Oct. 30, 2009

Autumn night
with mom as ashes
back at home

Seeking catharsis, Satoru Kanematsu sits in meditation during a long autumn night. A funeral urn rests in an honored place in his quiet home in Nagoya. The haiku contrasts the urn filled with ashes with a home filled with a lifetime of memories. In 11 syllables, the haiku moves us from the panorama of the heavens to the marking of a precious life, and leaves us at the cockles of the heart of a lonely man on earth.

Kanematsu penned this autumn haiku during the funeral.

Last farewell
filling mom's coffin
with white mums

Marjorie Buettner used to stand side by side with her sister in their kitchen singing "The Autumn Leaves" sung by Eva Cassidy before she passed away in 1996. She pens the following haiku in memory of the loved ones who have gone before us.

Remembrance season
a hint of your perfume
these autumn leaves

It has been a long afternoon for Junko Yamada.

Autumn butterfly
resting on a butterfly
deadly dull afternoon

Yukiko Yamada attended a track and field event at a neighborhood school in Tokyo. Grandparents were invited to take part in the activities. Raj Bose is looking forward to dishing out candies to the witches and goblins that knock at his door in Hawaii tomorrow evening.

Autumn fair
with dash and spirit
young and old

Total lunacy
under the Halloween moon
kids and tricks and treats

Leaves are at their zenith in Maryland, writes Margaret Mullins.

Children chase,
a sky full of dancing leaves
twirling down

Mickey Nasu has decorated his home in anticipation of Halloween. Andrzej Dembonczyk cares for a miniature deciduous tree in his home in Poland.

Miniature
jack-o'-lantern and
bonsai maple

Autumn
leaves have fallen
from the bonsai

Gautam Nadkarni recalls all the folktales he has heard under the silvery light of the moon.

The moon full--
filled with fairy tales
childhood returns

Paul Faust is pleased to report that he took the top prize in the 63rd Basho Festival for this poem about maple trees. Hidenori Hiruta admires the red maples around a lake near his home in Akita.

Misty maple shapes
even revealed by the dawn
remain mysteries

An old pond
reflecting red leaves
maple trees

Soematsu Isao marvels at the red reflections from a lake near his home in Nagoya.

Autumn leaves
shining on the mirror
of a still lake

Want to try composing haiku ?

Back numbers

Send haiku about autumn festivals by postcard to David McMurray at the International University of Kagoshima, Sakanoue 8-34-1, Kagoshima, 891-0197, Japan, or e-mail to <mcmurray@fka.att.ne.jp>. The next issue of the Asahi Haikuist Network appears Nov. 6. One haiku is selected for printing in the Asahi Haikuist column in the International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun on the first, third and fifth Fridays of the month.