Friendly Street Poets | FSP Tuesday 2nd November Poetry & Poppies

Friendly Street Poets | FSP Tuesday 2nd November Poetry & Poppies

Thank you for the photograph from the artist Davena Hooson.

The only poem I can even remotely claim as a Remembrance Poem is this one, written some years ago from my humble Daglish flat opposite a spacious park.

On the Third Day

In the first days of winter
mushrooms pop-up like
childhood toys in
the manicured park:

white domes with no
‘use by’ on them, no bar-codes
for value judgement. In the wetness
and warmth they grow as dogs
trot by with their gossiping owners.

A tiny Vietnamese lady crosses the street
wearing a brilliant yellow anorak,
bucket and trowel in hand. I watch.
She knows the ways of survival,
she harvests every last dome.

Passing schoolchildren point
and laugh, but she hears kookaburras
high in the gums. Winter’s false start
brings her back for three mornings. I wait
and harvest her across busy lanes of traffic.

Friendly Street Poets Inc. Japanese Poetry Competition 2009 -Tanka & Tanka Sequence

Closing Date: Friday 1st. May 2009

Categories: Prizes: 1st 2nd
A - Tanka $100 $50
page of 2 Tanka = 1 entry
B - Tanka Sequence $100 $50
3 - 8 tanka, 1 sequence = 1 entry

Entry Fee: AUS $5.00 per entry
Cheque or money order payable to “Friendly Street Poets”.

Send entries to:
Friendly Street Poets Inc, PO Box 3697, Norwood, 5067.
Please note: entries will only be accepted via this post box.

Tanka:
This is a 5 line poem of 31 syllables or fewer. Tanka is not a haiku with extra lines. 1300 years ago, lyrical tanka celebrated courtly love. Contemporary tanka address human emotions and aspects of life; not all of them incorporate nature. The first line is used in place of a title for reference.

Tanka Sequence:
For the purposes of this competition, the sequence will comprise 3 to 8 tanka on a chosen theme or narrative. Each tanka must be capable of standing alone, and the connection between tanka can be more subtle than the links between verses in Western poetry. Sequences have titles.

Conditions and Guidelines:
1. Entries must be the original work of the entrant, unpublished, not have won a monetary prize, or be under consideration elsewhere.
2. All submissions must be sent to the Friendly Street post box.
3. Entries must be received by the due date, or postmarked by that date.
4. An entry form, or a photocopy of this form, is required.
5. Author’s name is not to appear on the entries, only on this entry form.
6. There is no limit to the number of entries. All entries must be listed on the entry form and the appropriate fee must be enclosed.
7. Two copies of each entry must accompany the form and fee.
8. Please keep a copy of your work as entries will be destroyed after the judging.
9. Authors retain copyright, but Friendly Street Poets Inc. claim the right (if we choose) to publish winning and commended entries on the website and in Friendly Street Publications.
10. Prizes are based on literary merit. Judges’ rulings are final and no correspondence will be entered into. Prizes are in Australian dollars.
11. Notification of winners will be announced at the Friendly Street meeting in June and posted on the website.

Download an entry form at: http://friendlystreetpoets.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/tanka-form.pdf