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From crape myrtle to the old folk house cafe... iced coffee --Yutaka Kitajima (Joestu, Niigata)
Red hibiscus topped the crowd of green leaves the one-day queen --Kiyoshi Fukuzawa (Tokyo)
Givenchy! ah, eau de toilette young conceit --Masumi Orihara (Atsugi, Kanagawa)
White flags along the clothesline-- jasmine fragrance --Elisabeth Guichard (Lyon, France)
on the Bosphorus sailing into Asia Minor feeling young again --Liz Gibbs (Calgary, Alberta)
a sudden breeze bells take me back to where I have never been --Padraig O’Morain (Dublin, Ireland)
Asian Market the homeless woman’s soprano aria --Erin Castaldi (Mays Landing, New Jersey)
mango harvest... Asian koel’s koo amplifies --Nudurupati Nagasri (Hyderabad, India)
Ayutthaya temples-- the sound of past ages absorbed by silence --Marek Kozubek (Bangkok, Thailand)
an unexpected ceiling fan in the gutter-- the sound of crickets --J.D. Nelson (Lafayette, Colorado)
------------------------------ FROM THE NOTEBOOK ------------------------------
from the mixing bowl smiling at me-- a double yolk egg --Aki Yoshida (Sapporo)
The haikuist started a lucky day. Mario Massimo Zontini might have misread his morning horoscope in Parma, Italy.
Hot summer morning bad news in the newspaper-- a woman smiles at me
Murasaki Sagano recalled when her mother spent a little extra from the family budget to make a lunch memorable in Tokyo. Satoru Kanematsu visited Nagoya Castle.
A boiled egg on a primary school outing lilies of the valley
School outing kids seize the donjon with hushed cheers
C.X. Turner thanked her lucky stars in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
celebrating all the small wins forget-me-nots
Mio Sekiguchi was thrust into the limelight during her creative writing class at Hokusei Gakuen University in Sapporo.
for the first time in a while I’m in the spotlight brightening up from the dark
Megumi Okuda was a finalist in an English haiku contest at Seinan Jo Gakuin University in Kita-Kyushu.
The ashen sky hides the golden moon over dark clouds I miss the twinkling
Haikuists flocked home to watch yesterday’s full moon from open windows, balconies and patios. Ashoka Weerakkody plotted a flight trajectory to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Julia Guzman flew home as fast as she could to Cordoba, Argentina. Simona Brinzaru arrived safely in Bucharest, Romania.
almost home-- a flock of geese fly away
longest day vectoring over Indian Ocean flying west
the frog’s song in the deep night I’m home again
Guzman’s heart pumped in sync with a throbbing red-colored moon. Her haiku suggests that the moon has a warm and yielding heart at its core. This idea concurs with laser beam experiments revealing how gravitational tugs from Earth move the moon’s surface in and out.
blood moon-- in the silent night my heart beating
Sagano was enchanted by the eyes and long fingers of dance performers. Archie Carlos eyed his favorite dessert from the Philippines.
Bali dance vibration of gamelans to my fingers
halo-halo a taste of the rainbow on a hot day
Melanie Vance wrote this one-liner while gazing at the far horizon from under her bedspread in Dallas: ma’s bluebonnet blanket the color of Texas sky and sea.
Kanematsu took note of a horizontal band of blue over a band of yellow, so he dedicated his haiku to the enduring Ukraine flag. Nani Mariani whirled around Melbourne, Australia. Sagano found a moment of respite in Tokyo. In pale sunlight, Luminita Suse ironed summer clothes for a haiku that was originally printed in the “Haiku Society of America Members’ Anthology.”
Sunflowers under a blue sky missing peace
Birds scatter blown by a whirlwind sunflowers bloom
Sunflowers grief out of mind for the time being
gently pressing the sunflower yukata winter sun
The haikuist petro c.k. scored a slam dunk in Seattle, Washington.
evening sun above basketball court hang time
Judith Gorgone adopted some respectful manners from her time living in Kobe.
back home in the States-- sealing the deal on a new car we bow
Kanematsu was bothered by tiny gelatinous deposits floating across his field of vision. His nearsightedness was also tested by the tessellations drawn by Maurits Cornelius Escher (1898-1972).
Lone twilight-- phantom mosquitoes in my eyes
Spring twilight turning into fish Escher’s birds
Tzetzka Ilieva got down on her hands and knees on the longest day of the year in Marietta, Georgia.
not long enough to find a four-leaf clover-- solstice day
Bona M. Santos cleaned around her neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. Christina Chin watched an inherited home recolor in Kuching, Borneo.
clearing debris in my orbit-- year of the tiger
house painting the workers assemble bamboo scaffolding
Brinzaru shielded her eyes. Florin Golban looked out from his balcony.
the sleet, or the death of sakura petals? the same brightness
Orion and I on the balcony winter sky
Orihara reminds readers that “the term Far East Asia is a Western perspective, viewed from the universe it’s nothing but a dot on the blue planet.”
just a dot from the spaceship Far East Asia
Lee Nash relaxed on the patio at home in Poitou-Charentes, France: apero I set off the windchimes.
Robin Rich might have fallen asleep on the side of a hill in Sussex, England.
the side of a hill flowering camamilla steam from a tea flask
The next issue of the Asahi Haikuist Network appears on July 29. Readers are invited to send haiku about vegetable oils--sunflower, olive or coconut--on a postcard to David McMurray at the International University of Kagoshima, Sakanoue 8-34-1, Kagoshima, 891-0197, Japan, or by e-mail to (mcmurray@fka.att.ne.jp).
David McMurray has been writing the Asahi Haikuist Network column since April 1995, first for the Asahi Evening News. He is on the editorial board of the Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku, columnist for the Haiku International Association, and is editor of Teaching Assistance, a column in The Language Teacher of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT).
McMurray is professor of intercultural studies at The International University of Kagoshima where he lectures on international haiku. At the Graduate School he supervises students who research haiku. He is a correspondent school teacher of Haiku in English for the Asahi Culture Center in Tokyo.
McMurray judges haiku contests organized by The International University of Kagoshima, Ito En Oi Ocha, Asahi Culture Center, Matsuyama City, Polish Haiku Association, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Seinan Jo Gakuin University, and Only One Tree.
McMurray’s award-winning books include: “Teaching and Learning Haiku in English” (2022); “Only One Tree Haiku, Music & Metaphor” (2015); “Canada Project Collected Essays & Poems” Vols. 1-8 (2013); and “Haiku in English as a Japanese Language” (2003).
ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK/ David McMurray
ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK/ David McMurray
ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK/ David McMurray
ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK/ David McMurray
ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK/ David McMurray
ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK/ David McMurray
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