Category: Members

From where I sit rainbow lorikeets are busy feeding on the nectar of orange and gold grevillia flowers, butcher birds are more boisterous than usual and blue-faced honey eaters are most assertively putting my poor cat in his place. All this can only mean one thing; we are approaching the Spring Equinox occurring this year on the 23rd of September in the southern hemisphere. Stay tuned for an announcement of our next Haiku Kukai to celebrate this event.

Continue reading “Members’ News August 2018”

Welcome to our Members’ News for July. Thank you once again to those who sent in items of interest, that is always appreciated.

Congratulations Cloudcatchers on their 50^th!

Meeting for their fiftieth seasonal ginko was indeed an occasion for celebration. They met at Torakina Park by the mouth of the Brunswick River where the first Cloudcatcher gathering took place on 5 December 2005. What a splendid bounty of haiku they have given us over the years – an inspiration to us all.

You can revisit the celebration (Cloudcatcher style) here

Continue reading “Members’ News July 2018”

Welcome to our May news on this first day of June.

Winter Solstice Haiku String

The shortest day is fast approaching. This year the Southern Hemisphere Winter Solstice takes place on Thursday 21st June. The Australian Haiku Society will be holding our annual Winter Solstice String and we would very much like haiku poets from Australian and around the world to participate. More information about the String will be posted on the website nearer the date of the Solstice.

Continue reading “Members’ News May 2018”

Welcome to our April news. It is most heartening to see that followers to our website continue to grow. Thank you all for your enthusiasm and support.

Autumn Haiga Kukai

Thanks to all contributors we have enjoyed another successful Autumn Haiga Kukai. Our gratitude also to Ron Moss for providing these images and for the considerable time and thought he puts into making selections.

The haiga image and accompanying haiku selected in the Seasonal category along with judge’s comments can be found here

First Place

laid to rest
her body sinking
into stone

Quendryth Young

Sometimes our creative gems emerge gradually and with the aid of conscious effort, at other times they seem to come all of a sudden and readymade. Both approaches are legitimate and most usually there are elements of both in the finished piece. Quendryth has kindly consented to sharing something of the back story to this winning haiku.
“I entered the kukai, as I usually do, to support this AHS project, not expecting to hear anything more. This time it was done quite hurriedly, when I realised it was the day before closure. So I am rather stunned as I wrote this haiku in five seconds flat, in immediate response to Ron’s image . . . the words just tumbled out without much thought”. Quendryth Young

A flash of gold in the stream.

You can revisit all entries to the Seasonal category here. Continue reading “Members’ News, April 2018”

In this latest journey around the sun the Autumn equinox has passed for us in The Land Down Under. How deeply ingrained are our notions of up & down and of north & south that we sometimes forget there is no up or down on a sphere spinning in space. North is no more up than is South and the maps and globes that suggest otherwise are somewhat misleading. Such notions have their origins in the northern hemisphere where they have been known to embellish the N on maps and compasses with extra significance. Even today some people will tell you with certainty that a compass points north seeming to forget that a compass needle has two points not one, and following the lines of the Earth’s magnetic field these point north-south or south-north if you prefer. Now where were we, oh yes, the Autumn Kukai. Continue reading “Members’ News, March 2018”

Another summer is slipping away and autumn lies before us, and for our friends north of the equator their winter turns toward spring. This is a simplification though as many people around the world (including here in Australia) name and allocate seasons very differently – and so our understanding of kigo deepens.

Thank you to all those sending items relating to February’s news, please keep them coming in. Continue reading “Members’ News, February 2018”