If there were more fools who count stars…
–Mirela Brailean (Iasi, Romania)
* * *
night bus
to the Milky Way–
leaving alone
–Florin Golban (Bucharest, Romania)
* * *
heavy traffic
the bus driver unscrews
your thermos
–Stephen Toft (Lancaster, England)
* * *
faint odor
of the night sky–
forsythia
–Helga Stania (Ettiswil, Switzerland)
* * *
after hunting
a tent in the mountains
full of starlight
–Goran Gatalica (Zagreb, Croatia)
* * *
two humans
against a small mosquito
there is no clean war
–Marie Derley (Brussels, Belgium)
* * *
A drop of pine falls
Two carp waving their tails
under the glow
–Jasper “wormwood” Martínez (Hidalgo, Mexico)
* * *
north of the pond
probably in quicksand
his soul remains
–Richard Bailly (Fargo, North Dakota)
* * *
loneliness
a walk in the snow
of spring
–Susan Bonk Plumridge (London, Ontario)
* * *
an old man ties me up
lady lace up and out
swaggers with confidence
–Jerome Berglund (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
——————————
OF THE NOTEBOOK
——————————
Parisian party…
James Joyce and Marcel Proust
speechless
–Ed Bremson (Raleigh, North Carolina)
The haikuist celebrated Bloomsday on June 16 and wondered why “Proust and Joyce met at a party but didn’t have much to say to each other.” James Joyce’s 1922 novel “Ulysses” tells the story of Leopold Bloom’s life in Dublin on June 16, 1904. Luciana Moretto lamented not having lived life to the fullest in Treviso, Italy.
unsealed letter
never shipped
I dare not bloom
Reading “Ulysses” in Jibou, Romania, Mircea Moldovan was inspired to compose a haiku about “the beach scene” in the 100-year-old story that he said was “full of eroticism.”
twilight rose
beyond the beach rock
wild flowers
Tomislav Maretic wrote to say that “his uncle Zvonimir lived in the same house” as James Joyce in Pula, Croatia, from 1904-1905. Every morning, the Irish author reportedly walked under a Roman arch to reach a tall building where he worked as an English teacher. This smooth-flowing poetic line from Joyce’s “Dubliners,” which was published in 1914, inspired Maretic’s haiku: “The light music of whiskey falling into glasses made a pleasant interlude.”
whiskey music
falling into glasses–
Arch of the Sergius
Vandana Parashar started her day early in Panchkula, India: a crack in the egg and dawn breaks.
Aki Yoshida prepared his morning haiku in Sapporo while reminiscing about the children’s story of Sambo, a boy who used his wits to survive after being stalked by tigers. Published in 1899 by Grant Richards (the firm that launched the James Joyce classics), Scottish author Helen Bannerman’s book was a hit in Japan when it was published in 1953. Still, the title was later pulled from shelves in 1988. for their racist stereotypes.
four running tigers
round and round all melted in
my pancake breakfast
Charlie Smith shared this haiku with his colleagues at the 50th meeting of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
new spike protein
another new mutant
tired of this novel
Minami Koyanagawa posed for a photo during her final year as a creative writing student at Hokusei Gakuen University in Sapporo.
a quiet classroom
chairs arranged in the gym,
white graduation album
Keith Evetts had a lovely day. Derley celebrated the day his “stepdaughter turned ten” in Ath, Belgium. Marilyn Ward took a deep breath in Scunthorpe, UK
spring
the labia
in its
* * *
Easter day
under Ella’s shirt
two small eggs
* * *
twelve candles
on the birthday cake
water glaze
In his stress management guide, “Mindfulness on the Go” (2014), Padraig O’Morain recommended counting 5-7-5 as a breathing technique: inhale slowly while counting to five, then exhale while counting to seven, and so on. “for a few minutes a few times a day.” Here is O’Morain’s haiku sent from Dublin dedicated to the Irish poet James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (1882-1941).
on every shelf
unfinished ulysses
yes i will read it yes
At last month’s Tech Games hosted for alumni during commencement ceremonies at MIT,
Smith’s math class won the haiku event 5-7-5 for this haiku.
discarded masks
daily garbage recycling
squirrel nest futons
Satoru Kanematsu made it 3-5-3 despite suffering from a spring cold that made it difficult for him to breathe.
vitamins–
counting syllables
spring fever
At the end of a long day in 1897, Natsume Soseki wrote this haiku about breathing out just before leaving his friend Masaoka Shiki behind in Matsuyama: nagaki hi ya akubi utsushite wakare yuku.
long spring day
an exchange of yawns…
our way
Prijono Tjiptoherijanto said a tearful goodbye in Jakarta, Indonesia.
crying eyes
leaving yesterday
a true old friend
Golban did not seem to mind his late trip. Evetts camped overnight. Berglund enjoyed a Sunday walk.
night bus
in the air
rhythm and blues
* * *
spring sunrise
a little dew
gets in the eyes
* * *
on sundays there is no one
the road, never difficult
enter the church
Carmela Marino counted seven days from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday in Rome, Italy.
hoping for
between seeds and shoots
seven sunsets
* * *
Holy Week
ants attend the funeral
of a seed
Luciana Moretto was revitalized listening to the rhythmic waves of Franz Schubert’s 1823 composition “To Sing on the Water” and reading Friedrich Leopold zu Stolberg-Stolberg’s swan song poem of the same name. Kanematsu rejoiced.
a miserable spring
the song “Over the water”
atmosphere of clarity
* * *
Hydrangeas–
our blessed planet
with water
Instead of water, Maretic suggested drinking Croatian red grape wine or Irish whiskey to celebrate the end of a long day. Mario Massimo Zontini sipped sunlit ruby red wine in Parma, Italy.
drinking with bloom
near the Arch of the Sergius–
Jameson or Teran?
* * *
hospital house
spring light in the kitchen:
I drink a glass of wine
Slobodan Pupovac saw a contender bite the dust in Zagreb, Croatia. Carl Brennan was horrified by his prowling cat in New York. Elena Malec mistook a flower for a butterfly in Irvine, California. Kiyoshi Fukuzawa was puzzled in Tokyo.
rodeo
the clumsy cowboy
swallow dust
* * *
manly assault
the fortress of flying leaves,
behead the mole king
* * *
collector’s frustration
snatching the net
of the lilac bush
* * *
pure honey hunting
How did you get to the food counter?
from Ukraine
Christopher Calvin found no answers in Kota Mojokerto, Indonesia.
winding clouds
imaginations… thoughts
why don’t they stop?
Richard Evanoff looked to his favorite news provider in Tokyo for a sign that something might be about to happen.
a blackbird
general expenses–
my herald
Isabella Kramer probably enjoyed a wonderland-like tea party outside her home in Nienhagen, Germany: milky clouds meeting Alice in my teacup.
Tsanka Shishkova hinted that there is no place like home in Sofia, Bulgaria: the freshly mown lawn enhances the feeling of home.
Jessica Allyson finally made it home after a long day in Ottawa, Ontario.
domestic cats…
I turn my key and
the scolding begins
————————————————– —————————
Meandering reflections in http://www.asahi.com/ajw/special/haiku/. The next issues of Asahi Haikuist Network appear on July 1, 15 and 29. You are invited to send a haiku related to Africa, Asia, or Australia in a postcard to David McMurray at Kagoshima International University, Sakanoue 8-34-1, Kagoshima, 891-0197, Japan, or email (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 a member of the editorial board of the Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku, a columnist for the International Haiku Association, and the editor of Teaching Assistance, a column in The Language Teacher of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT).
McMurray is a professor of intercultural studies at Kagoshima International University, where he lectures on international haiku. At the Graduate School he supervises students researching haiku. He is an English Haiku correspondent school teacher for the Asahi Cultural Center in Tokyo.
McMurray judges haiku competitions organized by Kagoshima International University, Ito En Oi Ocha, Asahi Cultural Center, Matsuyama City, Polish Haiku Association, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Seinan Jo Gakuin University, and Only One Tree .
McMurray’s award-winning books include: “Teaching and Learning Haiku in English” (2022); “Only One Tree Haiku, Music and Metaphor” (2015); “Canada Project Collected Essays & Poems” Vols. 1-8 (2013); and “Haiku in English as a Japanese Language” (2003).