basalt breakwater sparkled with crystals. An occasional bather braved the chilly water, turning open-armed to the sun, and a single head swam across the bay. Birds in the littoral forest were as noisy as ever, as we read our first drafts in turn around the table. In contrast to the meditative silence of the ginko, this is always a time for involvement and laughter. And then came lunch. Any poet wishing to partake of these delights would be welcomed to join us at the Spring ginko in October.

Contact: quendrythyoung@bigpond.com.

Quendryth Young
Cloudcatchers Coordinator

Report on Cloudcatchers’ Ginko No 21 (autumn)

Thursday, 5 May 2011

Previously Cloudcatchers have gathered at Bangalow Weir in Summer (2007) and Spring (2008 & 2009). But this time it was Autumn. We did not expect to feel a seasonal change, but it was indeed cooler, the light softer, the pace slower.No insects worried us. Turtles were fewer and more languid, and there were no water dragons. But the tessellated trunks of the old pines, patterned by lichen on the shady side, remained as we remembered them.

Bangalow Weir was fabricated in 1924 by the construction of a wall across the Wilson Creek to create a swimming pool.

This not only provided a sporting area for local youth, but also attracted visits from such celebrities as Arne Borg, the Swedish Olympic medalist in the 1920s, and Boy Charlton, our own Australian freestyle Gold Medalist, who beat Borg in the Summer Olympics in Paris 1924.

Twelve haiku poets spent the morning here, generating haiku after haiku that reflected the essence of this place. After an hour in silence, scribbling in each others’ company, we shared our written images around the picnic table. Lunch followed, and then we talked and talked.

Our winter ginko will be on 30 June at Brunswick Heads. Please contact Quendryth Young (quendrythyoung@bigpond.com) nearer the time, for more details.

Quendryth Young

 

Cloudcatcher’s Ginko No. 20 (Summer)

Cloudcatcher’s Ginko No.20 had to be planned over a year ahead. A ginko held among the teeming life of a mangroves swamp demands a very low tide at a convenient location, at exactly the right time of day, on the right day of the week, in summer (because we wanted to wade).

There was only one site and one date that fitted these requirements: the mouth of the Brunswick River, on Thursday 27 January 2011. Of course we also hoped it would be fine, but not too hot. The day arrived, and it was PERFECT: a brilliant azure sky and a river that had peeled off its covers to allow us to enter into its fascinations. Poets strolled (bare-footed, mostly), along the mud flats and sandy riverbed, absorbed in a world of sand creatures, aerial mangrove roots, oyster shells, sea snails, and a variety of marine birds.

Continue reading “Cloudcatcher’s Ginko No. 20 (Summer)”

October 18, 2010 Ginko 19 Round Robin (spring)

Lake Ainsworth, Lennox Head

Thursday, 14 October 2010

Lake Ainsworth, at Lennox Head, is full to overflowing with freshwater, so that the trunks of the melaleucas continue on into the lake. Just over the road is the beach and the ocean. It was here that twelve Cloudcatchers gathered for our spring ginko on Thursday 14 October.

Continue reading “October 18, 2010 Ginko 19 Round Robin (spring)”

July 31, 2010: Cloudcatchers Winter Ginko 18

Most of us have accepted ‘beach’ as a summer kigo. However, participants in the winter ginko of the Cloudcatchers (Far North Coast of NSW) were obliged to re-think that concept, as it was held on Thursday 22 July at Shelly Beach, East Ballina. In spite of the FNC reputation for warm sunny winters, the day was appropriately ‘wintery’, with an overcast sky, a chilly breeze off a grey ocean and even some spots of rain. This did not daunt the twelve poets, who produced as much insightful writing as ever. The tide was low, so the rock pools featured in a number of haiku, along with sleeping gulls, hardy swimmers and the perpetually fascinating ocean.

It was Max Ryan, who put into words the thoughts of many: ‘You can go to the beach and wander along it yourself, and write haiku. But you never get as much out of it as you do when you come to a ginko.’

The next step was lunching together at the Shaw’s Bay Hotel, and now the post-ginko round-robin (three each, by email) is in full swing. Our spring ginko will be held on 14 October, and any poet who wishes to join us is welcome. Contact:quendrythyoung@bigpond.com

Quendryth Young
Cloudcatchers Coordinator

NZPS International Poetry Competition Results

Cloudcatchers has become a thriving group of haiku enthusiasts on the Far North Coast of New South Wales. The aim of each participant is to explore haiku in an individual way. For some this is reading; for most it involves writing haiku. A number of us send our writings to haiku publications and to competitions.

The results of the New Zealand Poetry Society International Poetry Competition (Haiku section) 2010 have just been announced. I am delighted to tell you that first and third prizes were won by Quendryth Young, with John Bird and Helen Davison receiving Commended awards; Helen for two of her haiku. Quendryth also won the ‘Jeanette Stace Memorial Prize’ for Senior Haiku 2010.

I thank Quendy, who has for several years organized our meetings, checked out suitable venues, coordinated post-ginko round robins and kept us all informed of competitions we might enter. I am so happy to see her achievements.

Nathalie Buckland

Cloudcatcher’ Ginko no. 17

Cloudcatchers’ Ginko No.17 Autumn

22 April 2010
Victoria Park, Alstonville

A ginko in a rainforest is always a little bit different, with added emphasis on the aural stimuli. So many bird calls we can’t identify and fascinating tiny creatures that even some of the more experienced naturalists have never seen before. Shy pademelons cross our path from time to time. Add to that the clean fresh intake of breath, and the stillness of mind amidst all the forest noises. We ponder on the knowledge that this is truly pristine habitat.

The venue is a well-preserved remnant of rainforest in the Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a few kilometres out of Alstonville in Northern New South Wales. Occasional showers came and went, but did not interfere with our enthusiasm. Discussion persisted as we lunched together afterwards at the House With No Steps, and continues still as haiku re-worked from the day are workshopped in a Round Robin.

If you are in the area, we would be glad to welcome you to participate in our winter ginko. Contact Quendryth Young:quendrythyoung@bigpond.com

Quendryth Young
Cloudcatchers Coordinator