estuary —
spring tide returns
the moon to me
— John Bird
Members’ News, April 2021
John Bird Dreaming Award for Haiku
The results for the inaugural John Bird Dreaming Award for Haiku have now been posted. Congratulations to the awarded poets; Louise Hopewell, Matthew Paul and Jennifer Sutherland for First, Second and Third Places respectively. Congratulations also to those gaining Honourable Mentions. Our gratitude is extended to all who participated in this most successful event; your contributions are deeply appreciated. Our sincere thanks to our judges; Vanessa Proctor and Michael Dylan Welch for their enthusiastic commitment to the event and for their expert and insightful comments. Our sincere thanks (once again) to Ron C. Moss for creating the certificates and the magnificent paintings accompanying First, Second and Third places. You can revisit the selected haiku and judge’s comments here.
Paperbark Autumn Ginko
28th April 2021
Paperbark haiku group held their Autumn Ginko at Adachi Park in Belmont, Perth on a warm but smoky morning. Unfortunately there were prescribed burns in the Perth hinterland which led to poor visibility and an obvious health risk to people with breathing problems. As a result there was a disappointing turnout with only three of the group attending.
Despite this it proved to be a very interesting and productive session with the participants reading some of their favourite haiku and then walking around the park making observations for their haiku. Rose van Son, Coral Carter and Barry Sanbrook attempted to use other than the traditional three line haiku to experiment with single, two or four line poems and some of these are included below.
Results of the John Bird Dreaming Award for Haiku
Dear Members,
I am delighted to be able to announce the winners of the inaugural John Bird Dreaming Award for Haiku. The response to the competition, conceived to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Australian Haiku Society, has been overwhelming to say the least. A total of 890 poems were received from an incredible 41 countries – an outstanding result for a new competition. Thank you to all poets for contributing their poems.
Our judges have chosen their top three haiku and honourable mentions whose poems appear below. I would like to thank the judges, Vanessa Proctor and Michael Dylan Welch, for their diligence and enthusiasm for this award. I would also like to express my deep gratitude to Ron Moss for providing the winners with beautiful ink drawings featuring their poems.
Rob Scott,
President, AHS
Echidna Tracks Submission Reminder
A reminder that Echidna Tracks will be accepting submissions for Issue 7 on the theme of Light & Colour throughout the month of April. The editors for this issue invite your previously unpublished haiku and senryu on that theme. Please read the guidelines carefully.
Submissions may be made via the Submissions form throughout April 2021.
We look forward to your offerings, thank you.
Lynette Arden
Simon Hanson
Gavin Austin
Paperbark Haiku Autumn Zoom Meeting
Djeran noongar season
Friday 30th April, 1 pm
(Australian Western Standard Time for Perth, Western Australia)
Please have some haiku to share during the meeting and be prepared to key the haiku into the comments box when requested, so everyone can see as well hear the haiku. They can be haiku you wrote at our Ginko at Adachi Park, or haiku you wrote on your own ginko, in your own time, preferably between 24th and 30th April.
Please either private message Maureen Sexton on Facebook/Messenger or email for the link to the zoom meeting.
Thank you
Maureen Sexton
Paperbark Haiku Autumn Ginko
Wednesday 28 April 2021
10 am to 12 noon (approx)
Adachi Park
132 Great Eastern Highway, Ascot
Western Australia
Currently it’s Djeran Season in Noongar seasons. Djeran is a season of adulthood. April-May. Ant season
We will meet next to the car park. Please bring with you a notebook and pen, some water and something to eat and drink if you wish. It may be a good idea to have a folding chair with you, in case the picnic tables and chairs are taken. We will have a short meeting, then head off on our ginko (haiku walk) before we meet up again to share our haiku and observations.
Australian Haiku Society 