HAIKU – Riverbeats Live ’09
On a river platoon, soprano Felicity Amos read haiku from Western Sydney and around the world to families lining the river banks on a balmy evening. The haiku were also projected onto enormous balloons floating on Parramatta River.
Musical Director’s Prize: “Haiku that best captures Spirit of Riverbeats”
Judged by Dale Barlow
the river at night
black water mirrors the sky
I float in the stars
Gayle Barbagallo
NEW Writers Group Inc prizes
We loved this project – and there’s no pdf – so here are the winning sets of three:
NWG Inc Editors’ Awards “Best three haiku by one writer”
Judged by Glenn Anderson and Sue Crawford
Nathalie Buckland – Joint First
rusted handrail
on the jetty’s edge –
rain-speckled river
sluggish river
the swimmer leaves
a line of splashes
sigh of wind
In the river gums
a crow calls
Quendryth Young – Joint First
riverside gym
all the treadmills
facing the water
gathering clouds
galahs tumble through
dusty river gums
a spider
in the rain gauge
clear sky
John Bird – Joint Second
dry dam
cold moonlight fills
old hoof prints
twilight surf –
something quick and silver
shares the wave
summer flood
a stranded cow bellows
into the twilight
Margaret Louise Grace – Joint Second
footprints
in the empty waterhole
wander the mud
river birds song
the stillness between
each note
eels trail
silver ribbons on a near
empty dam
Also captured the judges’ attention
Roberta Beary
third date –
the slow drift of the rowboat
in deep water
quiet rain…
the deeper quiet
of uncut roses
reading huck finn
i imagine a raft
of runaway wives
Lorin Ford
river sunrise
a girl’s shadow
swims from my ankles
kite weather
the riverbank willows
fly plastic bags
sunday speedboats
a water beetle circles
back to shore
Mark Miller
spring shower
magpies taste
and sing the rain
sun shower
returning rowers
cross the rainbow
Brian Bell
hot shots pondering
six degrees of climate change –
“Tea or coffee, mate?”
Ice is smooth on top.
Nobody can feel the heat
below the surface.
At the tidal ebb,
feathers drenched with blackened oil
ripple on the shore.
Liz Rule
cat’s paw reaches
through ripples of the full moon –
goldfish dinner
long silken tongue
probes for salty nectar –
on my hand a moth
tail of a comet
glowing in the setting sun
a jet’s vapour trail