The fact that there was little business to discuss other than the positive advantages of keeping an Awards and Publication book for Limestone Tanka Poets next meeting onwards (contents to be published in ACT Writers etc. as another means of ‘outing’ tanka in Canberra), June Foster, Kate King, John Van De Graaff, Gerry Jacobson, Michael Thorley and I, did not mind at all. We were about to embark on a Japanese way of responding to tanka in a workshop by Amelia Fielden, who assured of a method that was both gentle and informative.

Most of us managed to pen tanka on ‘roads’ and ‘music’, the subjects chosen by Amelia, and sent to her beforehand. Copies (printed anonymously) were ready on the table for each poet as they arrived to read before the workshop commenced in earnest. Each person was allotted two poems on which to start the discussion before opening it out to the group. It was agreed that the fact that more than one poet led the discussion on the tanka they were allotted, and therefore had to think deeper about what they might say, as well as the fact that no-one knew to whom each tanka belonged, presented us with multiple ways of viewing each one and in the process, broadened the group’s knowledge. Did we own up to whom wrote what in the end? Some of us did.

Although Limestone Tanka Poets will experience as many approaches to feedback on tanka as possible in this group and discover which of these serve them, this Japanese approach will be repeated at the next LTPs meeting, 26th June, 2011 so that anyone who missed out, can also enjoy the experience for themself. The subjects to write about for this meeting are ‘winter’ and ‘water’ and need to reach Amelia, several days before the workshop.

Kathy Kituai
Facilitator

Posted by Greg Piko at 04:20 PM | Permalink

Red Moon Press has released A New Resonance 7, the latest in its biennial series featuring emerging voices in English language haiku from around the world.

This volume, edited as usual by Jim Kacian and Dee Evetts, includes haiku by Lorin Ford, Quendryth Young and Greg Piko from Australia, and Andre Surridge from New Zealand.

Also included are a further 14 poets living in Canada, Scotland, Japan and the United States. Each poet is featured with a selection of 15 of their haiku, biographical details and commentary by the editors.

A New Resonance 7 showcases writers who are making a mark in the global haiku community, providing a broader exposure for these poets than might be achieved through the publication of individual haiku in journals or on the net. Copies of A New Resonance 7 (186 pages, perfect softbound) are available from:

Lorin Ford’s email: geanhaiku(at)googlemail(dot)com

Greg Piko’s email: gregpiko(at)hotmail(dot)com

Congratulations to Lorin, Quendy and Greg as inclusion in this prestigious publication is by invitation of the editors based on their own reading and suggestions from previous New Resonance poets.

Dawn Bruce
Vice President
HaikuOz

Posted by Greg Piko at 08:33 PM | Permalink

The paper wasp haiku group based in Brisbane has resumed its meetings; we are meeting on the second Saturday each month at 11.00 a.m. at Katherine’s place (see address below).
All haiku, tanka and haibun poets and beginners are welcome.

Katherine Samuelowicz
14 Fig Tree Pocket Road (the Moggill Road end)
Chapel Hill Q 4069
[email protected]
on street parking

Posted by Greg Piko at 07:40 PM | Permalink

A new book by Katherine Samuelowicz, with 73 pages of tanka, haibun, haiku and photographs, published by PostPressed, is now available from the author at:

[email protected]

or from the publisher, John Knight, at:

[email protected].

Price $18.00 including postage within Australia.

Posted by Greg Piko at 07:38 PM | Permalink

On 7th May, 2011, Bindii met at the Box Factory on Regent Street South, Adelaide, from 10.30am to 1pm. Seven people attended, some were new members. The group was facilitated by Alexander Ask in the absence of Lyn Arden, who was away.

During the first half of the meeting, we reviewed some important principles of Haiku and then wrote several Haiku pieces. We wrote Autumn moon verses in preparation for next month's Renku session. We then provided feedback to each other's Haiku. The second part of the meeting involved a stroll outside in the gardens where we wrote more Haiku.

Overall, we had an enjoyable meeting and everybody is looking forward to the next meeting on 4th June, 2011.

Alexander Ask

Posted by Greg Piko at 07:06 PM | Permalink

Snapshot Press announces two international annual awards for unpublished collections of haiku, tanka, short poetry and haibun. Award winners will have their collections published by Snapshot Press.

The Snapshot Press Book Awards

The Snapshot Press Book Awards are international annual prizes for unpublished book-length collections of haiku, tanka, short poetry and haibun.

The Award winners will have their collections published in paperback or hardback by Snapshot Press. There may be up to four Award winners each year.

Submissions are open from July 1–November 30.

The Snapshot Press eChapbook Awards

The Snapshot Press eChapbook Awards are international annual prizes for unpublished short collections of haiku, tanka, short poetry and haibun.

The Award winners will have their collections published online by Snapshot Press. There may be up to eight Award winners each year. Each entrant will receive a copy of a print anthology featuring a selection of the best individual poems and haibun entered into the contest.

The deadline for submissions is July 31.

Full details are available on the website www.snapshotpress.co.uk

Posted by Greg Piko at 06:59 PM | Permalink

Janice M Bostok, HaikuOz co-founder and patron, is currently in hospital on the Gold Coast, where she’s being treated for complications associated with diabetes.

Although Jan is in considerable pain, she’s still cracking the occasional joke, and would love to hear from members of HaikuOz – an extended community she thinks of as her ‘haiku family’.

If you’d like to email messages of support, please send them to [email protected]. Alternatively, you can write directly to Jan via snail mail care of:

Ward 3B
Gold Coast Hospital
108 Nerang Street
Southport Qld 4215

Thank you.

Sharon Dean

Posted by Greg Piko at 05:18 PM | Permalink

This year’s Kikakuza Haibun Contest attracted 85 entries from 15 countries. The standard was high. You can read the four prize-winning entries - two American, one each from Bhutan and South Africa at the Icebox web site:

http://hailhaiku.wordpress.com/kikakuza-11-winning-haibun/

Details of next year’s contest will be announced later. Thank you to all who took the time to submit a piece and hearty congratulations to the winners.

Posted by Greg Piko at 08:14 PM | Permalink

Thursday, 5 May 2011

Previously Cloudcatchers have gathrered at Bangalow Weir in Summer (2007) and Spring (2008 & 2009). But this time it was Autumn. We did not expect to feel a seasonal change, but it was indeed cooler, the light softer, the pace slower. No insects worried us. Turtles were fewer and more languid, and there were no water dragons. But the tessellated trunks of the old pines, patterned by lichen on the shady side, remained as we remembered them.

Bangalow Weir was fabricated in 1924 by the construction of a wall across the Wilson Creek to create a swimming pool. This not only provided a sporting area for local youth, but also attracted visits from such celebrities as Arne Borg, the Swedish Olympic medalist in the 1920s, and Boy Charlton, our own Australian freestyle Gold Medalist, who beat Borg in the Summer Olympics in Paris 1924.

Twelve haiku poets spent the morning here, generating haiku after haiku that reflected the essence of this place. After an hour in silence, scribbling in each others’ company, we shared our written images around the picnic table. Lunch followed, and then we talked and talked.

Our winter ginko will be on 30 June at Brunswick Heads. Please contact Quendryth Young ([email protected]) nearer the time, for more details.

Quendryth Young

Posted by Greg Piko at 07:25 PM | Permalink

Last November when 12 Aussies visited the Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum in Yamagata, Japan, we were warmly greeted. Professor Oba has since told me that he and his staff were unaware, until our visit, of the quality and level of interest in Australia for haiku.

At the time we were there, Professor Oba mentioned the museum's haiku competition, which includes a category for haiku in English, and I promised to tell Australian poets about it when it was announced for 2011.

Applications for the 3rd Contest are now open and should be postmarked no later than Friday, June 11, 2011. Entry is free. Questions and applications should be submitted to:

〒999-3301 The Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum
4223 Nanin Yamadera, Yamagata-shi, Yamagata-ken
Japan

Full details of the Contest are available at: http://yamadera-basho.jp/?p=log&l;=232122

It would be lovely to see strong Australian support for this competition with sparkling, quality haiku from as many of our haiku poets as possible.

Beverley George

Posted by Greg Piko at 09:05 PM | Permalink

A haiku by Lorin Ford will be published each day in May on the Mann Library's Daily Haiku. She is honoured to be the first Australian to feature in this project:

http://haiku.mannlib.cornell.edu/

RSS feed is available.

'About Daily Haiku' says:
"For over ten years, Tom Clausen posted a daily haiku in the elevator of the old Mann building. He continues to post them online from the Mann Library home page. The poets featured are by invitation only and the poems are almost entirely previously published original works of an extended haiku community that includes many of his friends. This site is an effort to share these works with those of you visiting us on our Web site. Haiku and related brief poetic forms are often very accessible, portable in mind and spirit and at best a knowing touch of what is poetically intuitive in our lives. We hope that you enjoy these expressions as much as we do."

Check out the archives for a wonderful resource of previous collections of haiku whilst you're there.

Posted by Greg Piko at 10:49 PM | Permalink