Haiku – 5-7-5? An article by Vanessa Proctor

When many people hear the word ‘haiku’, their immediate response is, ‘That’s a Japanese poem written in seventeen syllables – 5-7-5’. While it’s true that traditional Japanese haiku is written in this form, haiku in English, because of the very nature of the English language, doesn’t conform to the 5-7-5 pattern.

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Words & Water Dragons – a report

This year for the first time Queensland Poetry Festival and Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt Coot-tha invited poets and poetry lovers to an informal reading of haiku and other Japanese verse forms in the the Japanese Garden.

On Saturday 19 August, a lovely spring-like morning, 20 or so people gathered for the readings.

The morning opened with a dedication and reading of the work of Barry Dangerfield, a former curator and significant force behind the gardens as they are today, who passed away late last year.

 

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Haiku Graffiti

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The recent Tasmanian Living Writer’s week saw many activities throughout Tasmania and their popularity was very evident to all.

One of these was Haiku Graffiti an event which was the brain child of Irene Mc Guire of Fullers Bookshop in Hobart. Haiku poet’s Lyn Reeves, Ron Moss, Peter Macrow, and Jenny Barnard were invited to write haiku on the large glass windows outside the store and Irene joined in as well. A pre selected list of words was used and different colour pens which ensured a colourful event. People passing by enjoyed the experience and many were seen reading the haiku. Several other people joined in with a haiku of their own. The local Mercury Newspaper featured a photo and event information, the haiku will stay for about a week and it continues to attract interest.

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