WHC World-wide
Ginko
& Charnwood Arts Ginko and Haiku
Contest
23-24 September 2001
In the last of
the three major events of the WHC/WHF World Haiku Autumn Festival, WHC members
from different parts of the world participated in a World-wide Ginko by sending
their poems to Paul Conneally, the organiser.
Simultaneously,
in Loughborough, north of Leicester, England, members of WHC and their families
enjoyed a country walk in the nearby wood at Beacon Hill. The leaves are just
beginning to turn red and yellow, and mushrooms and wild berries added to the
autumnal splendour.
On the following
day, Susumu Takiguchi and Debra Bender (who was visiting England) were invited
to select haiku poems written by local and international poets for Charnwood
Arts MiniWords 2001 haiku
competition. Kevin Ryan of Charnwood Arts was the organised of the competition,
which attracted a great number of entries.
Paul Conneally
interviewed Susumu Takiguchi and Debra Bender to ask their views on some central
issues of haiku such as haiku spirit and its form and prosody, which would be
broadcast on Charnwood Arts’ online Cuttlefish
Radio. The two-day event proved to be a happy collaboration between a local
arts organisation and WHC and at the same time between different local poets
across the world.
Read
Beacon
Hill Ginko: Haiku
Read
Worldwide Ginko: Haiku
Charnwood
Arts miniWORDS Haiku Competition Results
Haiku from WHC Autumn
Festival Ginko
at Beacon Hill, Loughborough, Charnwood
September 23, 2001
Series by Kevin Ryan
mother and son squabble -
the gentle rustle of wind
between birch leaves
families on the path -
through holes in the canopy
an overcast sky
yellow leaves -
a ring of saplings
around an old oak
on the upward path -
following a route which
water runs down
birch leaf mosaic -
the steady crunch of boots
on loose stones
fanta bottle -
the quiet stillness
of an old pond
on Beacon Hill -
the first signs of rain
in an old pond
fallen leaves cluster -
the earth ripples
in an old pond
skeletal ferns -
the damp smells of a forest
beyond summer
mist in the valley -
friends move slowly up the hill
in the autumn rain
oak leaves on rich earth -
each footfall in the mud
prints a story
voices in the woods -
the sound of old friends
reveals another!
downhill jogger -
a starburst of sequins
on blue flares
the low sweep of branches -
a path through the gap
in a dry stone wall
ripple whistles plastic -
a child's last attempts
to conquer the sky
granite faced -
the kids climb the oldest
rocks in England
slicker slatter -
bright colours of summer flowers
in an autumn sky
a rainbow hovers
against smoky grey clouds -
a father's joy
kids run off to play -
blood curdling screams
from the bushes
the thick bracken turns -
rose bay willow herb
and sweet chestnuts
rare breed sheep -
my son asks - 'after Chernobyl
do they glow in the dark?'
autumn colours -
mouse brown woolly backs
graze the hillside
'great place for haiku'-
from the giant beech shadows
rounds of laughter
a mud wall of broken roots -
the wind quickens through the birches
fallen limbs -
curves that open
to rich wooden wombs
soles of my feet -
the sway of birch leaves
in a dream
autumn evening -
the flight of two crows
on the way to roost
autumn evening -
whilst watching the sky
my left foot in dog shit
grey autumn sky -
a golden beech candelabras
over it's sapling
Series by Frances Ryan
a fall of leaves -
don't pick the fungi off those trees!
empty of people
the forest stirs
autumn drizzle
voices muffle along the path
a bend in the path
strangers peer from afar
panoramic view
children wrestle on Beacon Hill
underneath dark-canopied trees
light glistens
orange mushrooms
can you see the pond skaters?
the wait for children
kites wheel and dive overhead
Series by Susumu
Takiguchi
local competition --
judging so many poems
on deepening autumn
cold drizzle --
green acorns still clustered
on the tree
autumn raindrops
join pond skaters --
the old pond disturbed
mushroom ears
terraced on a silver birch . . .
whiter than the bark
Series by Debra
Woolard Bender
mushroom ears
cling to a broken birch
a few friends lost
yellow leaves fall
one over another over. . .
horse droppings
English countryside --
of all the plants recognized
from childhood, stinging nettles
slender reeds
spike a clump
marsh mallow
old birch
white bark far above
the rough
rocky path
a taste of wild blackberry shared
with a horsefly
middle-aged walkers
going downhill
in September rain
a green fragrance
and Nottingham
appears in the far mist
bombsite plants
black-faced sheep look up
from their grazing
a cedar bird box
nailed
to the fallen birch
Beacon Hill
gray clouds hang above
rainbow colored kites
To Oisin Ryan who had a page of fine haiku
which were lost: a haiku for you --
side-by-side with you
after the ginko, a soft gleam
on Indian brass
