MITSUAKI KOJIMA

　One by one, our beloved pink blossoms have all but fallen, leaving behind a wide blue sky. Where does the hue of this glorious, yet somehow melancholic color blue come from? Writing from Toronto, Marshall Hryciuk, past-president of Haiku Canada, says he found the source of this alluring color and shares his discovery in the form of a two-line poem.

it begins in the distance
a blue powder in the canyon air

　The Satsumasakura haiku circle meets each month in search of intriguing metaphors. The club's spring meeting was held at the height of the cherry blossom season in Kagoshima. A poem by Takaharu Mori who compared the dance of the falling petals to magic was selected as the favorite. An equally poignant haiku moment, however, was captured by the leader of the club who found inspiration in a simple stand of small blue flowers.

Refreshing
cherry petals dance
white magic

A dear friend
Canadian columbine
swinging in the wind

　Keiko Fukunaga tends a continental garden from which she picks the name of a flower to add metaphor to her craft. At the haiku meeting she denoted friendship in terms of the blue-flowered columbine. This North American member of the buttercup family grows along the Pacific region. East of the Rockies it blooms red. Tokyo writer Mickey Nasu also maintains a long-distance relationship with a friend in the United States. His haiku mirrors 1909, when Tokyo sent 11 varieties of sakura as a goodwill gift to Washington and received dogwood in return. Ali Miyazawa ponders the loss of such beauty.

Dogwood in bloom
trans-Pacific friendship
once again

Rare cherry
in Somei cemetery
for what reason

　The dogwood tree has showy flower clusters, shaped like a cross, which is sometimes likened to Christianity, although Anna Akamatsu and Tachibana Kennosuke chose different spring season words to deepen their lament for Pope John Paul II.

Pope is gone
a strong south wind blows
this spring road

Pope John Paul II
died in his tall dignity
forget-me-not

　The Meguro International Friendship Association held a meeting on April 9 to discuss haiku submitted from around the world. Haiku by Romanian writers were noteworthy, including one colored blue by Vasile Moldovan and one without color from Manuela Miga.

Blue lights ashore-
fog signals and the tinkling
of bluebells

A marvelous haiku
is haunting me-
blank paper

Want to try composing haiku ?

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