MITSUAKI KOJIMA

Haikuists express differing views of a mother's love in their poems this week. Kamakura-based Junko Yamada prays for her mother's strength. A prolific writer based in Nagoya, Satoru Kanematsu, penned his poem for a daughter-in-law who is going to have a baby this May.

Mother's love
steady
winter sunset

Now and then
unborn child nudges her
plum blossoms

Romanian poet Vasile Moldovan dedicates his poem to his grandmother. Yukiko Minami penned a poem about the red camellia, tsubaki in Otaru, Hokkaido, which bloom even in the deep snow.

Valentine's Day--
in grandma's hair
red flower
Wearing red
camellia blooms in snow
waiting for a kiss

John Martone compares the impression of a handprint in the snowfields near his Illinois home to the handprints made by cavemen living in what is now Europe during the Stone Age. Snow caught Yuji Hayashi and his students off guard in Kita-Kyushu.

A paleolithic
handprint
in snow

Heavy snow
every class canceled--
a snowman

The Southern California Haiku Study Group met this month at the Pacific Asia Museum, that was also the venue for a Japanese cultural festival according to Deborah Kolodji who says the "taiko drums proved very inspirational to those of us writing haiku." Dennis Holmes found his haiku blooming from a tree while he was out for a walk near his home in Silver Creek, Georgia.

Courtyard drums
I try to write about
wild mushrooms

Winter mushrooms
bloom on a tree stump--
noontime walk

Maltese poet Francis Attard sent the following poem along with his heartfelt opinion for colleagues that, "Whether work is accepted or rejected, it is definitely the sort of feedback which is of untold help for one who aspires to improve and write better."

Freezing wind
ozone in the news
camphor trees

Belgian composer Leo Bonjean submitted his haiku to the column modestly noting that English is his second language. His gentle concept of love can be felt keenly, even when presented in just 11-syllables. Finnish poet Riitta Rossilahti sent two versions of her poem about different points of view to choose from, noting "I am not a native speaker of English." Her alternate first line was longer: Two crows looking. Her 11 syllables provide the reader with a poetic panoramic view.

Seen you smile
talk of grandchildren
garden toys

Two crows face
opposite directions
birch stump

Want to try composing haiku ?

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The next issue of the Asahi Haikuist Network appears March 3, in celebration of the Hina Matsuri, the doll's festival. Readers are invited to send haiku, for review 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>.