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MITSUAKI KOJIMA |
After a long hot summer in Tokyo, the sudden arrival of autumn on the September equinox caught Mickey Nasu off guard. However, J.D. Heskin says that he has felt autumn coming to his home in Duluth, Minnesota, for some time now.
From nowhere
scent of fragrant olives
autumn on the doorstep
The weatherman
declares it is autumn--
something I knew
In Niigata, Yutaka Kitajima has been watching skyward for signs of autumn and wrote a haiku about a plane demarcating the end of summer and the start of autumn. Although she isn't able to travel far from her home in northern Japan, Toshiko Toshima dreams about it.
A contrail
halves the summer sky
in one stroke
My mind
traveling
vapor trail
Red dragonflies carry autumn on their wings. These harbingers are currently buzzing all around Japan. Hidehito Yasui can't seem to tame them in Osaka, but Toshima has been able to coax them a bit in Aomori.
Red dragonflies
none of them perching
fingertips
Hovering
amiable dragonflies
come closer
The beauty of its leaves, the size and brightness of its flowers, and the unique scent of the chrysanthemum make it the most prominent plant of the season according to Master poet Masaoka Shiki.
The season may be measured by our distance from the sun, but the moon is the key measure of the autumn for poets.
Tsuki mo ari kigiku shiragiku kururu aki
There the moon
and white, yellow mums
autumn goes
Romanian poet Eduard Tara knows the ancient Milky Way is most clearly seen and deeply felt in October. Mototaka Yamakawa may have heard a meteor wailing the declassification of what used to be the farthest planet in our solar system.
Antiquities
in the shop window
autumn stars
Pluto's sigh
audible
on autumn wind
Finish poet Riitta Rossilahti hunted for wild raspberries, blueberries and lingonberries on the first day of autumn.
Flickering light--
playing hide and seek
wild raspberries
The Southern California Haiku Study Group held a haiku competition on the first day of autumn, reports Deborah P. Kolodji from Temple City. The sun is often taken for granted, but when it begins to wane in strength from September poets take note. A flock of pelicans seemed to take part.
Row of pelicans
on the anchor line
a poet's audience
Charlie Smith attended a fall meeting of the North Carolina Haiku Society to confirm that next year's Haiku North America conference will be held Aug. 15-19 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Soap bubbles
blown so far away
bursting dreams
Want to try composing haiku ?
Back numbers
The next issue of the Asahi Haikuist Network appears Oct. 21. Send haiku to David McMurray at the International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun, 5-3-2 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-8011, by fax to 03-5541-8539, or by e-mail to ＜is@asahi.com＞.
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