New Tanka written for consideration by the Eucalypt Journal

 Tanka for consideration by Eucalypt Journal 
beach lookout
a springtime visitor
rolls and flaps about
silver glints on its flippers
keep us transfixed
a lone seagull
on a busy city street
far from the harbour
sometimes I wish I had wings
to find my way home
         
furry banksia cones
perch on gnarled branches
some follicles open
the child in me still sees
the old banksia man
an unkept park ~
neglect or rewilding
we wander amid
a bevy of birds, insects
and blossoming weeds
wet sand
of ebbing tide
reflects a pink dawn
my bare feet encounter
the first touch of spring
an empty sky 
where the blue gum stood –
returning birds
perch on a brick wall
chirping incessantly

Haiku recently accepted and published.

  1. Haiku Down Under Anthology

Dear Colleen,

Thank you for your submission to the Haiku Down Under Anthology.
Hard to choose just one, but I have  pleasure in accepting the following poem:

holiday cottage
under a sickle moon
a lone dingo howls

~ Colleen Keating
Kur-ring-gai,  Australia

Please check that the poem, your name, town and country  are correct.

I will let you know as soon as I have details re the purchase of HDU Anthology.

We are so glad you were part of Haiku Down Under.

Warm wishes

Carole Harrison

(HDU Editorial team)

 

 

2. Echidna Tracks   Open

(on 15th July 2024)

my haiku for the Anthology 12

by the river
corellas scramble for space
solitary ironbark

Colleen Keating

My haiku accepted for the Antholgy 11:   the Summer/Autumn 2025

hi Colleen
Thank you for your submission to Echidna Tracks Issue 14
we are very pleased to accept;
ebbing tide—
the beachcomber treasures
her amble
Colleen Keating
as a long time beach walker i very much relate to this one
all the best
Simon Hanson
Marilyn Humbert
Lynette Arden
ebbing tide—
the beachcomber treasures
her amble
Colleen Keating

 

 

Reflecting on September 2024

 

A full spring equinox moon holds its perfection just for a moment and we clasp hands North and South equal day and night, equal sharing of light and dark in a beautiful albeit fickle world.  

out the window  
I look up at the spring moon 
and looking down 
think of my family 
ten thousand miles away

and with war raging in Ukraine, Sudan and the Middle East  spiralling out of control with no one power enough to stop tyrants of Netanhaou and Putin. as the  calls of the International Community  falls on the deaf ears of tyrants.

for the children
wherever their young eyes look
fear meets them
as fire flares from the heavens
as their earth is charred black

a Mariupol cry 
‘they have turned our town 
into a dead place’ 

On a personal level it has been a sad and heavy –laden week  and I will share the grief of my week and my way through it all.

My dear  friend Jan who lovingly and couragously married earlier this year,  has let me know her  husband,  David has passed with his decision that the fight was becoming too hard  and slowly over days letting go’. 

My special friend and publisher of my books, someone who believed in poetry and writing and helped me get my words out into the world  Stephen Matthews, choosing to take control through VAD and planning the day and time to “to go gently into that great light”. 

 My friend Decima falls and breaks her humerus and shoulder and is in rehab.

My close school friend  Shannie,  her BP goes wacko and she falls, fractures her pelvis and now in heart ward,   A dear important person in my life suffering in marriage troubles.

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old age ~
its story fills me with grief
and fear
nature, poetry, music
bring back a feeling of youth

 

 

..

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Some of my redeeming beautiful experiences this past month

Our poetry appreciation  U3A group.   Michael and I prepared and presented  a Margaret Atwood Appreciation morning.

White Pebbles Ginko Spring Walk

 

Ethel Turner 130th Celebration of the first publication of Seven Little Australians

 

Mahler 4th and  selections from Strauss including Morgan Opus.27.No. 4 SSO ConcertConcert

“Of his friend, who was to outlive him by more than three decades, Mahler said: “Strauss and I tunnel from opposite sides of the mountain. One day we shall meet.”

 

.

Strauss  beautiful song

 

Nature Walk in the Kalkari Reserve part of the Bobbin Head National Park where where Michael and I wondered :

What if the trees could talk!

 

‘    

 

An hour of Classic Chinese Poetry  put on by the Chines cultural

Centre

as part of the Nanping Tea Culture Week in Australia.

An hour of Classic Chinese Poetry  put on by the Chines cultural
as part of the Nanping Tea Culture Week in Australia.

 

The MCA  Contemporary Art Museum

The main exhibition i spent time with , was an installation  called

‘Once Again  . . .(Statues Never Dies)

It interested me because it looked at artifacts from Africa   And spoke of the Colonial pilfering and made me reflect on my New Guineas story. I always see something that carches my eye and the sculpture  below  touched my heart.

In another exhibition I loved a shell sculpture  made of the Sydney Opera House

Now this sculpture, Shellwork (Sydney Opera House)   has extra meaning.

it is created by Esme Timbery and encrusted with thousands of shells. It is one of the largest shellworked models made by Esme.  The subject The Opera House  sits at Tubowgule/Bennelong Point is known as a location of great significence to Aboriginal people. Known as a place of important cultural gatherings for the local Gadigal people , the site was once occupied by a giant shell midden. Middens are mounds formed from the residues of communial life, and in coastal areas they include many shells, remnants of an abundant food source. The midden was a record of ongoing occupation going back thousands of years, the lost form now echoed in Timberlys sheeled model of the UNESCO World Heritage listed Building.

 

Celebrating the Life of Robert Gray with the launch of his new book Bright Crockery Days at the Sydney State Library. 

This was organised by Mark Tredenik and many poets got up and read Robert’s poetry. Sadly Robert is no longer able to attend functions.

 

Botanical Garden amble

                                                                

Concert with David Helkgott at the Avoca Theatre.

My friend offered us the tickets because she was unable to attend and so we drove up the coast after lunch shared with the Northerleigh group. It was an uplifting afternoon.

 

 

 

Spring Ginko with White Pebbles Haiku Meeting

 

   

For our spring ginko White Pebbles haiku poets gathered at  Edogawa Gardens at the Gosford Regional Gallery and Arts Centre on a glorious warm Saturday morning,14th September, 2024. Present were  Beverley George, Maire Glacken, Michael Thorley, Marilyn Humbert and Colleen Keating with apologies from Samantha Sirimanne Hyde, Pip Griffin and Gwen Bitti  and Kent  Robinson.

The ducklings were not fluffy babies but teenagers  and defying their parents  who were trying to keep up for them.

 

We met in the Gallery’s cafe for a catch-up before a stroll through the gardens. Over coffee,  Beverley gave us each some leaves she had collected to share, including a very soft, smooth acacia gun-metal leaf and a lemon myrtle leaf. Both stimulated lots of conversation about texture, aroma, colour  shape and the patterns in the leaf,  It reminded us to walk slowly and pay attention. And she challenged us to return with a leaf haiku.

We strolled the garden, enjoying the apricity – the warmth of the sunshine on our backs, the scent and colours of the azaleas and the business of ducks and koi carp sharing the pond and water features of the gardens. The duckling were a highlight following children around after food. The white pebbled garden was simply but beautifully raked.

Then we gathered to share our thoughts and words.  Beverley said how happy she was to see so many White  Pebble haikuists being published in Echidna tracks and encouraged us all to send  haiku this month in for the next edition. We then shared  our haiku. We  making suggestions to improve our haiku  Next, we considered the haiku and images that had been gathered on the garden walk earlier. This proved an extremely productive exercise. Michael shared his new working haiku on a small coloured card which he distributed as a gift for us to keep. We all liked this idea and decided to bring copies of our work to hand around next time.  A few ideas that enriched  my days:

lemon-scented gum
we drink mugs of  billy tea 
by the campfire          

Colleen  Keating

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abstract art
pond wriggles with koi
around the ducks

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We concluded the White Pebbles Spring meeting 2024 with our hope to meet on the second Saturday 14th December for our Summer meeting.   (just a date to put in our new 2025 diaries when we get them –  our Autumn meeting  just for this one time will be on the third Saturday 15th  March  2025 )

still as a statue
a water dragon stops
and stills passers-by

 

Poetica Christi Press poetry competition results

Feeling very honoured to have my poetry acknowledged and affirmed in the Poetic Christi Press  Poetry Competition.

Unable to be at the Melbourne launch of the much anticipated Anthology

A New Day Dawns 

but look forward to receiving my copy of the Anthology very soon.

Fifth symphony     Highly commended

Colleen Keating

Vaughan Williams
composed his symphony
on fire-watch

barrages of bombs dropped
nightly enflamed his city
no air raid shelter

for him as he pocketed
his note pad and pen
fought in the crucible

of siren-moans
cries for help
and from the dark

composed music that plays
like a mountain brook
tumbling

in a moment
that brims
with a tomorrow

And to be included in a new Anthology  called

A NEW DAY DAWNS

an anthology of poems

edited

by Janette Fernando

WINNERS OF THE 2024 COMPETITION

A new day dawns

Poetica Christi Press poetry Competition 2024

Judge: Winner:

Tru Dowling
Wild With Scrub – Ellen Shelley

Runner-up:
Highly Commended: Fifth Symphony – Colleen Keating
Highly Commended:A Cool September Eve – Ellen Shelley
High Jinx – Laurie Keim

Commended
Mulch – Cathy Altmann
A Saint in Cobalt & Ochre – David Terelinck
Tacet – Bethany Evans
My Light Not Spent – Denise Parker
Sunset in Geraldton – Michael Genoni
Bleeding Hearts – Kate O’Neil
What the Water Gave Me – Jemma van Loenen
The Morning Star Guides Me On – Scott-Patrick Mitchell
Oriental Travel Trilogy – Stefan Dubczuk
Herm Island, Channel Islands, September 2023 –
Mary Jones Not About Dancing – Wendy Fleming
Sonnet – a Feather – Mocco Wollert
John – Claire Watson
Let’s Do It – Edith Speers
Janus-faced – Jason Beale
Polynesia, le ciel – Colleen Keating
Homecoming –Suzette Thompson
Blue-eyed Boy – Kay Cairns
On the Cusp of Morning – Claire Watson
Every Day I Wake – Janeen Samuel
Awakened – Wendy Fleming

My second poem Commended and to be published I will share her too

Polynesia, le ciel

Colleen Keating

It’s not ‘brothers, we must die,’ it is rather, ‘brothers, we must live’*

about light and colour he was never wrong
Henri Matisse knew from his youth
their startling wonder
how they exude a lighthouse authority
how they uplift human nature
when the world weighs low
and how when clouds of war
dim the sun
their illumination of hope can be forgotten
as in deepest night
it is easy to forget dawn returns

in Matisse’s Le Ciel
the lightness of joy fills the air
with a patchwork of his blues –
light and dark
alternating in and out
his cut-out sculptures of birds
float on the air
lift up dive whirl spin
ethereal in white
and dancing stars glint like enamel
or they could be flowers of joy
bordered by acanthus leaves
swaying hypnotically
reminding us to live

*H. Matisse (1946)

 

WINNERS-OF-THE-2024-COMPETITION-A-new-day-dawns

Launch of Tintinnabulum by Judith Beveridge

Tintinnabulum  by Judith Beveridge

Tintinnabulum was launched by poet Audrey Molloy at Gleebooks on  a delightful warm winters Sunday afternoon. 25th August  2024.

It was done in a conversational mode. Audrey’s questions helped Judith to open up about her writing .

Firstly the title. Judith explained, it is always difficult to come up with an interesting title. 

Tintinnabulum  means ‘little bell’ in Medieval Latin . As a verb it refers to a  ring or sound like a small bell,  peal, ring, sound sonorously . eg the tintinnabulation of wind chimes blowing in the breeze. or I always look forward to the joyous tintinnabulation at church during the christmas season. 

Judith makes a list of possible names for a title and slowly narrows it down.  In this book she explores what poetry can uncover through musicality and analogy  and how these elements can open up sacred space . The title Tintinnabulum is an onamatopeia word ( the naming of a thing or action by imitation  of natural sounds as buzz or hiss ) and that title became the final choice as one or two poems include that word .  Robert Frost says, ‘sound is the gold in the ore of poetry’ 

“I chose the title meaning ringing of little bells  to suggest celebration and to indicate that many poems in the collection,  engage in almost ritualised observance of precise aspects of the physical world . 

Judith would like to be called an imagist poet.

In this book she looks specially at animals, landscape and at people in certain environments.” 

Sacred space comes into being  with the idea of relationships and the idea of apprehending the interconnections  with  them especially  through the use of metaphor. 

Walking with the poet  captures this.  A poem in memory of Dorothy Porter.  She often uses water landscape . Rilke says ‘praising is what matters ‘

Judith is interested in the ways which simile and metaphors can create relations that previously might have been unnoticed. 

“My poetry centres around this core aspect of poetic language. ‘

She has been influenced  by Seamus Heaney , Robert Frost, Hopkins, Amie Clapton , Walcott, Plath . 

Sound

Sound affects the  reader  – when it hits our gut our feeling centre. For a poet  human emotions are full of potential. 

Love the sound of Plath  “A bird flits nimble-winged in thickets”  Sound is a great tool to get feelings rippling through the poem.  

Using poetic devices to give surprise and visceral response

Peppertree Bay  is pure adventure using metaphor, simile and imagination.  They are tools to connect  – dissolve boundaries to connect things in our gut  – healing, restoring,  and helping to open up sacred spaces .Pictures in your head she wants them to curl into your imagination and stay.  eg Breakwall octopus and ballet shoe, 

a kite letting down . . .  

A writer needs to balance imagination and reality.  

“You can have an imaginative garden but you need real toads in it” 

The poem The Light on Marine Bay  began with something real. Light on water at North Parramatta Park !

James Dickey says it is alright to lie in poetry  . It is a literary strategy to delve deeper into deeper truth . 

Empathy  

is an important quality. eg Cruelty of animals is appalling 

However sentimentality  can undermine the real feeling of a poem .  and sentimentality can be caused by a lack of attention.   Read The Dancing Elephant  There is an iron bell resonance between the animal and reader. 

Attentiveness is the natural prayer of the soul.

Assonance 

She loves Wallace Stevens  and works with his poetry in one section. 

His poems Snowman and 13 Ways to look at a Black Birds.

“One must resist the intellect almost obsessively . Forget the context, get the music . Failed poetry is when the content takes over. 

 

JUDITH SIGNING MY BOOK > I BELIEVE SHE IS ONE OF OUR GREAT LIVING AUSTRALIAN POETS .

 

Judith Beveridge: a note on Tintinnabulum

The renowned Australian poet Judith Beveridge reflects on her much-anticipated new collection of poems Tintinnabulum (1 July 2024), the first since her prize-winning Sun Music in 2018. Read an extract from the book here.


Tintinnabulum explores what poetry can uncover through musicality and analogy, how these elements can open up sacred spaces. I have chosen Tintinnabulum as the title (which means the ringing of little bells) to suggest celebration and to indicate that many poems in the collection engage in an almost ritualised observance of precise aspects of the physical world. I look specifically at animals, landscapes, and at people in certain environments.

Sacred spaces, I believe, come into being when we perceive relationships and apprehend interconnections. I have always been interested in the ways in which similes and metaphors can create relations that formerly might have been unnoticed. My poetry has centred around this core aspect of poetic language and Tintinnabulum continues this with perhaps more urgency and power, but also with humour and surprise.

I also love to use language that is distinctly focussed on sound as a way of enhancing meaning and providing pleasure for the reader. My animal poems, which make up the book’s first section, delve into how we often interact with cruelty and insensitivity to non-human animals, but I also look at ways in which encounters with animals throw their ‘otherness’ into stark relief such as the distinctly alien lives of cicadas, leeches, bluebottles.

The second section focusses on the human world and brings to bear a sense of compassion for the difficulties that people encounter: surfers on a high sea, a waitress unhappy in her job, two brothers suffering racist cruelty, as well as elegiac poems about friends and family members.

The third section consists of imaginative/hallucinogenic scenarios, and is my most poetry at its most weirdly inventive. This section culminates in a joyous romp through sonic repetitions and is a homage to the poetry of Wallace Stevens.

The poet Edward Hirsch has said that ‘Attentiveness is the natural prayer of the soul.’ I believe the final section of the book attempts this level of worshipful attention evoking the beauty and awe to be found in landscapes. It is my aim that readers, after reading Tintinnabulum, will find the world less fragmented and more interconnected, that language can be felt as an activating mechanism for wonder, joy and revelation.

— Judith Beveridge, May 2024

Spring haiku by Colleen Keating

 mountain mist ~
from our chairlift
the sound of cow bells
Colleen Keating
______________________-

two lorikeets
on my sun-lit deck
catch-up coffee

crowded festival
the shin shin
of falling blossoms

Colleen Keating

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school assembly
her first public speech
scent of jasmine

Colleen Keating
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ripple on the pond
as a koi surfaces. . .
falling leaves

Colleen Keating

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spring blossoms
soften stone
and hearts

Colleen Keating

______________________

wind chimes ~
southerly breeze
wild bamboo

Colleen Keating

________________________

winter memory ~
crisp red apples
locally grown

Colleen Keating

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old age…
propped-up cherry tree
blossoms

Colleen Keating

Women’s Ink Winter Issue 2024

 

I am very excited to receive the latest Women’s Ink , Winter Issue 2024,  in the mail and find 3 of my  poems   on the themes of  art and artists  make a double page spread..

Escaping with Cézanne  and sunflowers both published in my anthology Fire on Water , H.Commended in the SWW Book Awards 2017

and Le Ciel to be included in my up and coming collection, Ring with the Bells to be published  in 2025

Thank you to the editor Josephine Shevchenko, and to the President Maria McDougall for their work for writers . .

 

Echidna Tracks July 15th 2024

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Exciting to be included in the new Echidna Tracks and with some wonderful Haikists.
ECHIDNA TRACKS : Australian haiku edited by Lynette Arden

left behind
in sand beside the creek
yesterday’s footprints

Jan Dobb

desire path
to the river bend
cicada song

Lyn Reeves

by the river
corellas scramble for space
solitary ironbark

Colleen Keating

a palace
of crimson rosellas
sunlit conifer

Robyn Cairns

setting sun a black cockatoo’s tail feathers

Marilyn Humbert

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