PARTICIPANTS
of WHF2002/Basho
Journey/Kamakura-Kyoto Options |
 |
Haiku
Treasure Trove is a feature designed to present relatively unknown haiku poets,
as well as excellent haiku and related poetry, whether by known or unknown
authors, which has not been widely read or even seen by others than the author
and perhaps, a few close friends or family members. We also wish to create a
stronger bridge between haiku poets and non-haiku poets, as well as those poets
who write in several genres, haiku being just one of the forms of their
interest.
In
this issue, in honor of Meiji haiku poet, Ishii Rogetsu of Akita, Japan, and the
WHF2002/Basho Journey/Kamakura-Kyoto options, World Haiku Review presents haiku
and haiku-inspired poetry by some of the participants in the September events.
Visnja
McMaster, Zagreb, Croatia
Between
seasons:
departing summer
-
birds are soaring and fishes dive
away from the cold
Returning to
Japan:
time to go -
images from other times
ever clearer
time to go -
background of cherry blossoms
to leaves turning gold
time to go -
is it the line that trembles
or the well-known voice?
Etsuko
Yanagibori, Saitama-ken, Japan
Viewing the
Sea of Japan:
Susukisaka umi
hetomukai arukunari
The path
Of Japanese pampas grass
I walk to the sea
Umimieshi
okanouenite nogikutsumu
On the top of
Sea viewing hill
I pick the wild chrysanthemum
at
Yuwa town, Akita:
Tsukinoen
Akitakomachino obakobushi
Moon viewing party
Akita beatiful ladies
Singing Obako folksong
Michinokuya
tomotodeaino tsukimizake
Northern
country;
meeting with my friends
for a full-moon sake party
Harvest
season,
drinking new sake with you;
warm friendship
at
Omono River:
In
golden rice-waves,
the Omono River
flows into the sea
Bruce Ross,
Maine, USA
at
Matsushima:
Matsushima
even the dried-out bonsai
have their beauty
at Mount
Hagura
Hagura-san
again the dragonfly hovers over
the same pond weeds
at Ungan-ji
Ungan-ji
on each needle of the old pine
a drop of rain
hollyhocks
in turn the grasshopper's antennae
up and down
at a bamboo
grove:
(winner in an informal Basho Journey kukai)
morning rain
a bamboo fence to hold in
a bamboo grove
Daniel
Gallimore, Oxford, UK
at
Gassan:
winter-promising
winds on Moon Mountain the coach
waiting silently
at
Mogami River:
river
captain asks
"How is it?" gentle
Mogami River
at
a waterside:
clouds
reflecting
sandy beaches waiting for
the party to begin
Alan
J Summers, Bristol, UK
outside
Kobe:
the
end of summer
tsukutsuku-bôshi heard
at suma temple
near
Ashino:
saigyo's
willow -
the sound of purple
with a tiny frog
at Yamadera:
drifting
mist
my eyes reach the hilltops
searching for Basho
Brian
Selby, Oxford, UK
various
places in Japan:
cuddling
arms 'round legs
on steps centuries old
I learn humiliation
Poems
on gravestones
and cenotaphs
in wealthy someone's garden
honour death with money
fading
flowers
reap the dying
Other:
September
hay waits
to be moved while casually
looking beautiful
Waiting
to be moved
September's new big hay bales
just can't run away.
Shorter
days, more rain
leave things not done, with loose ends.
Tie, cut or forget.
Tim
Hornyak, Tokyo, JP
at Gyokuryu-ji,
near Yuwa town, Akita:
(Rogetsu Isshi's burial place)
Withered
offerings
bees crawl into cracks
in the family grave
at Yuwa town, Akita:
Lying in long
grass
I taste the harvest full moon
in my sake cup
at Yudono,
Yamagata:
Vermilion torii...
beyond it nothing
but mist
at Gassan (Moon Mountain), Yamagata:
Women chanting
sutras
had seemed Buddhas from far
on misty Gassan
at Yudono,
Yamagata:
Cold moor pool
grasses beneath the surface
move with the wind
Deborah
Russell, Maryland, USA
Preparing for
the journey:
fold and unfolds
this same old shirt
and my journey
spring cleaning
- as if
someone should visit
while i am away
for comfortable
shoes,
i'm still searching -
impossible dreams
chibi,
Georgia, USA
Preparing
for the journey:
Atlanta
has Stone Mountain ~
no Fuji
eight days ~
six in Japan
two over the ocean
Gone with the
Wind ~
a few gifts for my
Japanese friends
at Kubota:
please please
red dragonfly stay
on the fox statue
at Akita:
Akita
o Akita
how
is this autumn
a
familiar dream
Mitsuko Teraoka, Saitama, Japan
at Nikko:
(runner up in informal Basho Journey Contest)
misty rain falls
into the onsen
Autumn in
Japan:
tatoh-gami
hiraku tokimeki aki-awase
my heart beats faster -
opening the tatoh-gami folder
autumn kimono
poketto ni irete
korogasu ki-no-mi kana
in my pocket,
I roll them and roll them -
autumn nuts
kan-bare ya fuji
no mukoh ni fubo no sumu
fine cold day -
my parents live beyond
that Mt. Fuji
kasanari-te
tsuranari-te yama aki fukamu
the mountains,
overlapping
in deep autumn
kiri no asa oto nomi nokoshi densha yuku
foggy morning -
a street car vanishes, I hear
only the sound
D. W. Bender, Florida, USA
at Kamakura, *Dai Butsu statue,
September 15:
kanetataki*
in Daibutsu's emptiness
all hammering stops
*kanetataki:
a species of cricket which makes a ping-hammer sound (click hyperlink to see and
hear the kanetatake)
*Daibutsu
- "Great Buddha", a famous (hollow) Buddha statue
at Hakone (rev.)
susuki plumes
in view, the recurrent dream
of Fuji-san
susuki bana fuji wo nagame te yumegokochi
.....(tr. by Ikuyo
Yoshimura)
susuki:
a plumed grass also called "obana", "silvergrass", "eulalia",
"Japanese pampas grass"
at Urami-no-taki in Nikko:
(for Etsuko Yanagibori)
return to the path
at Urami-no-taki to view
wisteria shoots
*Urami-no-taki ('Rearview Falls", or
"Backside Falls" a scenic waterfall where one can view from a hollow
behind the falls.)
at Toshugu shrine in Nikko:
Toshogu shrine:
how comical the faces
of sanctified monkeys
*Toshogu
shrine has famous carvings of the
"sanzaru", monkeys exemplifying "hear no evil, speak no evil, see
no evil".
at Naruko:
with a misty rain,
how even the hills of Naruko
fall into the gorge
at Sakaida (rev):
nomi shirami uma no shito suru makura-moto (Matsuo
Basho)
someone's fine horse
still piddles on the floor --
Hojin-no-ie
(A royal white gift-horse resides in the border
guard's house. Basho slept here.)
near Akita:
Gichu-ji,
Zeze (near Lake Biwa):
Basho's grave
a silence of hagi petals
falling on the pond
"
