Category: Members

Submissions for Catchment 4 due by 21st May

A big thank you goes out to all AHS members who have already offered contributions to the fourth edition of Catchment – Poetry of Place!
 
With submissions set to close on 21st May 2025, other Australian poets are encouraged to send in new work which shows a sense of location. 

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Haiku @ The Oaks

On a sunny Canberra autumn Thursday 13th March, a smaller group of haiku poets than usual met for lunch and discussions under the trees at The Oaks Brasserie, Yarralumla. Around the table were Hazel Hall, Kathy Kituai, Greg Piko and Marietta McGregor. Glenys Ferguson and Jan Dobb were unable to attend and their enthusiastic participation was missed this time. Talk at first turned to poetry in general, with reminiscences about first moments of reading work to an audience, sometimes many years ago in individuals’ writing lives, and the feelings engendered on those occasions.

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Portarlington Haiku Society celebrates International Haiku Poetry Day

Members of the Portarlington Haiku Society celebrated International Haiku Poetry Day by hanging their ‘serviette haiku’ along a wire fence leading into town from the pier, capturing the attention of those arriving from Melbourne on the daily ferry. The group met at a local cafe for lunch before securing their prepared material serviettes with staples along the fence line.
The PHS continue to run their own monthly kukai, the results published in a regular newsletter, ‘Wingspan’.

In Memoriam – Cynthia Rowe

It is my sad duty to inform the Australian and worldwide haiku community of the death of Cynthia Rowe on 6th April at the age of 86. Cynthia succeeded Beverley George to the position of President of the Australian Haiku Society in 2011, and served until Vanessa Proctor took over in 2016. Cynthia was also the editor of the Haiku Xpressions section of FreeXpresSion Magazine for many years. AHS will be publishing a full tribute in recognition of Cynthia’s many contributions to the haiku community. For the time being, with the family’s permission, we would like to let everyone know about the two memorial services that have been organised to honour and celebrate Cynthia’s life.
– In Sydney at St Mark’s Anglican Church, Darling Point on 23rd April 2025 at 12.00pm
– In Melbourne at St John’s Anglican Church, Toorak on 30th April 2025 at 11.00am
There will be a celebration of life held after each service.
Leanne Mumford
President, Australian Haiku Society


WA Poets’ Summer Ginko Paperbark Haiku Gathering

On Wednesday, 19 February, eight poetically minded people met at the WA Museum, Boola Bardip, in Perth. Sitting between the original heritage building and the new glass addition of the museum, we enjoyed a morning of haiku.
Led by Coral Carter and Rose van Son, we began by considering the idea of the ‘pause’ as a moment to stop and observe and then make that observation concrete in words. It was a beautiful, not too hot, morning and after a bit of discussion and some readings, we separately went in search of haiku.
The eight were Rose van Son, Coral Carter, Pat Johnson, Rita Tognini, Madeleine Tingey, Neil Pattinson, Ruari Jack Hughes, and Gary De Piazzi.

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