Poetry

White Pebbles Haiku Group – Summer

colleen General, Poetry , , , , , , ,

 

 

Our seasonal walk for Summer was held on the 14th December.  It is our fourth seasonal walk for the year. We call these walks a ginko from the Japanese idea of a reflective seasonal walk and writing of haiku.

On Saturday the 14th of December the White Pebbles Haiku Group met at the Gosford/Edogawa Commemorative Gardens for a summer ginko and lunch.

Seven White Pebbles’ members attended. Beverley George convened the meeting and welcomed Maire Glacken, Colleen Keating, Verna Rieschild, Gwen Bitti, Samantha Sirimanne Hyde and Kent Robinson.

 

L to R: Verna Rieschild, Gwen Bitti, Samantha Sirimanne Hyde, Beverley George, Kent Robinson, Colleen Keating, Maire Glacken

We met in the café at the Gosford Regional Gallery for refreshment, then proceeded into the garden for our ginko. As per usual, the garden was manicured immaculately. We wandered, quietly jotting images and composing haiku. Through gardenia scent, we became aware of the sound of a cascading waterfall, the melody of which was accompanied by cicada song. Ducks and koi carp that animated the garden’s pond, birthed inspiration for several haiku. The laughter of children pervaded the scene.

After our ginko, we retired to the small lunchroom, which had been reserved for us, thanks to the kindness of The Gosford Regional Gallery, for a post ginko meeting at our customary round table.

A week before, Beverley had supplied us with a work sheet. Each of us shared haiku inspired by this work sheet and found that it was a fine catalyst with which to start our meeting. We then moved on to focus on the results of our ginko. There was a wealth of imagery and inspiring haiku offered. As we sat together in our snug, we worked on images and haiku that needed a little polish. All in all, our rewarding time together was one of camaraderie and learning.

We returned to the café for lunch. A fine time was had by all and with the festive season upon us, we ate, drank and were merry! The consensus was that everyone had immensely enjoyed our summer ginko and all looked forward to meeting again in autumn.

Report by Kent Robinson

Bowerbird tanka Workshop at Pearl beach Arboretum

colleen Poetry , , , , , , ,

Report on Bowerbird Tanka Workshop No. 21 –

by

Colleen Keating

 

Congratulations. The Bowerbird Tanka group, which convenes at Pearl Beach, has come of age. This is the 21st Tanka workshop. Thank you to Beverley for her constancy and dedication. I am a fairly newcomer but am amazed at her focus in the midst of so many other activities. 

The tanka date on our calendar is very special. And thanks to the delegates some of whom traveled from as from Tamworth, Canberra, Newcastle and Bathurst to share in the love of tanka.

Of course the drive to Pearl Beach is a journey in itself. One can notice the burdens being left behind as you drive down into its calm repose, cradled between forest and sea. When I arrived, there was already a buzz of friends meeting at Crommelin Cottage in the sanctuary of the Pearl Beach Arboretum. The tankaists so gathered were Beverley George, Michael Thorley, Carole Harrison, Beatrice Yell, Catherine Smith, Julie Thorndyke, Kent Robinson, Anne Benjamin, Dy Andreasen and Colleen Keating. Unable to attend – Marilyn Humbert, Hazel Hall, Kathy Kituai, Gail Hennessy, Samantha Hyde, Carmel Summers, Margaret Grace and Yvonne Hales .

Despite the pall of smoke that covered most of NSW,  the Arboretum continued to have its own ambience with a brush turkey that scratched through the leaf litter for its insects and bugs, mostly nearby the cottage as if it was eavesdropping on us. 

The first session on the programme – Share a favourite tanka written by someone you have never met but which had an influence on how you came to tanka. The presenters were Julie Thorndyke on a most appropriate tanka for the fire haze and acrid air we have been breathing, written by Debbie Strange, Canada.

Carole Harrison appraised a tanka by Sandi Pray [USA]

Kent Robinson appraised a tanka by Claire Everett. [UK]

Taking the time to focus on a tanka and listen to  the insights of one who has pondered on it for some time is a valuable and enriching exercise.

These sharings are available on the Eucalypt website under Bowerbird.

In the second session everyone then had the opportunity to share ‘a tanka which lingers.’ 

For this, each of us stands and shares a tanka without comment. The silence between each, is like the silence between breaths.  A moment of time to let the tanka resonate and become part of you. For me the power is like the collected wisdom of a group doubled, as we read and reflect on what another has reflected on and written.

.  pastedGraphic.png

The next hour we were really spoilt with the presence of Tomoko Oka, a Japanese Calligraphy Artist.  Tomoko-san gave us a very gentle introduction to Calligraphy which was a practical exercise in brushing several kanji. It was an honour for all of us to be in her presence.  We all entered into the spirit of the exercise, which was centering and some of us found ourselves in a meditative state. This is one of the many arts that is done as only the Japanese know how.

pastedGraphic_1.png

To finish off our morning, a local artist and musician Philip Rich played his guitar and sang a song he wrote and composed himself.  It was inspired by an acknowledgement to country he once heard. The refrain was ‘If you’re a friend of mother earth you tread softly on this land’. During our lunch it was time to share with each other and be serenaded by Phillip singing for us some of the work of Nobel winning poet, Bob Dylan and our own Casey Chambers.

pastedGraphic_2.png

A highlight for all of us was the afternoon workshop given by Michael Thorley. 

The title of his workshop was  ‘shasei – Where Tankaists Fear to Tread? Let’s Go There’.  

And go there we did, lead by Michael’s skilful presentation. For some of us, ‘shasei’ was a 

new term, a new concept and a very interesting style of writing Tanka.  It originated withwhose home some of us have had the honour of visiting in Matsuyama City on Shikoku Island, Japan.

It is a style of writing tanka where you emphasis ‘a sketch from life’ – writing of what one observes however mundane, so that the reader also experiences the scene and understands what has moved them. We had the sanctuary of the Arboretum to walk around and find our moment to try out writing our idea of shasei. We gathered again and shared our thoughts and words. 

The day ended with several reports from other tanka groups and our plan to regather in the Autumn of 2020.

Colleen Keating

The Glad Tomorrow Oodgeroo’s poetry put to music and sang by Katie Noonan

colleen General, Poetry , , , ,

THE GLAD TOMORROW

For the first time ever, powerhouse will be joined by the acclaimed Australian String Quartet for a national tour of their new project ‘The Glad Tomorrow’.

 

To our fathers’ fathers
The pain, the sorrow:
To our children’s children
The glad tomorrow.

The new album sees Katie set the uniquely Australian poetry of Queenslander and First Nations icon Oodgeroo Noonuccal to music, commissioning ten stellar Australian contemporary composers to create a song cycle based on Oodgeroo’s poetry, bringing together 4 distinct worlds – Contemporary Australian and Queensland Composers, the searing poetry of Queenslander, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, the Australian String Quartet and Katie Noonan’s unique voice and innate musicality. For me the most spine-tingling part was hearing the language of Oodgeroo’s homeland spoken by her  great-granddaughter, Kaleenah Edwards who read each poem in the Stradbroke language of her homeland Minjerriba.

This unique combination of creative powerhouses will deliver a spectacular and spine-tingling live performance.

 

Jandamarra – Sing for the Country by Colleen Keating

colleen General, Poetry , , , , ,
Jandamarra – Sing for the Country by Colleen Keating

 

It amazes me how a word or a story that comes to your attention, and that was not consciously known by you previously, comes to meet you often after that. This happened a few years back with the word segue. Maybe, well it was in my reading but I had never recognised it. Maybe it was spoken but I had never heard anyone speak it, until, there was an instant where it came to my attention and then it was frequently heard and seen.

Jandamarra is another such word . . .Jandamarra was like an unknown planet,  never heard, never spoken, and then it came into my orbit and I realised it is one of the rich historical sounds of Australia.

This happened on our trip to north western Australia.

We took a tour from Broom in Western Australia along the iconic Gibb Road past the now notorious Derby Prison Boab Tree into the Bunuba.

We explored the oasis of Windjana Gorge with its 350 year old mountain range , once a Devonian reef with its sheer 90 metre cliffs and its salt-water crocodiles and bird life and bush tucker and into the intricate system of Tunnel Creek, a most mossy sanctuary of this cool tranquil gorge.  Here we heard the story of Jandamarra from our local guide. 

The poet in me touched into the story’s sensibility  and then I found many  already knew this story and there was there was a movie, a book , songs and many writings.

It took this  awakening to have the word in my orbit.

I believe Jandamarra’s story is one every year 3/4 Australian child should know. And that is coming so more and more.

When I was at the Conservatorium for anther event I saw the add for Jandamarra the musical. Booking was lucky with some friends for it seemed a full house.

The world Premier of Jandamarra  – Sing for the Country (Ngalanybarra Muwayi.u)

was a breath-taking evening.

“ The story of a young man trapped between black and white worlds. 

Jandamarra’s story is told with traditional song woven

 into the texture of symphonic and choral forces.”

It was a packed house with a standing ovation at the conclusion  for the Bunuba people, the women’s choir,  the young choirs,  Orchestra and  Bunuba actors .

 

https://colleenkeatingpoet.com/jandamarra-sing-…colleen-keaating/

Suite for Jandamarra 

Tunnel Creek

Windjana Gorge fresh pristine
permanent water percolated
from ancient rains that deluged the land

slippery marbleised boulders
bluff the uninitiated
sustain mystery
deter and challenge efforts to go further
into the secret of Tunnel Creek

without hand or foot grip
trust plumbs the abyss
tumbles into coolness

a sombre space
deeply carved from Devonian times
salted with yellow light
its rays tinkling like tiny bells
decor of stalactites and stalagmites
pendants of bats and glint of eyes
timid fresh water crocs

in this sandy echoing amphitheatre
with long bare arm i scoop up spring water
and hear of Jandamarra

his spirit is here<
this was his last place to stand

Flash back

Tunnel Creek
the Kimberley outback
land of the Bunuba people
the time is late nineteenth century
the last stage of white invasion
being played out
herds of cattle trample the grasses
water holes gone

spirit is broken
faded sepia shots capture for history
naked black men neck and ankle chained
on a track to Derby lock-up
there to be packed
in a thousand year old hollow Boab tree<

powerless 

yet one warrior
Jandamarra takes a last stand
turns against his white masters
fights heroically
to save his people
and his country

a mythical figure he appeared fought
disappeared unable to be tracked
for years he held out
the one burning flame

betrayal and a bullet
a fight that died to a flicker
it was in his Tunnel Creek cave<
Jini his mother held him as life petered out<span
a Pietà on the rock of Golgotha

Bunuba Country

a city poet can not glean
the essence of the Bunuba people
their story is easily lost
in white history and chronological time
the plunge into Tunnel Creek<
further connects to mystery
it is about feeling<
rather then hearing stories told

and still today
documented as criminals
who died because they defied<
legitimate laws and white society<
redacts another history

by Colleen Keating

Our visit to the beautifully renovated Sydney Town Hall for the performance .

Story behind the poem The Gully, published in Mountain Secrets

colleen Poetry , , , , ,
Story behind the poem The Gully, published in Mountain Secrets

 

 

The Gully  

the creek chatters with small rocks
as it slithers along    decanted
from a swamp    succulent
as ten thousand soaking sponges
fringed with ferns   lichens   mosses
sedges   with silver dew

the rustle of a lyre bird
singing the land back to healing
mimics a birdsong-world
and conceals a secret
a mountain secret  

there was a time in The Gully
when the lyrebird was silent
and the wind mimicked a deep howl
and the earth grieved and raged
for its evicted people
its ravaged concreted land 

today the lyre bird’s song rolls back
a many layered history
the Gundungurra and Darug people
lead us out of a amnesic fog
with a remember story –
               a redemptive pathway into now

by Colleen Keating

*The Gully, An Aboriginal Place in Katoomba. In the 50’s made into the Catalina Race track.

 

 

My poem The Gully is written on the history of an area in Katoomba which was a meeting ground for three Aborigine tribes before colonisation and after Warragamba Dam was build when their movement  was blocked many settled there on what was then the outskirts of the Katoomba town .  A Fun park was developed, a lake even a Catalina Plane was floated on the lake there and people were moved off from their homes  for a Race track which was built disturbing the head water of the Katoomba Fall that feeds the Jamison Valley . 

Now fortunately it has been returned to the and is very sacred to walk around and see and read  the history including remains of the track and where signs like Capstan Bend once hang.

The story is documented in a book called 

Sacred  Waters

 The story of the Blue Mountains Gully Aboriginal People 

        by 

Dianne Johnson 

 

‘Mountain Secrets’ A new Anthology published by Ginninderra Press

colleen General, Poetry , , , , ,

I am very honoured to be included in the new Anthology called ‘Mountain Secrets’  published  by Ginninderra Press  and I proudly read my poem ‘ The Gully’  at the launch.

Last weekend the Ginninderra Press family gathered at Blackheath amidst the pandemonium of the Rhododendron Festival  to launch their new book ‘ Mountain Secrets ‘  Thank you to the editor Joan Fenney for a a polished production.  It was a full and very rewarding day  and a great opportunity to put faces to names of poets that we only know through their writing, especially the many from interstate, South Australia, Canberra and Victoria.

After lunch we had a panel discussion on the Sense of Place in our writing and I had been asked to be on the panel. It was an honour being on the panel with two distinguished writers, my friend  Libby Sommer and poet John Watson.  I will post my reflection on my blog later today.

We then enjoyed afternoon tea and a birthday cake to celebrate Brenda Eldridge’s 70th birthday.

Next we had the pleasure of the launch of “Stories from Bondi Beach’ by Libby Sommer  launched expertly by Susanne Gervay. Congratulations to Libby. 

Thank you to Stephen Matthews and Brenda Eldridge/ Matthews, for bringing us together under the Ginninderra Press.

Hildegard gets a Mention in the Good Oil

colleen Hildegard of Bingen, Poetry , , ,

The Good Oil

September 2019

Home    September 2019             Hildegard of Bingen: A Poetic Journey

Hildegard of Bingen: A Poetic Journey

pastedGraphic.png

Photo by Tobias Tullius on Unsplash

Hildegard puts us in touch with ecology and a sense of wonder. Her visionary theology is both grand and utterly intimate, writes Colleen Keating. 

Colleen Keating has recently published a new book of poetry, Hildegard of Bingen: A Poetic Journey, which tells Hildegard’s story in 100 poems.

“Committing to ecological conversion” stands as one of the four areas of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan Statement of Directions. This collection of poetry explores Hildegard’s notion of viriditas – the greening – and the call to discover the interconnectedness of all life.

Below is an extract from her book.

 

It is around 1153.

Hildegard sits in the scriptorium with her scribe the monk Volmar and Sister Clara.

 Fiery Light of Writing

A Cosmic web of Creation

wings into Hildegard’s mind

her hand covers her heart

to cradle its ache for expression.

She breathes into the light.

All one,

sing the leaves of the trees outside

a choir of hosannas tremble along branches

their tracery gilded, fiery-gold against the sky.

All one

whirs each drop of water in the Nahr

as it gurgles along

to become one with the Rhine.

Eyes to the heavens,

Hildegard looks into the heart of light,

dictates to Volmar and Clara.

At times she steeples her fingers in thought

voice hardly audible,

at times she dictates from her wax tablets.

Empty parchments fill

like stars stipple across a night sky.

 

Eyes wide open she invokes,

The oneness of creation and humanity

demands justice.

We know fields will no longer yield their fruits

where human greed and injustice

have sought too quick a yield.

 

From the fertile fields of her mind,

Hildegard crafts words

to comfort, console, confront and castigate.

Under the stamp of Papal Approval

embedded in an era of superstition

her words have power.

Her strange pure tongue,

captivates Bishops and Kings,

filters through all social classes.

 

Her presence, her writings, her preaching

offers the hope of change,

a chance to make sense of the world.

 

 

pastedGraphic_1.png

German literature scholar,

Dr Gisela Nittel will launch the book

on Sunday 13, October 2019

at the Sydney Writers Centre, Balmain, NSW.

All are welcome.

For more information: touchstoneten@gmail.com

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Hildegard of Bingen: A Poetic Journey, visit www.ginninderrapress.com.au

Colleen Keating

Colleen Keating is a Sydney-based poet and writer. Through her work she “explores the paradox and wonder of nature, the harsh realities of life, of inequality, injustice and increasing threat to our natural environment”. In November 2017 Colleen published her second book of poetry, “Fire on Water” (Ginninderra Press), which recently won a silver Nautilus Book Award. Colleen’s website is colleenkeatingpoet.com

pastedGraphic_2.png

 

 

 

Hildegard’s Feast day . Celebrated . . . Day 1 Ecology

colleen Hildegard of Bingen, Poetry , , , , , ,

 

 

Hildegard puts us in touch with ecology and a sense of wonder.
Her visionary theology is both grand and utterly intimate,
writes Colleen Keating. 

Colleen Keating has recently published a new book of poetry, Hildegard of Bingen: A Poetic Journey, which tells Hildegard’s story in 100 poems.

“Committing to ecological conversion” stands as one of the four areas of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan Statement of Directions. This collection of poetry explores Hildegard’s notion of viriditas – the greening – and the call to discover the interconnectedness of all life.

Below is an extract from her book.

 

It is around 1153.

Hildegard sits in the scriptorium with her scribe the monk Volmar and Sister Clara.

 

Fiery Light of Writing                       

A Cosmic web of Creation
wings into Hildegard’s mind
her hand covers her heart
to cradle its ache for expression.
She breathes into the light.
All one,
sing the leaves of the trees outside
a choir of hosannas tremble along branches
their tracery gilded, fiery-gold against the sky.

 

All one
whirs each drop of water in the Nahr
as it gurgles along
to become one with the Rhine.

 

Eyes to the heavens,
Hildegard looks into the heart of light,
dictates to Volmar and Clara.

 

At times she steeples her fingers in thought
voice hardly audible,
at times she dictates from her wax tablets.
Empty parchments fill
like stars stipple across a night sky.

 

Eyes wide open she invokes,
The oneness of creation and humanity
demands justice.
We know fields will no longer yield their fruits
where human greed and injustice
have sought too quick a yield.

 

From the fertile fields of her mind,
Hildegard crafts words
to comfort, console, confront and castigate.

Under the stamp of Papal Approval
embedded in an era of superstition
her words have power.
Her strange pure tongue,
captivates Bishops and Kings,
filters through all social classes.

 

Her presence, her writings, her preaching
offers the hope of change,
a chance to make sense of the world.

 

 

 

Hildegard’s Feast Day This is a Countdown . . Day 2, Care for the Earth

colleen Hildegard of Bingen, Poetry , , , , , ,

 

 

 

Hildegard’s Feast Day  This is a countdown  Day 2. Care for the earth

Why speak of the earth?

because we are of it,

because we are destroying it,

because we have  nowhere else.

Hildegard did not have the advantages of the 21st century, she did not  know the earth from an astronauts view as we do, she did not have the science we have today, yet she knew how precious this luminous pearl adrift in a dark ocean is.
She speaks of  oneness, unity . . .  the microcosm of the tiniest unit,  the macrocosm of the universe and how they are all one .

Here is a poem  from my new book, Hildegard of Bingen: A poetic journey in praise of the earth.

Listening

Amid the local gardener’s chatter
about plants and herbs
their culinary and medicinal uses,
and laughter of the young sisters
bubbling live with the world,
Hildegard listens.

She leans against her spade and listens.
Birds twitter
pecking at the scattered soil.
Hildegard gazes towards the hills
soft curved as a mother’s breast.
Is it the hills singing she hears?
Is it her heart surging with love?

Like a mantra she hears the words,
The earth is mother,
mother of all that is natural,
mother of all that is human.
mother of all,
for contained in her
are the seeds of all.

Hildegard looks about her.

The sisters at work, all is the same,
yet she is full of song
of trees and plants and flowers,
of herbs and ferns and stones.

Hildegard’s Feast day This is a Countdown . . . MUSIC

colleen Hildegard of Bingen, Poetry , , ,

 

 

Hildegard’s Feast Day  This is a countdown  Day 3.

Three days until Hildegard’s Feast Day – 17th September.

In  this poem from my new book Hildegard of Bingen: A  poetic journey,  we see how important MUSIC and SINGING is to  HILDEGARD  and to the  LIFE OF HER ABBEY.  

 

 

 

Hildegard is is now the Magistra (meaning teacher.)   Jutta has died and Hildegard holds her sisters together.  She leads them  away from  the old monastery to begin the creation of their own Abbey. (the new Abbey in Bingen)

To lift their spirits  she composes music that carries them on the breath  heavenwards.  The year is 1151 at their new Abbey on the Rhine River.

Unearthing Heaven

Seamless fold of seasons.
Not so seamless, their daily struggle..
Life is still comfortless
harsh, rough.

Music carries them.
Singing gladdens them.

Hildegard is invigorated
by harmonies of sound
sees music in the dawn
light on the hills
in the caress of the wind
shape of the clouds
sound of the entwining rivers
the patter of rain
chatter of verdant tendrils of vine.

Music moves in her mind
fills her writing
defines her day.
She sings with her sisters.
Her sisters sing with her.

Singing softens their tired
discouraged hearts
like blossoms soften stone walls. 

In giving voice to her poetry
Hildegard bursts into song.  
Words of Divine Light, 
sounds from the heavenly spheres
echo in her,

O fleeting soul, be strong. 
Clothe yourself in the armour of light.
You are surrounded 
with the embrace of Divine mysteries.

She sees creation, a symphony of joy and jubilation,
a great chorus of the cosmos itself.

In the garden with her sisters
she draws lines with a stick on the earth
dots out the shift of sounds,
with the stick as baton and pointer
she teaches them her new music.
Their eyes shine.
Her antiphons and canticles
enrich the Divine Office.
Richardis leads, her voice ethereal,
the sisters join, words and rhythms soar,
breathless notes, higher and ever higher.

Their unfinished church
embraces their song,
a new heaven and new earth.

 

 

Photos of music scores fro around Hildegards time to show the beautiful calligralhy  and the second photo is of the author in the vicinity of where Hildegard is supposed to have lived in the anchorage at the Disibodenberg Monastery from 1112 – 1150