3 haiku / 3 俳句

1

To see the sea neighbors fell all the old trees—the chestnuts!

ビューの為皆古木切り栗の実や

2

A litter of possums in circles groping in the last snow

雪の果てふくろねずみの子が模索

3

The scent—wiping tables—
the waitress leaves a fern

食卓を拭き羊歯を置き娘香や

(Tacoma 2003; Tamsui 2012; photos by D. Brink; many thanks to Prof. Horikoshi Kazuo for comments on earlier versions of the Japanese variations)

haiku 俳句

let in this morning

our kitten still tracks the dew

through cold wooden rooms

露の朝猫の足跡床に染み

walking the dry fields 

returning from the station

the year's first sun

初日の出 駅から歩く枯れ野原

in the tall grasses 

a boy collecting crickets – 

the hazy moon

少年は草にコオロギ朧月

is he still waiting

on the hill along Snake Pond –

the wind in the pines?

丘の上まだ松風に雄蛇ヶ池

(Appeared in Tinfish)

Three Senryu ・ 3川柳 ・ Lost in Translation

 

1.

The boy liked to roll in waves
filling his clothes with sand
and walk in spring rain

子の服が浪砂にまみれ雨遊ぶ

 2.

Crabgrass rising in my lawn,

the retired fireman smiles crossing the street

草茂る鎌持つあやじ暇の笑み 

3.

Behind the building the summer moon hides for the long windy night

風が吹くビルに隠れて月涼し

(Tacoma 2003; Tamsui 2012; photos by D. Brink; thanks to Prof. Horikoshi Kazuo for help polishing the Japanese versions)