The 10th and final issue of the much-loved journal, Windfall: Australian Haiku, was released in January 2022.
Windfall is an annual journal edited by Beverley George and published by Peter Macrow at Blue Giraffe Press. The cover artwork is by Ron C. Moss, with design and layout by Matthew C. George.
Originating in Japan, the popularity of this short poetic genre has spread widely around the globe. Australian interest in haiku dates as far back as 1899 when an Australian haiku competition was conducted(1). Subsequently, in the 1970s, Janice Bostok produced Australia’s first haiku magazine, Tweed(2).
More recently, the Australian journal, paper wasp, ran for 20 years until ceasing publication in 2016 and, with the internet leading to growing interest in the genre, other print and online journals have encouraged and supported the writing of haiku.
For the past ten years, Windfall has focused solely on haiku about Australian urban and rural life, written by Australian residents. These poems have incorporated many elements of our landscapes, seasons, flora and fauna into the haiku form.
spring equinox over the moonlit creek a pobblebonk chorus
Mark Miller
leading into sundown dingo tracks
Tom Staudt
virgin rainforest ninety-four rings on a fresh cut stump
Andrew Hede
Nature haiku such as these enable Australians and others to appreciate images and sounds associated with the birds, animals and plants of this country.
waning moon in the mangroves fireflies stir
Maureen Sexton
rising heat a jabiru crosses the sun
Cynthia Rowe
winter afternoon — golden wattle glows on black sky canvas
Sheryl Hemphill
Windfall has chronicled some of the best Australian haiku for a decade. Issue 10 presents haiku by 63 poets. By my count, 20 of these poets also appeared in Issue 1, which suggests around 40 of the current Windfall poets have emerged in the intervening period. The growing Australian haiku community certainly includes a healthy influx of fresh voices and fresh ideas.
Some poems in Windfall relate to the interaction between nature and the human environment.
opera house steps a long-nosed fur seal soaks up the sunshine
Vanessa Proctor
rainforest glade an empty packet of Smith’s catches the sun
Nathan Sidney
While others use local flora and fauna to portray aspects of Australian behaviour and culture.
black cockatoos in tree shadows he stops treatment
Earl Livings
beachside walk the roughness of banksia pods
Nathalie Buckland
dunny without a door . . . the Milky Way
Leanne Mumford
Credit for Windfall’s success must go to editor, Beverley George, and to publisher, Peter Macrow. Beverley’s deep knowledge of the haiku form has enabled her to assemble a marvellous selection of Australian haiku for each edition of Windfall, while Peter has supported the journal throughout its life.
Beverley George selected the following haiku to conclude the 10th issue of Windfall. It was a wonderful choice, with the poem capturing a quintessentially Australian scene. But, more than that, the poem does not despair about ending. Rather, the poem celebrates the vitality of birth and renewal.
sheltered paddock the udder punch of a newborn
Glenys Ferguson
For ten years, Windfall has made an important contribution in recording the work of Australian haiku poets. Now, we all look to the future.
Review by Gregory Piko
A limited number of back issues of Windfall (No. 4 to No. 9) and of the final issue (No. 10) are available for $10 per copy, postage included. Cash or stamps are welcome, as are cheques payable to Peter Macrow. Please address to:
Peter Macrow 6/16 Osborne Street Sandy Bay TAS 7005
3rd September 2021 ISBN: 9781761091599, 320 pages, paperback, $40
by Beatriz Copello
I do not think there is a better way to honour a woman of the calibre of Olive Muriel Pink than to write a book of poetry about her life.Colleen Keating has done just that, she has written a poetic journey about this unsung Australian heroine.
With a sharp eye and lyric touch, the world of Olive Pink becomes alive, it is a passionate story told with knowledge. It is evident that the poet has invested years researching the life of Olive Pink. The poet says: “I have been researching, writing and thinking about Olive Pink for over a decade now.The discoveries that come along the way – the portraits unveiled – are very stirring.”
This collection covers many years in the life of Pink, it starts in 1884 and finishes in 1975. The book also has a foreword, a prologue and a chronology as well as notes and bibliography. The labour of love that went into writing this book would grant the author a doctorate.
The author in Notes explains that she aimed to write a book that fell between an accurate scholarly presentation of Olive Pink’s life and her own personal interpretation of it.
Olive Pink was a fighter for justice who advocated for the rights of First Nations People, she was also an anthropologist, artist and gardener. Keating from the first poem in the book alerts the readers about what they will encounter throughout the pages, in this excerpt from “Olive the pioneer” she writes:
Who is Olive?
She defied the silence
caused discomfort
annoyed the authorities.
Her letters shouted from the edge.
She heard budgerigar dreaming
and drummed to a different tune.
She pushed against the colonial tide.
If the answer is ‘eccentric’
in her death she will be twice dismissed.
Who is Olive? History asks.
She broke the silence
her voice for the voiceless
remembered the forgetting.
She visioned justice in the courts.
Her feet knew country.
She carried red dust
under the fingernails of her heart.
She listened to elders, learnt language
wrote down stories, sketched arid plants
medicinal, nutritional, ritual.
If the answer is ‘anthropologist’
in her death she will be twice honoured.
If Keating wrote music, I would say she does not miss a beat, when she raises issues about Olive’s past, she does it with conviction and poignant comments, like in the following excerpt from “A new lodestone”:
The grim spectre of injustice
towards Aboriginal tribe
taunts Olive out of her grief
jolts her from self pity.
Like a silk petticoat pulled over her hair
the air is static in its darkness.
It bleeds through a colander of whitewash words
progress jobs, growth.
Its handprint blood-red.
The poet also utilizes very vivid imagery, the readers become Olive, we can see, smell, hear what she experiences.Keating appeals to the senses, the following poem “Restless” illustrates this:
In her dingy office Olive yearns
for the vast open country, large skies,
hazy horizons, a slung kettle hissing
and spitting its leak over the fire.
Burnt flesh and sizzle
of goanna still fill her nostrils.
Olive walks country in her sleep –
the pungent smell of camels
sweaty bodies, blazoned glare, flies
dust-blown storms.
That red dust under
the colour of her heart
and patter of Pitjantjatjara children
still running giggling beside her
lingers like the balm of an Indian summer.
The poet has the skill to write about Olive’s powerful emotions without sentimentality or corniness, through these strong emotions readers can form a picture in their mind of Olive’s personality. The following excerpt from the poem titled “Heady days” is a good example of the Keating’s ability:
Olive is energised by academia.
The scissor-cut horizon
of her desert experience
challenges like a mirage.
She seizes every chance to argue,
‘The root cause is not malnutrition or disease –
They camouflage facts, treat the wrong symptoms.’
Heated discussion rises.
Angrily she fights for breath.
‘Even the most ignorant know the problems –
White man’s aggression, sexual abuse
fear, venereal disease, land dispossession.
We like to deride these facts.’
She flushes, her neck prickles as she continuous,
‘Full-bloods need their own protected country
not mission reserves.’
Her tone is strident.
‘Daily handouts from stations
Keep them tied to white man power.’
Olive Pink struggled all her life to be able to do what men were able to do, in the following poem “High Hopes” Keating captures this desire but also very cleverly imagines her mood in such a difficult situation.
Over dinner her enthusiasm bubbles.
‘After my thesis I plan
a full year of research among the Arrernte’
she confidently tells the Professor
and others grouped around the table.
‘I would like to be included
in your next museum expedition.
It will reduce my research expenses
and my anthropology will enhance the group.’
Silence.
Unease around the room
as lightening awaits a clap of thunder.
Awkward shifts and exchanged glances
the embarrassed clearing of throats.
From her left in a deep tone,
‘That would not be possible …
‘But you took Ted Strehlow on your trip last year!’
‘… for a woman,’ mumbles the professor.
Exposed, Olive’s heart races.
She hopes they don’t notice the burn
of her cheeks.
She avoids eye contact
gazes out as one with miles to go
restless to be on her way.
She needs desert air.
‘Why does gender cause such heart break?’
she broods into the night.
‘Why wasn’t I born a man.”
I would like to congratulate Colleen Keating not only for writing this incredible book but also for honouring a woman from the past which like many other Australian heroines are often forgotten or not given credit for their achievements. Reading about Olive Muriel Pink will inspire you and give you strength to struggle to achieve your aims.
About the Reviewer: Dr Beatriz Copello is a former member of NSW Writers Centre Management Committee, she writes poetry, reviews, fiction and plays. The author’s poetry books are: Women Souls and Shadows, Meditations At the Edge of a Dream, Flowering Roots, Under the Gums Long Shade, and Lo Irrevocable del Halcon (In Spanish). Beatriz’s poetry has been published in literary journals such as Southerly and Australian Women’s Book Review and in many feminist publications. She has read her poetry at events organised by the Sydney Writers Festival, the NSW Writers Centre, the Multicultural Arts Alliance, Refugee Week Committee, Humboldt University (USA), Ubud (Bali) Writers Festival.
For those who do not know about this saint’s life, let me tell you she was an incredible and fascinating woman who lived in the Middle Ages in Germany. She lived an intense life dedicated not only to religion but also to science, art, music, politics and philosophy. Hildegard founded two monasteries and maintained active correspondence with kings, emperors and popes. During all her life this mystic had visions which she attributed to divine inspiration.
In the forward of Hildegard of Bingen, Keating says she fell in love with Hildegard when she read a book lent to her by a friend. That love is evident in each page, in each poem, in each line. Through Keating’s poetry we get to know Hildegard, her life unrolls like a magic carpet. Poem by poem the reader finds out about her dreams, hopes, aspirations as well as her frustrations.
Keatings’s poems come alive with sensory experience, her words are confident in range and depth and they are utterly clear and articulate. The poet could have been a witness in Hildegard’s life, she knows her, she breathes her, she has a familial intimacy with the philosopher. The author undertook a journey into the mediaeval world, the poems are factual and the events meticulously researched. They contain very vivid descriptions, we can see in our mind’s eye what Hildegard saw, like in
‘Arrival’
Disibodenberg, high in the forest
sprawls in the clouds.
The last mile steeply uphill
Secluded.
A white butterfly dips and lifts.
Hildegard’s gaze follows it up
catches the glint of the sun
on the first stone wall.
Stoic buildings unfold
cloistered around a cobbled garth.
Their Benedictine monastery.
A monk in cinctured black robe
walks from signposted infirmary.
From beneath his blinkered cowl
he extends a welcome.
They dismount
Jutta falls on her knees in gratitude.
In Hildegard’s life the days pass coloured by monotony and sainthood and as the days pass so is her strong and determined personality developed. Poem bypoem the reader becomes wrapped in a mantle of words, words that tell us of revelations, mysticism, determination and sainthood. Keating puts herself in Hildegard’s shoes and cleverly she is able to recreate the angst, the bravery and the defiance of this incredible woman. We enter her abode, her orchard, we get to know the sisters and her godly visions. We hear two strong voices Hildegard’s and Keating’s the poet. Writing is a labour of love, the writer not only poured her love for Hildegard in the poems but also her skills and knowledge.
Intuition, growth, earthiness, inner strength, passion, justice, wisdom, art are all words that describe what emerges from Keating’s poetry. What a great way to learn through reading poetry! The poet has not spared any detail about the life of Hildegard neither has she left out information about her sources. This fascinating book contains an Epilogue, a Chronology, a Glossary, Notes and a Bibliography. In the final notes Keating says: ‘A Poetic Journey seeks a middle ground between an accurate scholarly presentation of Hildegard and a personal interpretation of her story.’
I believe the writer has achieved her purpose offering usthe opportunity to get to know a mediaeval feminist of extraordinary creativity. Colleen Keating has created a masterpiece.
Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) was a nun, sold into a convent aged 8, initially under care of Jutta von Sponheim (1091-1136). Hildegard specialised in medical properties of herbs and plants and had religious visions which she dictated to a scribe. She also undertook four journeys to spread word of her faith and was officially canonised in 2012. Colleen Keating’s poems form a book-length sequence telling Hildegard von Bingen’s story, starting in Hildegard’s teenage years. Her confessor, Abbot Kuno, already sees Hildegard as a potential problem, in ‘Confessor’,
‘He questions Hildegard’s sincerity,
annoyed by her fervour.
He knows he is not the confessor for her.
Blessed Jutta is different
he tells himself impatiently,
compliant and so very holy.’
Abbot Kuno’s attitude reminds Hildegard of her mother’s warning in ‘Her Secret’,
‘when a beautiful light spoke to her,
when she knew more than she should
when her mother warned her to remain silent,
for fear it is the devil at work.’
However, Abbot Kuno has to grudgingly accept Hildegard’s growing fame as a healer, ‘Pilgrims’ ends,
‘Abbot Kuno builds
a small oratory for his sisters,
alert to their fame and charisma
and the revenue
they attract to his monastery.’
Hildegard continues to have her visions but, unfortunately, Jutta’s health seriously deteriorates as she pushes herself to starve and walk on frosty ground barefoot under Abbot Kuno’s urging to push her to sainthood. As Hildegard tends Jutta, she notes in ‘The Last Swallows’, ‘Jutta has her mind only
on heaven,/ to be remembered as a saint.’ In the ‘Passing of Jutta’, ‘Jutta mumbles a litany of virgins and martyrs/ Ursula, Barbara, Agatha./ Hildegard cries names/ of strong biblical women/ Deborah, Judith, Miriam, Esther, Ruth.’ The names reflect the women’s characters.
Hildegard feels ‘A Call to Write’,
‘Light blinds her.
She hears the hum and strike of words: O fragile human, ashes of ashes, dust of dust, say and write what you hear.’
Abbot Kuno allows her a scribe, Volmar. A Papal Envoy summons Hildegard. In ‘Divine Revelation’, ‘The bishops sit high on large carved chairs./ Abbot Kuno sits with a severe frown/ behind an oak desk against the wall./ His impatient tap of fingers/ does not deter Hildegard.’ Turn the page and a missive, ‘The papal envoy calls your words inspired./ You are requested to continue.’ Despite the Papal Envoy’s blessing, Abbot Kuno obstructs her from completing her manuscript of visions. Hildegard goes on hunger strike. Volmar writes to Bishop Henry of Mainz who instructs Abbot Kuno to comply. He allows her to journey to Bingen to build a new abbey. ‘The Art of Perseverance’ sees the abbey established, her manuscript now has 150,000 words and 34 illuminations, and Hildegard has chance to take stock and reflect on her discovery of music,
‘a sacred text in love and trust
and the art of perseverance.
Her years are divided by liturgical feasts
her days marked by the hours
time, by the moon and seasons
rhythmic flow of the cycles.
Abbot Kuno’s stubborn
withhold of dowries constrains here.
Yet nothing constraints her spirit.
Oh, how her spirit soars. The opera must be performed for our new chapel opening.’
After three missionary journeys, which aren’t detailed in the poems, Hildegard returns to the issue of the withheld dowries, taking it up with Kuno’s successor, the Abbot of Disibodenberg, in ‘The Letter’
‘Not to release our dowries is unjust, selfish, illegal. I can see you’ve ignited a black fire against Rupertsberg. Yes, I see this in you. I’m only a poor insignificant woman, weak and worthless, yet if you listen to me, you’ll learn something.
Inside your soul, you must feel embarrassed when you see yourself for who you ware. Sometimes you’re an angry, growling unkind bear, but since you are so weak, you only snarl quietly under your breath.
The italics are a quote from her letter and, despite their tone, the dowries are released. There’s a ‘Last Missionary Journey’ where Hildegard talks to Volmar, ‘I must journey forth in these dark times,/ speak out for our people./ They especially need encouragement.’ Following an incident where buries a beggar in her abbey and refuses to allow the beggar to be exhumed and re-buried outside of consecrated ground, music is banned from her abbey. Hildegard’s reaction is captured in ‘The Final Letter’ to Archbishop Christian of Mainz,
‘So you and all your prelates must use the greatest vigilance in stopping, by decree, the mouth of any assembly of people singing to God. Beware, lest in your judgement you are ensnared by Satan, who draws man out of the celestial harmony and delights of paradise.
By silencing song in our abbeys you cut human fellowship with the angelic praise of heaven, but graver still you disrupt the harmony of body and soul.’
Again the italics are direct quotes. With her own life coming to an end, Hildegard notes, ‘A Circle Ends Where it Begins’ and ‘watches herself both hands in the air,/ eyes to the heavens, turn and twirl a dance of light.’
In ‘Hildegard of Bingen’ Colleen Keating has done meticulous research and brought Hildegard to life in a series of poems that follow a chronological narrative arc. The liveliest sections are where Hildegard is quoted and able to speak for herself. Some sections do however tell readers that this incident happened, then another incident happened which gives the section a prosaic, list-like feel. Overall ‘Hildegard of Bingen’ paints a picture of a compassionate, dedicated woman, not afraid to rebel and stand up for just causes when necessary.
Published by Ginninderra Press
Reviewed by Judith O’Connor
This stylishly produced collection of some eighty poems,
with a particularly tasteful and pleasing cover, is just what it says – a plea to stop
our activities and busyness and start looking, listening and observing the world around us. The poet supplies us with any number of simple examples:
it’s a hard thing to love a rock
you need to receive it as a gift
spend time
commune
gaze . . . (‘How to Love a Rock’)
and:
. . . a fallen water tank; rusted blood red . . .
(‘Abandoned’)
But we quickly see that the range of topics and inspiration,
is far wider and deeper than what at first may appear incidental.
The collection is cleverly arranged into eight separate categories,
taking in a wide sweep of the poet’s life and experiences.
I particularly enjoyed the verses inspired by outback Australia
for which the poet has borrowed (and referenced) the words of Mary McKillop
‘We are but Travellers Here’. Having trekked to the summit of Mt. Sondar and hiked in many of the poet’s footsteps (‘Ormiston Pound’), I was surprised and delighted to read her award winning ‘Daybreak over Mt. Sondar’ and its moving description of the dawn:
…in the beginning
air static as a nylon petticoat pulled over my hair
fingerprints of red ruby . . . (‘Daybreak over MT. Sondar’)
Every page brings fresh and, at times, challenging verses on a range of human emotions from ‘Almost Dawn’ with its sensuality:
… he turns
arms cocoon me
in an aura of warmth
his breath tingles
in the dip of my neck . . . (‘Almost Dawn’)
to ‘At the Nursing Home’:
… I fill the foot bath
my elbow checks the tepid water … (‘At the Nursing Home’)
Another of my favourites, ‘Sisters’:
… we lunch together
we celebrate
the milestone of another decade
and that word ‘remission’ a green shoot springing
from the scarred black earth…
But from being a poem full of depression and sorrow, it ends magnificently:
….we splurge
with our lust for life
toast with a glass of bubbly
Joie de vivre (‘Sisters’)
The poets voice changes to anger and outrage in other poems such as ‘Guantanamo Bay’ ( . . . this is a poem not to be read aloud; for it speaks of solitaire confinement …) and ‘War on Terror’ ( … it’s coming; through a hole in the air) along with poems reflecting visits to Japan and Fromelles.
Whatever the reader’s mood, quest or interest, these poems are sure to satisfy, surprise and inspire.
