My very first print-published poetry was accepted by the Koori Mail, an Australian Aboriginal newspaper, in June 2004. They were not very well written haiku (I’ve edited them slightly below), but these and others later caught the attention of my to-be publisher Lyn Reeves and led to the publishing of my first collection of haiku, watching pilgrims watching me by Pardalote Press, Tasmania in June, 2006.
I had been travelling with my daughter in Western Australia and the Northern Territory exploring Aboriginal culture and communities, including the Mititjula at Uluru, when I wrote these little poems. Note, we did not climb the rock as was requested by the Aboriginal women who took us on a guided tour of their sacred places around the base of the rock.
White Girl Senryu ~ Koori Mail – 30th June 2004
exploring the town apartments houses sacred sites school house hospital sun and shadow on bare painted bosom their dance stopped by police humid day black women and children idle Christian hostel waiting for the bus those words again one blood her country moving into his chest more tears song for country he closes his eyes to block the sun a white man making fun of a black man from the mainstream the faintest whisper reconciliation
Haiku Oz website published the following of my Aboriginal Australia haiku in an entry titled Top End Haiku – a report by Lyn Reeves in May, 2006.
blond boy chewing on green ants pepper crunch red earth in an old shower cap Uluru sunset
Long Ago ~ Koori Mail – 12th March 2008
long ago they dived for shellfish sat by campfire not long ago long ago they danced their stories collected berries not long ago long ago they lost their land lost their lives not long ago
Jodie Hawthorne 