NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

A literary magazine for writers of haiku and other verse. A4 format with 56 pages devoted to a variety of poetry. At first glance, it is apparent that it is littered with experienced poets and that good poets from around the world are made welcome along with their Australian colleagues.

There is an editorial, and then there are pages of winning poems from the competitions. There are sections on haibun, haiku, tanka, haiku sequences, nature poetry, limericks, cinquains, "idyll", humorous/nonsense verse, tetractys, and a "Chaucerian challenge". There are also some articles and reviews.

First place in the haiku contest goes to Ron Moss:

	stargazing —
	the outback camp oven
	glows red

	snowflakes . . .
	the dark symmetry
	of her eyelashes

There is a fine collection of tanka poems and in first place is Max Ryan's poem:

	six months
	after she's gone
	drinking from her mug
	the camomile tea
	no longer bitter

The nature, idyll and tetractys poems are a little variable in quality. By concentrating on theme, and structure, they are tending to be descriptive and literal; without quite the same superb depth and allegorical qualities as the tanka and haiku. Nevertheless, there are some interesting poems here. The winning poems presented in this issue's Chaucerian challenge section are in the traditional style with couplets. Joint first places goes to Jan Thomas and Len Green. THE FOSTER MOTHER, by Jan Thomas is a poem about hardship, and the way the foster mother ends up alone. It opens with:

	She found herself in nineteen thirty four,
	A widow, aged some fifty years or more.
	Depression years had left the coffers lean,
	The wolf was at the door, the landlord mean.

I pause for a moment, then walk away with the remnants of a life in a shopping bag. Alone.

	twilight
	a loose kite
	adrift

Yellow Moon is a literary magazine that is packed full of poetry, particularly shorter verse forms such as haiku, tanka, cinquains and tetractys. It is beautifully illustrated with Pim Sarti's line drawings of Australian plants and wildlife. The contents are made up of winning poems from the publications' competitions and are accompanied by useful and insightful adjudications from the judges. Most of the contributors are Australian, although some of the competitions were open to international writers.

The contents of this issue open with the winning haibun (a form made up of prose and haiku). Many of these are haibun of place, being set in locations as diverse as Venice, Havana and WOOMERA DETENTION CENTRE, where Ron Moss feels moved by seeing the centre on the tv:

	tightly curled
	the little boy's fingers
	through the fence

	distant snow — 
	in the quince tree
	a tiny leaf

The publication then moves on to haiku sequences. Again considering the rarity of the 'haiku moment' then a haiku sequence can seem like a contradiction in terms. There are few sequences here that seem to capture that essence of the form, though there are some pleasing portrayals of landscapes and some fine individual haiku, such as this one from AMONG THE TREES by Doris Reeve:

	drifting breeze
	an old gum tree brushes
	the sky

	cloud on horizon
	as red dust rises
	above a mob of sheep

We then move onto Nature Poetry, which has a particularly useful adjudication from Ruth Strachan, who not only introduces the poems but makes perceptive notes about each individual prize winning and highly commended poem. There are some excellent poems here, such as WINTER LEMONS, Alun Drysdale's deservedly First Placed poem. This poem possibly teeters in the edge of pretentiousness but rescues itself with the beautiful aptness of its imagery:

	Beacons
	lighthousing, their bright touch
	saviours
	a colourless garden.

	moths work
	silence best, bedevilled

	by light.

The poetry sections continue with QUIET PLACES IN THE CITY, poems about urban retreats; WAXING LYRICAL — love poems in traditional form and free verse; Limericks, Humorous Poetry and Tetractys. There is also an article on the tanka writer Nobuyuki Kobayashi, also known as ISSA.

All in all, Yellow Moon is full of good poetry and is of particular interest to anyone who enjoys shorter poetry. I must admit that I prefer to read short poems a few at a time and this publication offers almost too much! At least it can be noted that it is generally too much of a good thing! The contents of Yellow Moon are well worth reading.

Yellow Moon started life in 1997 under the editorship of Patricia Kelsall. Beverley George took over with issue #9. This is now the last issue. The editor writes

Some may ask why fix what ain't broke? My feeling is that Yellow Moon has reached some sort of plateau. In many ways it has achieved what it set out to do which was to build bridges between haiku and mainstream poets, to foster skills in writing fixed form poetry and to introduce more Australian poets to the delights of writing haiku and tanka. I think it is now time for all of us to move on.

	size 6
	my mind squeezes
	her out of it

	dogless ...
	this summer
	I walk my shadow

Several pages are devoted to the cinquain. I must confess that Adelaide Crapsey's invented form doesn't hold much appeal for me; most of the examples here seem quite skilfull wordplay but don't thrill me as poetry.

Idylls, clerihews, humourous or nonsense verse and tetractys are the other poetry forms included in the magazine. Some of the clerihews are a bit linguistically twisted and unfunny but I like Peg Vickers':

	Picasso would draw
	The ladies he saw
	In unconventional cubes
	With more than two boobs.

	... we yearn for taste, not clutter

Whilst in some ways the magazine is indeed cluttered, there are quite a lot of very tasty morsels to be found therein.

Beverley is not resting on her editorial laurels, but rather being less eclectic and concentrating on one particular form, tanka with a new magazine called Eucalypt. We wish her well.