Haiku in Bunbury
“Haiku” is a traditional form of Japanese poetry written in 17 syllables divided into 3 lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables. The first and last lines of a Haiku have 5 syllables and the middle line has 7 syllables. The lines rarely rhyme but they contain highly evocative allusions and comparisons, often on the subject of nature or one of the seasons.
On Thursday 3 August Lesley Jackes from South West Women’s Health and Information Centre (SWHIC) facilitated the Haiku workshop sponsored by Bunbury Setagaya Sister Cities.
Being a wintry day provided the perfect conditions for being indoors indulging in writing and reciting poetry. About thirty participants joined in the fun and Ms Jackes said it was great to see so many children attending and joining in.
Example of Haiku
Haiku in our veins
Words of nature touch our hearts
Ancient beat of strings
By Lesley Jackes
The workshop started with some relaxing meditating techniques, using the five senses while examining items from nature such as leaves, stones and feathers. Once in the zone, Ms Jackes took people through the process of composing a haiku. As with any writing you get your idea down first then you can play around with the structure and format.
Some things to remember when composing and writing Haiku
- A descriptive detailed image
- Writing from real experience or memory
- A word referring to the season or the weather
- A feeling to convey meaning
- Open your heart to nature
- An aha or surprise moment in the third line
Shorelines
Competition entry forms were available for people to enter the Shorelines Festival.
Shorelines is an annual competition and festival providing a unique opportunity for writers to present their work to a live audience in October. Entries must be in by 18th August (late entries will not be accepted).
Eligible pieces for Shorelines entries:
Prose pieces – maximum 500 words
Monologue – maximum 5 minutes
Stand up comedy – maximum 5 minutes
One act plays – maximum 15 minutes in length; staging notes to accompany script
Poetry – maximum 5 minutes
Speeches – maximum – 5 minutes
Song lyrics and hip hop
For more information about Shorelines contact Janice Mason
Another Haiku example:
Webs woven wisely
Web waxes and wanes
Wild weather today
By Lesley Jackes
(inspired by a spider web sparkling in golden light and covered in rain droplets)
Note also the valuable use of Alliteration
Ingrid Rickersey 
I really enjoyed the workshop, not that I have done any since! But it’s great to have a go and mix with people.
Hi Ingrid. I had hoped to get to this workshop, but was unable to attend. Thank you for the fabulous blog post about it. Hopefully there will be another opportunity to go to a Haiku workshop sometime.
What an interesting workshop. So great that it involved all the senses and wasn’t just about writing poetry. What fun 🙂
Yes good fun Jo 🙂