Watersmeet Meeting 25 September

Report by Jane Williams

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While it’s been a couple of years since the last Watersmeet report, the group is committed as ever, continuing to meet every two months. The core group has remained steady at six to eight active members and grown exponentially in its haiku friendship. 

On Friday September 25th just four of us gathered in Lauderdale at the peaceful and scenic home of our generous and highly skilled facilitator, poet Lyn Reeves. The smaller number proved no less rewarding. Damaging winds of the previous day had calmed to offer up a breezy but warm spring afternoon, perfect for outward and inward contemplation. As usual, Harry, the resident poodle greeted us individually before settling into his sunlit daybed by the living room window where he remained for the duration as if linking us to the rest of the natural world.

We spent a couple of hours sharing recent haiku and haiku experiences, exchanging feedback and offering each other encouragement. The evolving natures of tanka and haibun were briefly commented on and we were reminded that even within haiku’s tiny framework redundant words can still creep in. 

We left, as always, in deep gratitude, our kindred spirits well-nourished until next time.

winter moonlight –

frosty shadows

cross the ground

Ross Coward

pink granite sun sparkles in a puddle

Lorraine Haig

as if they own the place

low flying

black cockatoos

Lyn Reeves

sunlit backyard

the young father

shadowboxing

Jane Williams

Watersmeet Spring Ginko September 2020

We braved the inclement weather for our spring ginko to meet at the Hobart Royal Botanical Gardens.

Following 30 minutes of solitary walks, soaking up the gardens in all their spring glory and jotting down haiku or haiku ideas, we gathered in Succulent (the garden’s restaurant) for brunch.

It was a full house with Irene McGuire, Ross Coward, Ron Moss, Lyn Reeves, Leanne Jaeger, Lorraine Haig, Terry Whitebeach and Jane Williams. As this was the first time all eight members had managed to meet in quite a while, the atmosphere was buzzing joyfully.

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Watersmeet Ginko – 26th June 2020

A winter walk in Hobart is always unpredictable because of the uncertainty of the weather. In the week leading up to our scheduled ginko we experienced days of heavy rain but we had the good fortune of a clear day and the use of an air b&b at Fern Tree, Mount Wellington for our get-together. The easing of restrictions meant that we could gather as a small group so we decided to make a day of it, sharing lunch, haiku, ginko and companionship. Continue reading “Watersmeet Ginko – 26th June 2020”

Watersmeet Zoom 22 May

Like other haiku groups, Watersmeet members had to rely on the internet for our May gathering, and scheduled a Zoom meeting for Friday 22 May.

Lorraine Haig initiated the topic for discussion some weeks beforehand, sending us articles on the topic of yugen, and inviting us to research and contribute further findings on this elusive term. Email exchanges followed, sharing more thoughts on the subject and links to relevant articles. We prepared for our meeting by looking for haiku that we felt expressed the aesthetic of yugen. These could be haiku written by ourselves or by others. Those able to take part in our Zoom discussion were Lorraine Haig, Ron Moss, Ross Coward, Lyn Reeves and (briefly) Jane Williams.

silenceRon mentioned that yugen is something that he aims to express in his brush paintings, an element of many of his haiga, and that the following words describing the symbols for yugen, from an article by David Anderson, ‘Yugen – a spiritual feeling too deep for words’ held particular resonance for him. Continue reading “Watersmeet Zoom 22 May”

Watersmeet Virtual Ginko

Since last year’s “Haiku Windows” event at Fullers Bookshop where Watersmeet members celebrated International Haiku Poetry Day with customers and passers-by, we have continued to meet, interspersing monthly meetings with seasonal ginkos in various places – Cornelian Bay, The Botanical Gardens and Kingston Beach, followed by sharing our haiku over lunch.

photo: Mount Nelson by Ross Coward

The first ginko for this year was planned for 27th March at Mount Nelson. Ross Sampson Coward, our designated leader for the walk, came up with the idea of a virtual ginko. He visited the location, created a mud map and took photographs of the points along the way. He then emailed us:

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Haiku Window- International Haiku Day

Deb
Haiku fans Debra Caswell and Rosa Newton prepare their words to add to the window .

The poets of Watersmeet celebrated International Haiku Day on Wednesday 17th April by creating a window of haiku at Fullers Bookshop in Hobart. Fullers generously made space in the front of the shop, pushing back shelves and placing a table just inside the window where we spread a collection of haiku books for people to browse. The staff provided us with A5 size cards, the border designed by Ron Moss, on which we wrote our own or a favourite haiku. These we taped to the window for passers-by to read. A similar event held in 2006 was “Haiku Grafffiti” where we wrote on the shop windows – because of the time it took to clean the windows back then, it was decided to use cards this time. Continue reading “Haiku Window- International Haiku Day”

International Haiku Day with Watersmeet

Haiku Window

The haiku poets of Watersmeet will be creating a window of haiku at Fullers Bookshop in Collins Street Hobart to celebrate International Haiku Day, on Wednesday 17th April. Come along between 11.00 am and 3.00 pm to view the haiku and, if you feel inspired, add your own creations to the window display. Everyone welcome!

Watersmeet Spring Ginko

Watersmeet Haiku Group held its Spring ginko on 16th November at Princes Park, Battery Point. We were a small group. Irene McGuire, Leanne Jaeger, Ron Moss and Lyn Reeves were joined by Jenny Barnard, an original member of Watersmeet, who had been unable to come to meetings for some time.  It was a delight to have her with us again.

In the park, swallows wheeled in swift circles across the grassy hill that sloped down towards the road, and one or two solitary walkers traversed the paths. A mother and her toddler climbed on the wooden boat-shaped play structure that gives the green space its local name of The Boat Park. The new green leaves of shade trees ruffled in a slight breeze from the waterfront where the CSIRO’s research vessel, Investigator, had docked that morning after a month-long voyage studying currents around Antarctica.

Continue reading “Watersmeet Spring Ginko”