Mitsuaki Kojima

　The coming and going of our haikuists-their travels, visits, and their grieving-is captured in their poetry this week. Saori Nakata is a sophomore at Tezukayama Gakuin University where she studies haiku in English. Perhaps she ventured down to the busy Osaka harbor to write her assignment for class. Shoji Sugisaka may have said the prayer he mentions in this next haiku at the port near to where he lives in Yokohama. It is followed by an equally endearing haiku about the first thing Joyce Arsnow saw when she returned from a trip away from her home in Adelphi, Maryland.

An iris
prayer for safe voyage
leaving ship

Arriving home
the last iris
waiting

　Miyuki Murakami is also a student of haiku in English at Tezukayama Gakuin University. She just finished a course along with two classmates, Kuniko Ogura and Matsuyo Sato, who composed the next poems respectively. At first reading, it might seem like Sato seems happy that it is the last lecture. Upon reflection, it seems more likely that she is treasuring every moment of the class that has made her more keenly aware of nature.

Today, too
water lily blossoms
have faded

Last lecture
gardenias more fragrant
on campus

　The next poem by Keiko Fukunaga of Kagoshima who leads the Satsumasakura haiku club, is also filled with perfumed scent.

Darkened room
gardenia scent
sets mind back

　Charlie Smith in Raleigh, North Carolina, seems to imply there is nothing better than a piece of rosy watermelon and sunset to top off a picnic.

Pastel clouds
red watermelon
ends picnic

　Takaharu Mori says he takes tea as a gift when he visits his parents this time of year.

On the way
to mom and dad's home
new green tea

　In the closing haiku this week, Lorne Henry of Branxton, Australia, shares her feeling that ``There's simply nothing like that hard-earned cuppa.'' After a long day she likes to quietly relax on her verandah and enjoy a great cup of coffee.

Hard day's work
in blustery wind
ah for that cuppa

Want to try composing haiku ?

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Readers are encouraged to send haiku for the month of June to David McMurray at the Asahi Haikuist Network, International Herald Tribune / Asahi Shimbun, 5-3-2 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-8011 and by fax to 03-5541-8539. The Asahi Haikuist Network also appears in color at .