We had a birthday two days ago, on the 11th of June.
A year before, Reinhardt Voges, Kimberley Hing and I sat at Cocoa Oola in Kloof Street, plotting and planning a haiku society for Jan van Riebeeck. A crazy idea whose time had come, I thought.
And so it came to pass.
First, the genesis of a single haiku. Then two, then four, then eight -- well, you get the idea. We, the pupils and I, have written many haiku since then, covering many minute inspirations, from the mundane beauty of nature, to the exquisite pain of emotional hurt. Ah, life's rich fabric.
We're not stopping. At some point, down the line, I think of publishing the best of these haiku [i.e., all of them] in real, paper, book form. Give us another year or ten [as long as the internet lasts, Homer Simpson's cynicism notwithstanding...].
It's been a wonderful trip so far, boys and girls. And, journey-wise, we've hardly left Cape Town, on our way to Cairo!
See you all in the next installment of 17 syllables, and a merry Mazel Tov to us all! [Mossie, Riekert, Cameron -- you're up.]
-- Hein Mönnig [Staff: English Department, 11 June 2016]
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