This year the BHS Spring Gathering took place on Saturday, 10 May at Conway Hall, London. 

Morning session

— Meet and greet (tea and coffee)

— Haiga presentation by Iliyana Stoyanova on the History and Evolution of Haiga. The PowerPoint presentation included:

• Origins and Early Development
• The Edo Period and the Birth of Haiga
• Yosa Buson and the Maturation of Haiga
• Stylistic Influences and Aesthetic Principles
• Later Developments and Modern Haiga
• Common Themes in Haiga Poetry
• Techniques to Enhance Emotional Resonance in Haiga
• A gallery of traditional and modern haiga examples

Afternoon session

— ‘My Haiku Journey’ (incl. a tea and coffee break)

In this session, participants enjoyed an informal conversation about what drew each of them to the British Haiku Society and shared insights into their personal haiku journeys. This sparked a lively and engaging discussion, offering a wonderful opportunity for the poets to get to know each other better. Afterwards, each poet read two or three haiku or tanka—either award-winning pieces or poems they were especially proud of.

On the day there was also an opportunity to sell their own books.

Here are some of the poems which were shared in the afternoon session:

discrepancy –
sunlight streaming
across the accounts
— Andrew Shimield (Presence 50, July 2014)

solitary raindrop
glistening window
waiting for the rainbow
— Chris Southam (unpublished)

making the snow globe snow the child within
— David Jacobs (Runner-up in the 2019 BHS Awards – haiku section)

father’s gravestone
nobody else to remember
him bowling
— Howard Colyer (hedgerow #144, 2023)

forgetting the sunset
is still there
through the branches
of the apple tree
dad’s empty stare
— Iliyana Stoyanova (Time Haiku #51, Feb 2020 – Best of Issue Award)

Charing Cross
all eyes on the
robot cleaner
— Jane Reed (unpublished)

autumn leaves
our fishpond suddenly
has more koi
— Jenny Shepherd (Shadow Pond Journal: Issue 4, 19/12/2024)

homeless shelter
the scent of wildflowers
from a cracked vase
— Lori Kiefer (The Poetry Pea Podcast & Journal: Autumn/Winter 2023)

Before
behind
beyond
OM
— Neil Somerville (Temple, 2021 BHS Members’ Anthology)

online bakery                                                                  
I accept                                                                             
all cookies
— Nick T (Prune Juice Journal / Failed Haiku H. Gene Murtha Memorial Senryu Contest 2023 – Highly Commended)

star laden sky
on the long walk home
we crush the frost
— Paul Hickey (Blithe Spirit 21.1)

A London gridlock—
but still the drivers went from
Tooting to Barking.
— Sarah Lawson (The Wisteria’s Children, Hearing Eye, 2009)

a small rain
seals our talk
the walk home
— Susan Lee Kerr (The Walk Home, Alba Publishing, 2020)

Write-up and group photo by Iliyana Stoyanova