old snow the layers of silence within
--Hifsa Ashraf (Rawalpindi, Pakistan)

* * *

slice of gingerbread--
the old town cold
and crisp
--David Cox (Kaunas, Lithuania)

* * *

swirling snow
the doorman’s dance
to stay warm
--John Pappas (Boston, Massachusetts)

* * *

Frosty morn--
Doberman pinscher’s
pointy ears
--Satoru Kanematsu (Nagoya)

* * *

A stray dog
bathed in a circle of sunlight…
winter warmth
--Yi-Fang Cao (Kaohsiung, Taiwan)

* * *

clovers in the grass…
a dog’s ball bridges the distance
between us
--Kyle Sullivan (Kaohsiung, Taiwan)

* * *

moment of tension
between a cat and a dog
the ice breaks
--Maciej Falinski (Zakopane, Poland)

* * *

change of status
let the gossip
begin
--Roberta Beach Jacobson (Indianola, Indiana)

* * *

I think often
how not to think...
daphne flowers
--Angiola Inglese (Rapallo, Italy)

* * *

homeward commute
evening newspapers
left on the train
--Keith Evetts (Thames Ditton, U.K.)

------------------------------
FROM THE NOTEBOOK
------------------------------

the lead’s last efface
on the left of the small stage…
winter stillness
--Jade Lee (Kaohsiung, Taiwan)

The haikuist, an English literature professor at National Kaohsiung Normal University, noted how acting demurely at the end of a ballet may not always be the easiest of duties to perform when the audience shouts “Bravo! Encore!” Emil Karla had thought the party was over in Paris, France.

the end
and then another round
crossing the date line

At a haiku writing workshop held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Natasha Kilian softly read this haiku about being attracted to the sound of wings.

a countryside breeze
follows her fading footsteps…
songless cicadas

James Penha was inspired by John Keats’ 1818 passionate declaration of an undying, constant love, that ends with this line: “And so live ever--or else swoon to death.”

Keats’s bright star
fell in February--
dared not wait for spring

The historical drama “Shogun” has won four Golden Globe prizes, including best television series, and 18 Emmy Awards. The film’s leading actor, Hiroyuki Sanada, often speaks highly of all the masters who carried on the samurai tradition in feudal Japan, noting the passion and dreams that have been inherited have now crossed oceans and borders. Yutaka Kitajima has learned how to survive harsh winters in snowbound Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture. Govind Joshi admired the cascading flow of generations in Dehradun, India.

Among the branches
the size of a basketball...
a turtledove curled up

* * *

mountain village
grandmother heats snow
to warm mother’s feet

Kanematsu wrote a hopeful wish on a wooden votive tablet and tied it carefully onto an evergreen branch of camellia at a nearby shrine. Higo camellias were cherished in feudal times by samurai families for their golden sunburst-patterns (ume-jin, meaning the plum’s soul) of showy stamens nestled atop flat deep red petals. Olivier-Gabriel Humbert followed this Japanese rite in Les Avenieres, France.

Sasanqua--
hanging secretly
love ema

* * *

first buds
poems on tree branches
for the spirits

The brave winter flowers can be found blooming at gravesites, monasteries and shrines. Kanematsu reminds readers that when the whole camellia flower falls its thud can be likened to a beheaded samurai’s head.

“Watch your step”
fallen camellia’s
silent scream

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) compared a falling red flower to the noble death of a swordsman when he composed this line: ochizama ni mizu koboshikeri hana tsubaki

Falling upon earth,
pure water spills from its cup
the camellia

Murasaki Sagano hung her precious silk kimono and obi on the wall in a tatami room of her home--noting “the camellias tapestry made it a gorgeous room. It was a splendid change!” Emboldened, the normally demure haikuist tried to leverage her luck by praying twice at different shrines in Tokyo.

Kimono with
the four seasons’ flower pattern
New year’s garden

* * *

The year of the snake
a visit to two shrines
each with a different wish

Melissa Dennison followed this year’s fashion trend in Bradford, England.

coiled around my neck
a favourite scarf
with snakeskin print

Bonnie J. Scherer swore to keep silent in Palmer, Alaska.

bearing my soul
like never before
my secrets will keep

Fatma Zohra Habis spoke aloud in Algiers, Algeria.

snowy mountain
warm
your name’s echo

Rita R. Melissano watched someone slowly disappear in snowy Rock Island, Illinois.

your face
fading beyond a soft veil
early snowflakes

Teiichi Suzuki squinted as the winter of his life faded into a monochrome sketch of memory.

Flurry of leaves
passersby become
shadows

Attending a funeral in Glengarriff, Ireland, Maire Morrissey Cummins found solace in a panoramic view.

the lid placed
on his coffin
snow-capped mountain

* * *

the wider view
as winter deepens
expanse of snow

Sherry Reniker lives in view of snowy mountains and Blue Origin, an American aerospace manufacturer, in Kent, Washington. Ron Scully can see the blue ocean from Burien, Washington. A script writer in Canterbury, England, Alan Maley found inspiration at the edge.

snowball fights
across datelines
satellite moons

* * *

the snowflake
that finishes what the storm
started

* * *

here at the sea’s edge,
the sky vast, the only sound
the rasp of shingle…

Grabbing woolen mittens and a toboggan, Jessica Allyson ran to ride the ridges being carved up and down the snowy streets of Ottawa, Canada.

tantivy!
the snowplows announce
their arrival

Monica Kakkar surveyed a resilient archipelago. Tejendra Sherchan praised a winter climber in Kathmandu, Nepal.

island to island
unwavering in freedom…
Year of the Wood Snake

* * *

orange trumpet vine
spreads all over my city
resilient as the winter

Ana Drobot entered a time and place in Bucharest, Romania, that she had thought had been relegated to the past, in effect creating a historical fiction haiku.

queuing at the store--
I read on my phone
about the gold rush

Beach Jacobson is the author of “Demitasse Fiction: One-Minute Reads for Busy People.”

encouraging us
to believe tall tales
fake accounts

Dina Towbin might have offered French chocolates to a friend on Valentine’s Day in Washington, D.C. Chen-ou Liu offered trivial and soothing words again and again at New Year’s in Ajax, Ontario.

Lover’s deceit
Bask in friendship renewed
Whiff of love peut-etre

* * *

auld lang syne...
white lie after white lie
as we toast the days

Mauro Battini stood her ground in Pisa, Italy.

late autumn--
chewing on the word elderly
in front of the policeman

Dennison discovered a love nest in Bradford, England. Hla Yin Mon imagined a spring love in Yangon, Myanmar.

weaving another twig
into the nest...
spring affair

* * *

make-believe
an early spring on my windowsill
the soft coo coos

Penha wrote to say that he is “glad to be an expat in Bali, Indonesia.”

shining on the hill
homeland of liberty--
in remembrance

Noting, “Belgium is again without government,” Marie Derley “simply emptied a can of tomatoes; mixed shrimps with mayonnaise; seasoned it with salt and pepper…delicious!”

Belgian tradition
fewer shrimps in the tomato
caretaker government

Suzuki longs for the childhood tastes of his hometown in Eiheiji, Fukui Prefecture. Haruka Mukoda, one of Aaron Ozment’s haiku students at the International University of Kagoshima, was looking forward to celebrating the holy day of Shrove Tuesday on March 4.

Baked rice cake
on an iron fireplace
savor of old home

* * *

Flour, eggs, milk, all rise
fluffy pancakes must await--
discount bread in the cart

Unable to get back to sleep, Carl Brennan put on headphones and turned up the sound in North Syracruse, New York.

Pounding winds wake me
to a nightmare called Winter--
Tchaikovsky’s “Manfred”

Writing from Osijek, Croatia, Gordana Kurtovic resolved to face strong winds this year. Writing from Spain, Eva Limbach admits she feels “unsure about the future.”

turbulent year
my haiku collection
still in preparation

* * *

thunderous waves
the pros and cons of
striking out for home

Giuliana Ravaglia ran as fast as she could in Bologna, Italy. Lingbing Kong won an honorable mention in Kagawa University’s haiku competition judged by Ian Willey, who noted the “haiku offers a rare and charming picture of a researcher reflecting upon his work.”

running in a wind
that ruffles the hair--
sea breeze

* * *

White hair and fair skin
My time, your life for research
Little mice in the lab

Jerome Berglund dared to impress his buddies in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

rite of
passage drinking from
the river

Masumi Orihara read an elegy to “the closest friend of my family… a dreamer who enjoyed watching old cowboy movies… looking forward to living in nature.”

departure at dawn
last Bonanza episode
in search of his dream

Mario Zontini paused for a moment in Parma, Italy.

silent morn
the first sparrow sings
for awhile

Kakkar’s writing felt frozen in Himachal Pradesh, India.

plow through writer’s block--
tucked between two teahouses
snow in the shadows

Timothy Daly tucked snuggly into bed in Bordeaux, France.

snowdrift
under the heavy blanket
my joy

Cox wrote a tribute to the black veiled sisters of a convent church. Ruth Esther Gilmore listened in
Lower Saxony, Germany.

Benedictine--
the old town caped
in shadow

* * *

snowy waterfalls
the tea house eavesdrops
on the music

Rob Scott felt a presence at home in Melbourne, Australia.

following me
into the bedroom--
her absence

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next issues of the Asahi Haikuist Network appear Mar. 7 and 21. Readers are invited to send haiku about “cats in love” or “tears in the rain” on a 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).

* * *

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).