MITSUAKI KOJIMA

Haikuists control their passion when composing haiku. In the first haiku in the column dedicated to the Doll Festival in Japan (Hina Matsuri) Tatsuko Toshima implies she neither had a hina doll nor ever really was interested by them: Simple clay dolls are her preferred playmates.

What was not written by John Martone on the third line of the above haiku might resonate with many readers. His poem was penned as a six-syllable two-line poem. The next poem composed in Coventry, England, by K.P. Turner adheres to a more traditional 3-line format spread over 3-5-3 syllables. Turner employs a dash on the first line, whereas Thomas Canull uses ellipsis to represent words unsaid at the beginning of his third line.

Andrew Grossman combines haiga, artwork, with his haiku such as the next one about the modern work environment. He writes that his interest has turned overseas "to bring the work of Middle Eastern poets to the attention of American readers." His poem is followed by one by Ali Miyazawa who has retired from a job that took him around the world. Going by the pen name Ali Miyaz, to appear more Arabic, he says that he is relearning the Koran by reading its translations in Japanese and English.

While watching the Winter Olympics from her home in Nagoya, Barbara Casterline couldn't help feeling the pull of the shiny moon, "It's always strange to remember that we share the same full moon." Writing from Chiba, Reiko Nishimura similarly waxes poetic under the new moon.

Haiku poets Tenshi and Yushi Sakai combined translated haiku and a gallery of photos taken around the world into "Haiku to Shashin to HAIKU" printed Jan. 1, 2006, by Nihonbungakukan. Several of their poems have been published before in the Asahi Haikuist Network. The addition of photographs by these world travelers heightens the visual element for readers.

Lee Gurga, the editor of "Modern Haiku," rekindled the issue of whether it is possible to compose haiku in a language other than Japanese, when he spoke to members of Haiku International Association in Tokyo. His speech included haiku by Canadian LeRoy Gorman and by former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins.

Want to try composing haiku ?

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The next issue of the Asahi Haikuist Network appears March 18. Readers are invited to send haiku to David McMurray at the International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun 5-3-2 Tsukiji, Tokyo, 104-8011, or by fax to 03-5541-8539. -END-