Congratulations - Dawn Colsey
Dawn Colsey, a South Australian writer, has won the Kaji Aso Studio "Remembrance" Poetry Contest 2007 Haibun Award, Boston USA. Dawn is a regular reader at Friendly Street Poets, a member of the Kensington & Norwood Writers Group, and belongs to Women Writing at Sophia, a feminist ecumenical women's centre. She was first introduced to haibun at a workshop run at the South Australian Writers Centre in September 2006 by SA Regional Representative Martina Taeker. Congratulations Dawn
by Martina Taeker
A different path from Basho’s Narrow Road
Longing for peace and calm after such a busy month, I must escape from telephone, email, meetings. Goolwa draws me: quiet country town, extensive ocean beach. At night distant lights will twinkle along the coast. Monday morning dawns, a bright day of holiday sunshine. I pack the car…
journeying…
I drive through jacaranda air
seeking stillness
The hilltop house is empty, cold, pristine though beautiful. A burst of yellow gazanias welcomes me. In the rear garden - natives in flower - Geraldton wax offers purple, and eremophila a paler mauve. In a vase these flowers give life to the solid wood of the family table. With dusk I begin to relax into the serenity of a sunset-painted sky. Darkness gathers. At night the storm breaks…
battering winds…
the house turbulent
my thoughts whirl
Can a dwelling less than five years old, even in a raging gale, be so clamorous? The gentleness of sleep is inhabited by clattering, banging, flapping. Footsteps on the stairs? The ghost of architect, builder, painter? For two nights, two days, wind and rain lash. At last the wildness ceases. Sun warms. Birds sing…
alone…
high above the wide bay
my loneliness becomes solitude
Dawn Colsey 8/3/07