Ginko in the Garden – Sprummer

Crushing the leaves

I smell the scent

of grandmothers

I wrote this haiku on the second of the ginkos for the WEA crew. I am calling the season ‘sprummer’  - half-way between spring and summer. I’m in tune with Dr. Tim Entwisle, of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne. Sydney’s Botanic Gardens was our inspiration, and the late October weather typically Sydney - steamy.

Here’s a haiku from Dexter Dunphy that plays around with the season:

ignoring strewn winter leaves

a bottle brush presses on

with spring

The group wandered about. This haiku by Graham English is sensual and complete. It arrests the reader at the point of the smell – what can arise for us in the blank beyond the poem? 

Walking through the trees

suddenly

the smell of pepper.

The next two haikus refer to elements of the season, they have found their kigo (seasonal reference word). The second one contains such feeling!

Pockmarked paperbark:

Busy arterial for

A roadtrain of ants.

Shelley Booth

the angophora sheds bark,

reveals fresh smooth trunk

ah, young thighs

Dexter Dunphy

Coffee beans along the branches

sweet wake-up

for a bird.

Jennifer Thurstun

This is sufficient and contained. There’s a nice whimsy to the thought of the birds, that ”I wonder?” quality.

Pretending

in this  Australian park

a castle.

Graham

Yes! - nothing more is needed.

The next series of haikus were workshopped by the group. This is like polishing a stone and bringing out its best facets.

Three steps and peck. Two, peck peck.

Long beak digs dirt –

Ibis snack.

Jennifer Thurstun

This has a wonderful rhythm to it, the onomatopoeia conveying the movements of these long-legged birds.

bunya pine stranded

far from corroborees –

heritage trail

Dexter Dunphy

 Says a great deal in a very few words.

Kookaburra cries –

Turn down ya trumpets & trucks

Ya flamin’ galahs!

Shelley Booth

Winding garden path

Orange witches hats

Give warning

Vicki McDonald

I’ll have the last haiku word.

do the birds reply

to the flautist

warming up?

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Now for three senryu – satirical takes on human affairs. There are always great opportunities for people-watching in this precinct.

At Circular Quay

a large, short lady

in a bright red hat.

Graham English

Little red train

the American guide tells tourists

what to see

Dexter Dunphy

thongs and boardies

but their accents foreign –

becoming Aussie guys

DL