Recent posts on this site have referenced haiku from Africa, Chinese translations of English-language haiku and poems from the Irish Haiku Society competition. This time the Aussies take a turn.

Windfall is an annual haiku publication that portrays the landscapes and life of Australia. It is the premier publication for haiku about Australia, by Australians. Issue #7 was released earlier this year by Blue Giraffe Press.

At just 25 pages, each issue of Windfall is modest in size, but this limited scale forces Editor, Beverley George, to select only the best haiku. Haiku that capture Australian flora and fauna such as the gum tree whose scribbly bark is reminiscent of the Dreamtime art of Indigenous Australians, or the behaviour of the kookaburra with its iconic laugh.

gum tree bark
the Dreamtime art
of scribbly moths

Mark Miller

a kookaburra
hovers on the cusp
of laughter

Keitha Keyes

All the while, daily life goes on in an environment that is often hot, dry and dusty.

bush road
the psshh of air brakes
outside town

Laura Davis

a procession
of dust clouds . . .
country wedding

Joanne Watcyn-Jones

village Anzac
Danny the baker
carries the flag

Quendryth Young

The Windfall series is published by Peter Macrow’s Blue Giraffe Press in Hobart. Submissions, which are sent direct to the Editor in July each year, are limited to Australian poets as Windfall’s aim is to showcase the plants, animals, landforms and life of Australia. The poems are complemented by cover art by Ron C. Moss.

Further details on Windfall and how to purchase copies can be found here.