MITSUAKI KOJIMA

Longer afternoons and rising temperatures have enticed birds, blossoms and best friends back onto Anna Akamatsu's rooftop garden in Kawasaki.

Chattering
on the roof-terrace
days grow long

Hemmed in by snow in Niigata, Yutaka Kitajima can't wait until spring. The crows don't seem to mind the snow though: Their unmistakable harsh raucous calls echo eerily across the barren snow. Even meaner sounding crows lurk in city parks all winter long writes Rick Kelly from New York.

Aren't you tired
of the same snowfield?
crows cawing

Caw, caw cuts the air
black fluttering in the trees
a murder of crows

Kitajima's haiku is penned in a 3-5-3 syllable form, Kelly's in 5-7-5. Both haikuists use onomatopoeia to intensify the sounds of these big black birds in winter. Onomatopoeia is the direct representation of the sounds of nature with the sounds of the human voice. For haiku, how the poet composes something is often more important than what is said. Listen to the cheerful mood of the Japanese language penned in 3-5-3-5 syllables by the haikuist Santoka (Shoichi Taneda 1882-1940): Azami azayakana asa no ame agari.

Thistle shines
the morning after
dripping rain

Writing haiku in snowbound Illinois, John Martone says this winter his poems have been inspired by reading Santoka's poetry.

Waking
& sleeping
snow

Migrating birds flying north along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard were struck by a snowstorm last week. In Maine, Bruce Ross spotted two small finches protecting themselves from the heavy snow. The junco is a pretty little bird with pink bill, ashy gray head and conspicuous white lateral tail feathers.

Spring snow
with their heads tucked
two juncoes

No snow has fallen in Tokyo this winter, an event not seen since 1876. This anomaly may have changed bird migration patterns writes Shizuka Suzuki.

Never-seen-before
what brought you here bird?
warm city

Reiko Nishimura dedicates her poem to the poultry farmers who have been struggling all winter to protect their flocks from catching influenza carried by wild birds.

Tender rain
though hens cluck as usual
flu sneaks in

Country farmers in Yugoslavia lead a lonely life during the winter, but Sasa Vazic offers a poem suggesting they have many friends to communicate with come spring.

Dragging along
the dirt road, a farmer whistles
back to the birds

Whether she is writing haiku at her desk or cooking in her kitchen, Lorne Henry loves to listen to music.

Smell of boiled broccoli
on the radio
a string quartet

Want to try composing haiku ?

Back numbers

The next issue of the Asahi Haikuist Network appears March 17 in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. Readers are invited to send green 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>.