March 2023: A year ago I was holidaying in Gisborne, staying at a great motel fronting Waikanae Beach. Images of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle last month have been almost unbelievable. Instead of a sandy beach, there was a forest of logs and ‘slash’ deposited by floods which, the television reporter said was so massed and large that she couldn’t possibly have got across to the water’s edge. And the same thing had happened in January after Cyclone Hale.

My very best wishes to all those affected by Cyclone Gabrielle in the North Island and heartfelt thanks to the volunteers and members of the military who have gone in to help. For others, practical help is by way of money, if you’re able, rather than goods. Read more at the Red Cross website.

This month’s article may be of some help to poets in these regions as they process their loss, trauma and anxieties with many roads still closed and places remaining cut off. Scott Mason offer us a consideration of how haiku can help us flourish. Contest listings have been updated to the end of May, including details of the NZPS International Haiku Contest. Don’t forget to check the Publications page as another source of outlets for your work, and see Haiku Happenings for information about a new journal and some recent books.

Until next time,
Sandra