Verona's summer
the pearls of a dewy dream
across his forehead
--Virginie Colline (Paris)
* * *
Second summer--
still lovely without you
the dark wood
--Steven Carter (Arizona)
* * *
River gathering
rowboats moored on the beach
one missing
--Mario Massimo Zontini (Parma, Italy)
* * *
Spring puddle--
a piece of the sky
between us
--Marek Kozubek (Poland)
* * *
Flitting dream world
between butterfly and man
chrysalides
--Hamish Montgomery (Glasgow, Scotland)
* * *
Summer dream
counting butterflies
neighbour’s garden
--Ramesh Anand (India)
* * *
Rainy day ...
a yellow butterfly
completes the quilt
--Ramona Linke (Germany)
* * *
Father heaps praise
on the quilt’s color scheme
he cannot see
--Valeria Barouch (Switzerland)
* * *
Fresh verdure
climbing up mountains
day by day
--Yutaka Kitajima (Joetsu, Niigata)
* * *
Art display
handwritten invitation
just one line
--Kiyoshi Fukuzawa (Tokyo)
----------------------
From the notebook
----------------------
American Museum:
picturing those women
quilting in unison
--Helen Buckingham (Bristol, U.K.)
The haikuist nods to the determination of American women in celebration of Independence Day on the Fourth of July. German poetess Ramona Linke comfortably nods off to sleep under a bedspread covered in Stars and Stripes.
Dreamtime ...
shrouded in a quilt
of stars
The world’s first novel makes for good bedtime reading, according to Junko Yamada. Satoru Kanematsu admires how Gustav Klimt inlaid gold leaf when he painted “The Kiss” in 1907. His painting method required lengthy sittings by his attractive subjects.
Nodding wisteria
an untold love affair
Tale of Genji
* * *
Vernal bliss
Lady Klimt painted
dressed in gold
Pity Kanematsu and his neighbors in Nagoya: From first light until late at night heavy trucks and trains shake, rattle and roll their homes. Does his haiku make your neck cringe at the feel of the summer dust and the heat?
Early dawn
the first train rattles
my small house
* * *
Midday heat
speeding trucks rattle
the small house
Asako Utsunomiya can’t rest in Hiroshima. Cezar F. Ciobica and Junko Yamada are stirred in their dreams. Hidehito Yasui is so happy with his dream he doesn’t want to wake up.
Naughty cat
jumping on the quilt
awakened from a doze
* * *
Planning the wedding--
a midsummer night's dream
among crickets
* * *
Midsummer Night’s Dream
Bon dancing of the dead
tsunami ruins
* * *
Heat shimmers
driving a Ferrari
summer dream
Murasaki Sagano roots for her favorite team.
Japan Blue
trophy in their hands
summer dream
Yuji Hayashi can’t sleep soundly enough to dream. T.D. Ginting creates a poem with a first line you will probably read twice.
A prelude
a chorus of frogs
a dreamless sleep
* * *
The (c)old pond--
frog on lily pad;
the ripple
Kenlay Friesen was distracted by a bulbous, sunburned nose in Sapporo. Stephen Le Page admires balls of algae growing in Australia. Helen Buckingham visits a major tourist attraction built 2,000 years ago. Unfortunately the water that flows through the Roman baths today is unsafe for bathing.
Sunglasses,
vermillion nose--
Oh, it’s you!
* * *
Bulbous algae
‘neath shimmering shadows
black rock’s reef
Bathing in the open air
"Roman Baths" ...
British rain on our faces
The next issue of the Asahi Haikuist Network appears July 20. Readers are invited to send haiku about lakes and forests on a postcard to David McMurray at the International University of Kagoshima, Sakanoue 8-34-1, Kagoshima, 891-0197, Japan, or e-mail to (mcmurray@fka.att.ne.jp).
* * *
David McMurray has been writing the Asahi Haikuist Network column since April 1995, first for the Asahi Evening News. He is also the editor of OUTREACH, a bi-monthly column featuring international teachers in The Language Teacher of the Japan Association for Language Teacher (JALT).
McMurray is professor of intercultural studies at The International University of Kagoshima where he lectures on international haiku. At the Graduate School he supervises students who research haiku. He is a correspondent school teacher of Haiku in English for the Asahi Culture Center in Tokyo.
McMurray judges haiku contests organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Asahi Culture Center, Matsuyama City, and Seinan Jo Gakuin University.
McMurray's books include: "Canada Project in Kyushu" Vol. 1 (2006) - Vol. 7 (2011), Pukeko: Fukuoka; "Haiku in English as a Japanese Language" (2003), Pukeko: Kitakyushu; and "Hospital Departmental Operations - A Guide for Trustees and Managers," Canadian Hospital Association: Ottawa, Canada.
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