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Report on the Bindii Meeting 24 February 2024

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We had a Google Meet meeting for the first time. Steve Wigg, Julia Wakefield, Stella Damarjati, Maeve Archibald, Subha Goonaratne, Maureen Sexton and Lynette Arden were joined by three new members: Kirsten Johnson, Jake Dennis and Ewan Rourke. Jake lives in WA as does Maureen, and Subha is based in Sydney, so Google Meet is a very handy way of bringing our group together. We all agreed it works just as well as Zoom.             Everyone brought some haiku for critique, and established members were very impressed with the standard of haiku submitted by our new members. A lively discussion began, focusing on the importance of reducing a haiku to one idea that can be interpreted in different ways according to each individual’s POV, rather than invoking a collection of ideas that pull the reader in too many directions at once. It’s always fascinating to see how many different responses a group of readers can have to one simple haiku.             We are excited that the group has now ex

Report on the Bindii Meeting 28 January 2024

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  Report on the Bindii Meeting 28 January 2024 Five members of the Bindii Group met up at 2pm for a Ginko at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens: Steve Wigg, Julia Wakefield, Stella Damarjati, Maeve Archibald and Lynette Arden. We managed to coordinate a Google Meet with Subha Goonaratne and Maureen Sexton using Julia’s iPad. It was a perfect day for the occasion, even though the temperature was a little too warm for any strenuous walking. The café we arranged to meet at after an hour’s wandering proved too noisy, so we adjourned to a small summerhouse nearby. We were all surprised at how many haiku we all produced in such a short space of time. Many of them were inspired not just by the natural beauty but also by the behaviour of human beings – the park was crowded with people relaxing and enjoying the balmy weather. Subha and Maureen had some haiku that were similar in theme, and we all found that many of our haiku had subject matter in common. We felt the standard of work was impress

Report on the Bindii Meeting of 19 November 2023

Five members of the Bindii Group gathered for a Zoom meeting at 3pm Australian Central Standard Time: Steve Wigg, Julia Wakefield, Stella Damarjati, Maureen Sexton and Lynette Arden. An apology was received from Maeve Archibald. We had set the theme of ‘celebrations’ for our haiku critiques, but that was not the only theme of our submissions. We are considering setting some topics for one or more members to prepare at future meetings. One topic we could begin with is the concept of ‘concrete’ poems. Another one is the idea of rhythm in haiku and tanka, as discussed in this article: https://haikupresence.org/essays/haiku-rhythm-and-the-arches-of-makudo However, our first meeting in 2024 will be a ginko, in the Botanic Gardens in Adelaide. Two dates are suggested: the 14 th or 28 th of January, depending on the weather. We plan to meet at 2pm, take a walk around the gardens and meet up at the café by the pond, to share our haiku. Please let us know which date(s) you can attend.

Report on the Bindii Meeting of 15 October 2023

Report on the Bindii Meeting of 15 October 2023 Four members of the Bindii Group gathered for a Zoom meeting at approximately 2pm Australian Central Standard Time: Steve Wigg, Julia Wakefield, Stella Damarjati and Lynette Arden. Apologies were received from Maureen Sexton and Maeve Archibald. We had arranged to bring some haiku on the theme of ageing or time passing, but all of us had been over busy – how often people seem to say that these days! – so we had very little to show each other.  Stella, Lynette and Julia submitted their haiku that had already been accepted for Echidna Tracks, so there were no improvements offered, but the topics sparked a lively discussion about the images that were evoked. We hope that more of our members will be able to attend the next meeting, which is scheduled for Sunday November 19 at 3pm. The theme for our haiku will be Celebrations. We also discussed the idea of having a member prepare and present a topic at each meeting, starting next year.

Report on the Bindii Meeting of 6 August 2023

Report on the Bindii Meeting of 6 August 2023 Four members of the Bindii Group gathered for a Zoom meeting at 3 pm Australian Central Standard Time: Steve Wigg, Julia Wakefield, Stella Damarjati and Lynette Arden. Apologies were received from Maureen Sexton and Maeve Archibald. Julia reported that she had had discussions with three other AHS groups about possible future collaborations. The three groups are: Bombora – represented by Gayle Sweeper  Illawong Haiku Group - Carol Reynolds, convenor Portarlington Haiku Society - Jenny Macauly, convenor   Stella was happy to report that one of her haiku was published in the latest Echidna Tracks. Maeve Archibald also had a haiku in the same issue. We spent the rest of the meeting critiquing each other’s haiku via the chat window on the theme of ‘Winter Walk’ as well as some haiku on other topics.  We took into account the definition of haiku that was proposed in the article by Robert D Wilson https://simplyhaiku.wordpress.co

Report on the Bindii Meeting of 17 June 2023

  Four members of the Bindii Group gathered for a Zoom meeting at 3 pm Australian Central Standard Time: Steve Wigg, Maureen Sexton, Maeve Archibald and Lynette Arden. Apologies were received from Julia Wakefield, Stella Damarjati, Kaarin Wilkinson and Subha Goonaratne. After exchanging greetings and comments about the wintry weather in Adelaide and Perth, we discussed some ideas about haiku structure. Although the Matsuyama Declaration freed Western haiku from the constraints of season words and kireji (break in the haiku), most Western haiku still use a break in the structure rather than consist of a single sentence. The more radical haiku sometimes only contain a single word. Members felt that the haiku idea needed to resonate with the reader, which was the most essential element of the haiku. Each member then pasted some of their haiku in the chat area, and we talked about each haiku and what it meant to the author and the reader. Some senryu were immediately greeted with l

Bindii Meeting report for April 15 2023

On 15 April at 3 pm, Stella, Lynette, Steve, Subha, Maeve and I met for our usual Zoom meeting. We received apologies from Maureen and Kaarin. We workshopped a few of our own haiku both for the AHS meeting on 17 April and on the topic of childhood. Lyn drew our attention to the ‘movie technique’ in haiku, which moves the reader from a long shot in the first line to a close-up in the third line. Some of us were able to attend the AHS meeting, and there was a discussion at the end on the idea of different groups meeting up on Zoom. We said we were open as a group to having visitors from other groups at our meetings. The next Zoom meeting will be on Saturday, June 17 at 3pm.  We will bring some haiku of our own for workshopping, perhaps with some experiments in movie technique. Lyn will give us a short presentation about the grammatical structure of haiku and how you can understand what you have written and also look at ways to improve the strength of the haiku.   Julia Wakefi