Tokyo tanka poet, Mariko Kitakubo, joined Beverley George, president of the Australian Haiku Society, at the Gosford Regional Gallery and Art Centre on Friday 13th from 4 -5 pm for a celebration of haiku. Nearly forty local residents attended the occasion and were welcomed by the curator of the Regional Gallery, Tim Braham.

Included in the reading was a haiku sequence “White Pebbles” which Beverley wrote in the adjoining Gosford/Edogawa Commemorative Garden. This was interspersed with Mariko reading “Shiroki Jari”, her translation into Japanese of this sequence.

Some bushfire haiku from the Australian Haiku Society web-site were also read, which many found greatly moving. It was also an opportunity to tell members of the local community about the conference coming to the Central Coast in September.