Haiku ambassador visits NZ

Haiku poet Roberta Beary photographs one of the Haiku Pathway poems, from left, Catherine Mair, Jenny Fraser, Margaret Beverland, Frank Stella (Roberta's husband) and Bob Edwards. Photo/supplied

American haiku poet Roberta Beary is making a year-long journey around the globe and has been engaged by The Haiku Foundation in the US to act as its inaugural roving ambassador.

She was delighted to spend a day in Katikati touring the Haiku Pathway and having lunch with local poets.

For the first leg of their journey, Roberta and husband Frank Stella sailed from San Francisco to Auckland with stops in Hawaii, Samoa and Tonga.

The couple had put a visit to the Haiku Pathway top of their Kiwi adventure list.

"As far as I have a brief from The Haiku Foundation, it's to meet as many haiku poets as possible in the countries we're visiting," Roberta said. "Poets reaching out to poets is a great way to build a sense of community right across the English-speaking haiku world.

"Seeing the Haiku Pathway has been an ambition of mine for a long time so we kind of built our North Island trip around coming to Katikati. It's a really special thing for the town so I hope locals appreciate it. This is a day I will long remember."

Roberta, a retired finance lawyer, began to study and write haiku while living in Japan in the 1990s. Her first collection, The Unworn Necklace, is in its fourth reprint and was a finalist in the Poetry Society of America's William Carlos Williams Award - the first book of haiku to receive such recognition.

Local poets joining Roberta and Frank in Katikati were Haiku Pathway founder Catherine Mair, pathway committee president Margaret Beverland, Bob Edwards, Jenny Fraser (Mt Maunganui) and Sandra Simpson (Tauranga), while Catherine Bullock of Waihi attended the group lunch.

"We had a beautiful day out," Catherine said. "Roberta photographed every poem on the pathway and knows many of the poets so was thrilled to see their work here."

NICE SURPRISE: Visiting US haiku poet Roberta Beary was pleased to meet a boulder featuring a haiku by her good friend Jim Kacian. Photo/supplied

From New Zealand, Roberta and Frank visit Australia and Singapore before heading to Ireland which they plan to use as a base for exploring Europe.