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

Jacaranda Lennox Bridge