Haiku Bindii

Julia Wakefield, Maeve Archibald, Steve Wigg, Stella Damarjati, Kirsten Johnston, and Lynette Arden met on Saturday, July 27, at 3pm, using Zoom. Apologies were received from Maureen Sexton, Ewan Rourke and Subha Goonaratne. Maureen and Ewan sent their haiku for critique, but we sent them individual feedback afterwards. We workshopped our haiku and a few tanka that we had produced in response to the Haiku Down Under conference, which we all agreed was a splendid source of inspiration. Our next scheduled meeting is on Saturday, September 28, at 3 p.m. We will use  Zoom. No topic has been set yet.     Julia Wakefield  

  Report on the Bindii Meeting July 27 2024 Julia Wakefield, Maureen Sexton, Maeve Archibald, Ewan Rourke, Subha Goonaratne, Kirsten Johnston and Lynette Arden met on Saturday July 27 at 3pm, using Google Meet. Apologies were received from Steve Wigg and Stella Damarjati. We workshopped our haiku, some of which we were preparing for the ‘sensory journey’ competition that was part of the Haiku Down Under conference which took place over August 16-18. We discussed the perennial topic of what makes a good haiku, paying attention to the specific qualities of a one liner, and the necessity for clarity without being too specific. Our next scheduled meeting is on Saturday August 31, at 3pm . We will be using Zoom. It’s likely we’ll be reviewing the many topics that were raised in the Haiku Down Under conference. Julia Wakefield 

Julia Wakefield, Jake Dennis, Steve Wigg, Stella Damarjati, Maureen Sexton, Subha Goonaratne and Lynette Arden met on Saturday June 29 at 3pm, using Google Meet. Apologies were received from Ewan Rourke and Maeve Archibald.   We workshopped our haiku, some of which addressed the the topic for this meeting, which was ‘creepy crawlies’. We also commented on some of the winning and shortlisted entries for the Touchstone Awards, https://thehaikufoundation.org/2023-touchstone-awards-for-individual-poems-awarded/ https://thehaikufoundation.org/2023-touchstone-awards-for-individual-poems-long-list/ in the context of the techniques that Jane Reichhold listed on her website. Many of the winning poems paid little attention to any of the rules, which was a lesson to us all about the danger of falling into a conventional trap, whereby you strive for orthodoxy rather than authentic poetic expression. On the other hand, it’s also easy to become too obscure or ‘clever’ for a general audience.

  Report on the Bindii Meeting May 5 2024 Julia Wakefield, Jake Dennis, Steve Wigg, Stella Damarjati, and Lynette Arden met on Sunday, May 5, at 7 p.m. using Google Meet. Maureen Sexton, Subha Goonaratne, Ewan Rourke, and Maeve Archibald apologised.   We workshopped some of our haiku and discussed possible topics for future meetings. We have decided to take a closer look at some of the techniques listed in Jane Reichhold’s book, Writing and Enjoying Haiku. The list can also be found on her website here: https://www.ahapoetry.com/haiartjr.htm In the above article, she makes some amusing comments on the reverence expressed towards ‘Zen’ haiku and gives a clear definition of the ‘desk haiku’ that so many of us often find ourselves struggling with. Although Subha could not attend the meeting, she reported that the launch of her new haiku collection went exceedingly well. We all look forward to reading it! Our next scheduled Google Meet is on Saturday, June 29, at 3pm. We will wo

Julia Wakefield, Stella Damarjati, Lynette Arden, Maureen Sexton, Subha Goonaratne and Maeve Archibald met on Monday 15 April at 7pm using Google Meet. Apologies were received from Ewan Rourke, Jake Dennis, Steve Wigg and Kirsten Johnston. We asked people to send in the haiku that they would like to have read at the AHS meeting scheduled for World Haiku Day, April 17.             We workshopped our haiku and between us we selected one from each submission that would be read at the AHS meeting. Three of us were subsequently able to attend the meeting: Lynette Arden, Maeve Archibald and Julia Wakefield. Maeve read the selected haiku, as Maureen was unable to attend.             We also shared our news: Maeve will be reading her poetry at the Club Acoustica at the Olive Branch Café in Balhannah in October. She will send us details.  An extract from Lynette’s poem about St George and the dragon has been published in a booklet produced by St Bart’s Church, Norwood which serves as a gu

Steve Wigg, Julia Wakefield, Stella Damarjati, Lynette Arden, Jake Dennis and Ewan Rourke joined the Google Meet meeting, and apologies were received from Subha Goonaratne, Maureen Sexton and Kirsten Johnston. Most people sent their haiku in advance, which made it easier for us to critique them.             We workshopped our haiku and then arranged to have our next meeting on Sunday April 14 at 3pm, before the AHS meeting that takes place on International Haiku Poetry Day on April 17.             There was general agreement that the ‘nature poem’ can be satisfying on its own without an obvious reference to the human condition, but our use of words to describe a natural scene can often evoke human associations. The less we directly refer to an emotional state, the more room there is for the reader to imagine a parallel human situation. We didn’t discuss the concept of ‘ma’ at the meeting, but the most successful haiku often seem to imply this ‘negative space’ in the same way that