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MITSUAKI KOJIMA |
Yutaka Kitajima's poem tops the column with a haiku personifying the flight of a crow. With equal speed, Michael Corr ran to catch a last glimpse of the sun dipping into a pond colored by red leaves. Sagami Matsuda penned a similar scene by a pond reflecting golden ginkgo leaves.
Hurrying
for elusive sun
red maple
Golden thicket
upside down on the pond
shimmering
Unable to run, but eager to paint, Tatsuko Toshima brushed a delightful last look at autumn in Aomori, as did Serbian poet Jasminka Diordievic with graceful strokes of her pen.
Using up
all my color paints
autumn trees
Shadow of the bridge
covered by fallen leaves
the Danube
Hiromi Yamada joyfully marched through a forest in Osaka, whereas Satoru Kanematsu took more measured steps to savor the sounds of leaves whispering underfoot in Nagoya.
Withered leaves
I step on them
enjoying the sounds
Fallen leaves
whisper beneath my feet
step by step
Haikuist Anna Akamatsu says she received mochu hagaki, bereavement postcards. Mailed in November, the solemnly worded notices announce that the family in mourning won't be celebrating the New Year.
November
most of the postcards
mention sorrow
Charlie Smith mailed haiku about the loss of his poetry teacher.
Winter dusk
teacher of the heart
hand still warm
Misato Takizawa studies haiku with Lola Moriguchi, a professor of the University of Sacred Heart in Tokyo.
Brilliant moon
lighting up autumn
where are you?
A student of haiku in English at Meiji Gakuin University, Mikako Kikuchi deftly employs a simile to describe the autumn wind. Asuka Kan, who studies her craft at Tezukayama Gakuin Univeristy in Osaka, borrows a word in Japanese meaning a sliding door covered in paper to better emphasize the penetrating cold of a winter gust.
Autumn wind
entering my room
like a bird
The tea house
pitiless north wind
gap in the fusuma
Haiku written in as little as nine English syllables were selected as prizewinners at the Haiku International Association haiku contest on Nov. 23. Judge Kiuchi Toru selected the following pithy poem by Swedish poet Jurgen Johansson, and honorably mentioned Sandra Simpson in New Zealand for a poem crafted in 3-5-3 syllable format.
the earthworm
moves away
from itself
summer rain
on the washing line
five swallows
Want to try composing haiku ?
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The Asahi Haikuist Network will next appear Jan. 21-22. Please send haiku to David McMurray at the International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun, 5-3-2 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-8011.
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