Welcome to the highlights reel for the fourth annual Grand Final Haiku Kukai. This year we had 60 writers calling in from London, Melbourne, Graz, Kyneton, Stockholm, Ghana, Woodend, Perth, Ballarat and wherever Ian Gostelow found himself on the Hume during the course of the game. Over 200 poems were written, which, not surprisingly, was 42 more than the total number of kicks the Eagles had for the match!
The participants were a diverse group, with seasoned veterans mixing it with novices alike, and unlike the game itself (yawn) the writing was full of colour, passion, feeling, and a touch of buffoonery. There were many twists and turns. Disquiet swept through the kukai before the first bounce, with many dreading a Hawthorn ‘3-peat’. Their fears were soon realised and the kukai, for a while, resembled a kind of therapy session, as detractors of the Brown and Gold voiced their discontent. But haiku poets tend to be realists. They know the sun will come up tomorrow. And they tend to write about that too. We got a taste of what was happening for everyone. Everywhere. Right then. It was magic.
See you at the bounce next year.
grand final morning ~
a disciple wearing a beanie
whispers a prayer
Rob Scott
clouds hover
forecast is brown and gold
dreading it
PJ Flynn
the clock ticks downwards
grog boozing rises upwards
dreading a three-peat
Susie Baldwin
Melbourne traditions:
parades and brightly coloured men
I like the word ‘Grand’
Timothy Train
Grand Final
another tulip shows
its colours
Jade Pisani
London sleeps
the call of the siren
sings us home
Lucy Stewart
breakfast bbq
turning lines of sausages
the haiku sizzle
Nathan Curnow
drug scandal
the ex-coach high
in the stands
Myron Lysenko
Australian Anthem –
resounding ninety clicks
from Gundagai
Ian Gostelow
first bounce ~
jostling for position
at the bar
Rob Scott
Players ducking
and weaving, a car flipped
on the Hume
Ian Gostelow
31 degrees
never seen anything like it ~
Hodge’s goal
Rob Scott
stream match
from an early morning Europe
too early for beer?
Ela Fornalska
Over, red rover
unless they have a Hopkins
bring on the rugby
Grant Andrea
half time sprint
our dog chases after
a magnolia petal
Myron Lysenko
‘blood rule’
I pour tomato sauce
on my pie
Maureen Sexton-Baker
Half time review
ironic to hear Carey
comparing two birds
Derek Begg
9 3 to 3 9
Palindromic scoring shots
and yet no balance
Patrick Nolan
watching from my mind’s eye –
her sattelite finally
gets signal
Emmanuel Jessie Kalusian
Overcast at G
West Coast need some reverse swing
sorry, forgot what sport
Susie Baldwin
Irish pub –
some bloke asks me
“What are you doing here?”
Rob Scott
19 marks the ball
Was that a goal? It’s too fast..
Bloody ad. Replay.
June Connell
Hawks’ shadow
longer than the Eagles’
size is important
Michael Potter
Hawks vs Eagles
critics begin circling
my lines of haiku
Nathan Curnow
31 degrees ~
players dive
into the shadows
Rob Scott
heavy defeat—
camellia flowers collapse
onto the grass
Myron Lysenko
road kill on the Hume
the West Coast Eagles
run over
Ian Gostelow
About rob scott
Rob Scott (aka Haiku Bob) is a peripatetic haiku poet who calls Victoria Park home. He writes haiku in between teaching whisky and drinking English, or something like that.
It was fun HB. Thanks for convening.
PJ Flynn
Hopefully it brought a bit of life to such a dull game.
Thanks for being there.
HB.