Australian poets have featured prominently in the Haiku Presence Award 2010. First prize went to John Barlow of the UK, with Australian poet, Quendryth Young, awarded a second prize and a haiku by Lorin Ford from Melbourne receiving a commendation.

John Barlow’s winning poem was:

a stoat arcs into undergrowth thin winter moon

Quendryth Young’s second placed poem was:

evening star
a patterning
of bats

Lorin Ford was commended for her poem:

slow day
the ant keeps returning
to stanza one

Posted by Greg Piko at 09:54 PM | Permalink

The Red Dragonflies met at Pearl Beach on Sunday 12th December for a ginko in the Crommelin Native Arboretum (which will hopefully produce a pamphlet in the new year) followed by lunch at the bayside cafe.

During the course of the afternoon, members workshopped their pre-written haiku and senryu and, as always, found much upon which to ponder and much about which to laugh.

Understandably, the sound of cicadas rang out loudest amongst the Christmas haiku, but the gentler ‘clink’ of threepences in a china bowl produced nostalgia, too, for mothers’ and grandmothers’ plum puddings…

Christmas get-together –
the joy of exchanging
haiku

Lesley Walter

Posted by Greg Piko at 08:26 PM | Permalink

Dear stylus contributors

As many months have now gone by without any progress in reviving the
stylus website I'm sorry to say that the journal is no longer
functioning. Thank you for supporting us with your haiku and related
work. It has been a great experience to compile this part of the
magazine. I am now doing some editing for "paperwasp" so look forward to seeing
more of your work there.

Regards

Duncan Richardson

Posted by Greg Piko at 08:40 PM | Permalink

The FreeXpresSion haiku competition closes on 28 February 2011. First prize is $100 for the best single haiku. A copy of the entry form can be found below.

2011 Literary Competition
FreeXpresSion –

A. Short Story: Open Theme up to 2,500 words
B. Traditional Rhyming Poetry: Open Theme up to 80 lines
1st prize $250.00 ~ 2nd Prize $150.00 ~ 3rd Prize $100.00 in both A & B categories
C. Free Verse: Open Theme up to 80 lines
D. Article/Essay: Open Theme 1,500 to 2,000 words
1st Prize $200.00 ~ 2nd Prize $100.00 in both C & D categories
E. Haiku: Open Theme. One page of four represents 1 entry
1st prize $100.00 for the best single haiku, HC and Commended Certificates

Closing Date 28 February 2011
 Entries should be submitted in English, using one side of A4 paper, typed double spaced, using generous margins.
 No names or addresses to appear on manuscripts. Such entries will be disqualified. Author’s name and address must be on the signed Entry Form only. The Entry Form may be photocopied. The Title (only) of entry should appear on each page of the manuscript.
 Entries must be the original work of the entrant and must not have won a cash prize in any other competition, nor been published prior to the closing date.
 Entry fee $5.00 per entry ($25 for 6 entries) and cheques etc should be made payable to FreeXpresSion. Multiple entries may be paid with one cheque or money order.
 Copyright remains with the author; however, FreeXpresSion will publish the winning Haiku entry and all placed entries in the magazine and would like the opportunity to publish suitable entries from the other categories in the FreeXpresSion Magazine and in any subsequent anthology, subject to the author’s express permission. Results will be published in the May issue of FreeXpresSion.
 Entries will not be returned and will be destroyed after the announcement of results; so please keep copies for your records.
 The judges’ decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into. Please include a SSAE with your entry if you require the Results and Judges’ comments.
 Submission of an entry in this competition will be deemed to be an acceptance of and agreement to these conditions. Entries failing to meet these conditions will not be judged and entry fees will not be returned.
 Overseas entrants can use PayPal to lodge entry fee using email address [email protected]

2011 Entry Form
Please fill in the areas below and mail this Entry Form together with your manuscript(s) and cheque/money order to:
FreeXpresSion, PO Box 4, West Hoxton, NSW 2171

Name(Please Print) ……………………………………………………………... … Signature…………………………………………………….

Address………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………State………………..P/Code………..

No. of Entries…………………. Enclosed please find my cheque/money order for the sum of $…………………………
or I have arranged payment direct using Paypal tick box.

Please indicate the category in the first column with the title of the entry in the second column.

Category Title

1………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
3………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
4………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
5………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
6………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Entry Fee $5 per entry or $25 for six entries This entry form can be photocopied Thank you for your support

Posted by Greg Piko at 02:51 PM | Permalink

by Gary De Piazzi

Last Saturday I was joined by Rose Van Son, Meryl Manoy and Liz Nicholls for a Mari Warabiny Haiku Group ginko in Supreme Court Gardens. Perth is blessed to have had city planners with the foresight to include botanical gardens as part of the cityscape. Supreme Court Gardens, despite humble beginnings as a paddock, holds many secrets that reveal themselves to those with eyes to see and minds to capture:

dead birds
strelitzia blooms decay
white dove

silent sundial marks time
bells peal

sea breeze
stirs limp flags
gulls fly

palm grove
city skyline
backdrop

foliage stirs
refreshing breeze
tempers heat

Meryl Manoy
_______________________

garlic flowers
between striped leaves
lush weeds

coloured flags
bike race
the wind picks up

city explorer
her turn to ring the bells

Rose van Son (c) 2010
________________________

above the trees
bank buildings rise
tallest

cars flash
past gaps in the trees
bells toll

red post pointing north
sundial under cloudy sky
people walk aimless

seagulls
squatting on the grass
boats on the river

gcdepiazzi
________________________

garlic plants
in neat rows
stir- fry for dinner

vibrant red
blossoms on thorned stems
witches hats

under cloudy skies
a broken sundial

on long stems
white flowers wilt -
first summer heat

Liz Nicholls

Posted by Jo McInerney at 11:14 AM | Permalink

Present: Pam Brow, Marilyn Linn, Maeve Archibald, Alex Ask, Robin Sinclair, Veronica Shanks, Athena Zaknic, Lynette Arden, Margaret Rawlinson, Margaret Fensom.

Apologies: Sally Hunter, Lesley Charlesworth.

General Business:
Alex Ask has agreed to be our Treasurer and Alex and Maeve Archibald will also hold a bulk list of members’ email addresses to aid effective communication in the group. Margaret Fensom has also been sent a list of the email addresses. Thank you to these people.

Donation to Box Factory facilities: $40 was collected from members present as a voluntary contribution and Maeve Archibald will buy something needed by the Box Factory Community.

Box Factory Market and Readings Sat 12 December 2010: Members of Bindii will be involved in the performance of poetry from 12.30 to 1 pm.

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS:
January: no meeting.
February: Lynette Arden will present a tanka workshop.
5 March Meeting, 19 March and 2 April meeting: Maeve Archibald has prepared a workshop on writing haibun. Members will need to register to attend. Owing to space and other constraints, 12 will be the maximum number of participants.

MEETING OF 4 DECEMBER:
A Renku, Last Summer’s Bushfire written by Lynette Arden, Marilyn Linn and Alex Ask has been accepted for publication in a new international Renku Journal. The authors read the Renku to the group.

We then held a 20 minute ginko to compose haiku. The weather, at a forecast of 36 degrees, was ideal for our subject of summer haiku.

For the remainder of the meeting we selected and arranged haiku from the ginko and other haiku brought by members to compose a sequence on a summer theme. Maeve Archibald will send the resulting sequence to those participating for any further comments.
The meeting concluded with those members able to stay joining in the lunch provided by the Box Factory Community.

Lynette Arden 4 December 2010

Posted by Greg Piko at 04:43 PM | Permalink

The December issue of ‘Notes From the Gean’ is now online.

http://www.geantree.com/indexcover.html

Submissions to the March 2011 issue will be accepted up until December 30th.

Please check the submissions page for details.

Lorin Ford
haiku editor
Notes From the Gean

Posted by Greg Piko at 01:12 PM | Permalink