Haiku Bindii

On a beautiful autumn day, seven members of the Bindii Japanese Genre Poetry Group met for a ginko in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Adelaide Botanic Gardens We gathered at the Simpson Kiosk near the Main Lake at 11 am. The morning had a real taste of the coolness of autumn, and members remarked on the number of magpies they had seen while getting to the meeting place. Our ginko leader for the day was Lee Bentley and other members present were:   Lynette Arden, Margaret Fensom, Belinda Broughton, Ervin Janek, Dawn Colsey and Maeve Archibald. After a brief orientation by Lee, we spent the next hour wandering individually to different spots in these magnificent gardens, taking notes, jotting down haiku and tanka and taking photos of any features that seemed of significance. At noon, we gathered for lunch at the Simpson Kiosk, sitting out on the paved area under the shade of spreading trees with ducks and waterhens wandering by our feet an...

Our April meeting will be a  ginko in the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, led by Lee Bentley. Meet at 11 a.m. at the Botanic Gardens Café near the central lake. A ginko is a haiku walk. Further details will be emailed to those interested by Lee Bentley. If you have not been to a meeting of this group before and would like to attend the ginko, please email us at haikubindii@gmail.com

HAIKU DAY ON 5 MARCH as part of the Spoken Word Exhibition   at the State Heritage Onkaparinga Woollen Mill in Lobethal from 4 -19 March, 2017. Commencing Sunday, 5 March from 1.00 – 3.00 pm a Haiku Workshop conducted by Julia Wakefield-Houghton Printmaker, Illustrator and Teacher, followed by Haiku readings by members of Haiku Bindi, Belinda Broughton, Lyn Arden, Jill Gower and Maeve Archibald. A short introduction to the rules and how we can break them will be followed by a series of writing exercises. Hopefully a few original haiku will result! Julia is a member of the only SA poetry group dedicated to writing Japanese style poetry in English. Participation in the Haiku Workshop is by gold coin donation. Bookings arranged by contacting Anne Griffiths on 0431 374 616. During this event we will also have a Haiku wall, which the public will be invited to contribute to. At the end of the session at 2:45 we will have a performance by a Capella group Eclectica. The...

After the haiku workshop by Julia Wakefield on 28 January, our February meeting was a follow up haiku workshop, again led by Julia.   There were five members present: Julia Wakefield, Lee Bentley, Lynette Arden, Susan O’Brien and Lindy Warrell. The meeting commenced with a round of introductions by members. We had two new members attending and it was good to get to know something about their writing aims and experience, as well as some of their other interests. Julia distributed examples of haiku by both modern writers and ancient. We read these carefully and talked about our favourites and what they meant to us. It was interesting to get entirely different interpretations of the same haiku, in some instances. It was also interesting to notice that most of the favourites selected by one member were also appreciated by the others in the group, with the occasional definite disagreement.

Saturday 4 February:  as a follow up to her January haiku workshop, Julia Wakefield will lead a meeting concentrating on the workshop of haiku. The meeting will start at 12.30 at our usual venue of the Box Factory, Adelaide.

The workshop, held at the Box Factory Community Centre in Adelaide, from 1 – 3 pm, was attended by ten people, of whom eight had not attended a Bindii workshop previously. Julia started off by discussing what made a good haiku and distributed examples and some guidelines for attendees to read. There was some discussion about the examples and what each haiku meant to the various participants. Julia then moved to a brief overview of the guidelines for writing haiku. There was some discussion as to what certain guidelines meant, for example the 5/7/5 rule, which has been discarded outside Japan, and the options for writing in three lines or other variants. The various formats were examined to see if a haiku written in one style, such as one line, would be just as effective if transferred to three lines. The use of the phrase/fragment composition technique was discussed in some detail, with examples.

haiku what are they? why we write them An introduction to Haiku Saturday 28 January, from 1 – 3 pm The haiku is an ancient Japanese poetry form, but it is as relevant today as it has always been. Western poets have adopted and adapted the form to suit contemporary tastes, and  the fact that the form continues to evolve in Japan is, paradoxically, entirely in keeping with tradition. Julia Wakefield will give a brief introduction to the combined complexity and simplicity of the haiku form. After a short break, there will be a series of group exercises that focus on composing haiku. Refreshments provided. A Gold Coin donation is requested to cover expenses. Bookings: haikubindii@gmail.com Box Factory 59 Regent St South Adelaide