Although we usually meet only quarterly, current circumstances encouraged us to also have a brief email catch-up in April, sharing current news and at least one haiku each. Members were very responsive and we all enjoyed it so much we have a similar email meeting planned for May. We are looking forward to resuming our ginko and workshop meeting at Gosford/Edogawa Garden when that again becomes possible but meantime we all value being in touch.
Beverley George
Convenor
Far fewer of us than usual were able to attend this autumn meeting but those present understood the wise and valid reasons of our absentees and wished them well.
After our catch-up coffee, we set off, walking in light rain. As always special sights delighted us: fragments of tiny blossoms scattered through white pebbles; dense foliage across the wisteria archway; the rattle of wind in the bamboo patch.
We retired to the meeting room and our round table to workshop poems written in response to the previously circulated worksheet or newly written on our ginko.
The twenty-first Bowerbird Tanka group meeting was celebrated on 30th November 2019, in the Crommelin Arboretum at Pearl Beach. Again it was heart-warming to note how far poets will travel to explore and share the poetic genre of tanka.
In addition to a presentation by Michael Thorley on shasei, and a ginko relevant to this, appraisals by three poets of a tanka they particularly enjoy, written by someone they have not met were shared and helped us to explore the more distant national scene as well as the international one.
Continue reading “Twenty-first Bowerbird Tanka Group Meeting”
On Saturday the 14th of December the White Pebbles Haiku Group met at the Gosford/Edogawa Commemorative Gardens for a summer ginko and lunch.
Seven White Pebbles’ members attended. Beverley George convened the meeting and welcomed Maire Glacken, Colleen Keating, Verna Rieschild, Gwen Bitti, Samantha Sirimanne Hyde and Kent Robinson. Continue reading “White Pebbles Summer Ginko 2019”
And a new opportunity for English-speaking tanka poets
As most tanka writers would be aware “Hyakunin Isshu is an anthology of one hundred Japanese waka poems composed between the 7th and 13th centuries. The anthology was later adapted into a card game deck and played a significant role in familiarising Japanese people, both young and old, with classic literature.” It still does.
Although the anthology has been translated into English in book form by various people, until very recently the card game deck had not. In September 2019, the Japan Foundation (JPF), in Sydney promoted the game’s first English translation and offered the opportunity to play it in their premises at Level 4, Central Park, 28 Broadway, Sydney.
Please read about this game and invitation here.
For our Spring Meeting at the Gosford/Edogawa Commemorative Gardens and Regional Gallery at East Gosford we were greeted by sunny skies and an occasional cool wind. The gardens were adorned with colourful azaleas and delicate fronds of mauve wisteria contrasting with the manicured green bushes that form an integral part of this tranquil area.
A reminder to Australian haiku poets that submissions to Windfall: Australian Haiku Issue 8 will be open throughout July 2019. Please send up to six haiku relevant to the experience of urban and rural life in Australia. Observations that celebrate landform, seasons, and our unique flora and fauna, are welcome.
Continue reading “Windfall: Australian Haiku Submissions”
June 15th, 2019
Unexpectedly, it was under bright blue skies that six of us gathered for our winter meeting.
Present were Colleen Keating, Marilyn Humbert, Maire Glacken, Samantha Sirimanne Hyde, Verna Rieschild and Beverley George. Apologies and kind thoughts were received from Kent Robinson, Gail Hennessy and Wendy Stringer, each of whom was unavoidably unable to attend on this occasion.
As usual we gathered informally at the café for coffee and brief chat, before we set off in silence at 10:30 for our ginko. Once again the Gosford /Edogawa Commemorative Gardens and Regional Gallery proved an apt and inspiring venue for exploring the Japanese genre of haiku written in English. Each member carries with them a worksheet with some pre-prepared material and prompts for writing new haiku in this lovely garden with its waterfall and ponds, tea hut and bridges and the pebble garden with large boulders to remind us of Ryōan-ji. Close observation and original ideas are sparked, with sound and scent playing their roles too.
Continue reading “White Pebbles Haiku Group Winter Meeting”
