Monday, November 30, 2015

One Man's Maple Moon: Starlit Sky Tanka by Pravat Kumar Padhy

English Original

the spider climbs
up the corner edge
on stepping stones
the handicapped boy
aims towards the starlit sky

Ribbons, 9:2,  Fall 2013

Pravat Kumar Padhy


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

一隻蜘蛛攀爬
到石角邊
站在墊腳石上
身體殘疾的男孩
面對繁星閃爍的天空

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

一只蜘蛛攀爬
到石角边
站在垫脚石上
身体残疾的男孩
面对繁星闪烁的天空


Bio Sketch

Born in India, poems widely published and anthologized. Works referred in Spectrum History of Indian Literature in English, Alienation in Contemporary Indian English Poetry etc. Poems awarded high acclamations by Writer’s Guild of India and Editors’ Choice awards. Pravat Kumar Padhy's Japanese short form of poetry appeared in many international journals and anthologies. Songs of Love: A celebration is his third collection of verse by Writers Workshop, Calcutta. Featured in The Dance of the Peacock: An Anthology of English Poetry from India, to be published by Hidden Brook Press, Canada, 2014

Butterfly Dream: Restless Reeds Haiku by Irena Szewczyk

English Original

restless reeds
a swan at the shore shuns
my shadow

Frogpond, 37:1, Winter 2014

Irena Szewczyk


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

不安擺動的蘆葦
在岸邊一隻天鵝迴避
我的影子

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

不安摆动的芦苇
在岸边一只天鹅迴避
我的影子


Bio Sketch

Irena Szewczyk lives in Warsaw Poland. She started to write haiku and make photo haiga in 2011. She publishes her works in English, French, Polish and Hungarian on her blog, Iris Haiku. Her haiku and haiga have been published in The Mainichi, The Asahi Shimbun, Daily Haiga, Haigaonline, Haiku Novine, Notes from the Gean, Sketchbook, Polish Haiku Anthology Blue Grasses, and WHA Haiga Contest, and she won a Honorable Mention in the HIA Haiku Contest.

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Hot News: Featured Poet and Award Winning Haiku

My Dear Friends:

I'm excited to share the following good news with you all: I'm the Featured Poet of the November issue of Einunddreissig, and I won two haiku awards in this lucky month of mine.

(Updated, Dec. 1: another piece of good news:

the rice song
mother sang to me ...
first spring rain

Editors' Choice , The Heron's Nest, 17:4, December 2015

Updated, Dec 2: one more piece of good news:

moving day . . .
cherry petals floating
on a pool of sky

Honourable Mention, 2015 Haiku Invitational)


Featured Tanka (translated by Tony Böhle):

sudden news                                            plötzlich die Nachricht
of her breast cancer...                              von ihrem Brustkrebs…
I add                                                         in meinen Morgenkaffee
one more lump of sugar                           gebe ich
to my morning coffee                                noch einen Würfel Zucker

coming home                                            auf dem Weg nach Haus
from the night shift...                                 von der Nachtschicht…
a blanket                                                   eine Decke
of snowy loneliness                                   verschneiter Einsamkeit
covers my shadow and me                        bedeckt meinen Schatten und mich

our laughter flows                                      unser Gelächter
from one street block                                 von einem Straßenzug
to another...                                               zum anderen ...
mother's garden hose                                Mutters Gartenschlauch
spouting a rainbow                                     speit einen Regenbogen

after love                                                   nach der Liebe
our bodies resume                                     ziehen sich unsre Körper in
their boundaries...                                      ihre Grenzen zurück…
the sound of dripping water                        der Klang tröpfelnden Wassers
becomes louder and louder                        wird lauter und lauter

spider hammocks                                        Spinnenweben
suspended in dried corn stalks...                aufgespannt in getrockneten Maisstängeln…
the deadly silence                                       die tödlichee Stille
between migrant workers                            zwischen den Wanderarbeitern
on the way to work                                      auf dem Weg zur Arbeit

I'm a poet!                                                  Ich bin Dichter!
announced at New Year's dinner...             kundgetan beim Sylvesteressen…
a faint smell                                                ein schwacher Geruch
of disapproval                                             von Missbilligung
lingering in the room                                   bleibt im Raum zurück

a shooting star                                            eine Sternschnuppe
across the pub windows...                           zieht durch die Kneipenfenster…
coins clatter                                                 Münzen klingeln
into the tray                                                 in die Schale
of a slot machine                                         des Spielautomaten

you're not tuned                                          du bist nicht mehr
into me anymore...                                      auf meiner Wellenlänge…
I take her hand                                            ich nehme ihre Hand
as the traffic noise                                       als der Verkehrslärm
filters over us                                               sich über uns legt

three words                                                drei Worte
then an awkward silence                             und dann ein betretenes
between us...                                              Schweigen zwischen uns…
the woodpecker's knock                             das Klopfen des Spechts
echoing through the trees                           hallt durch die Bäume

before the ceremony                                    vor der Zeremonie
I stand in front of the mirror…                      stehe ich vor dem Spiegel…
my Chinese self                                           mein chinesisches Ich
here in yesterday's dream                            hier aus den Träumen von Gestern
gone in today's mist                                     gegangen in den Nebel von Heute
            (for naturalized Canadians)                                 (für eingebürgerte Kanadier)


And on November 7, I was awarded a “Distinguished Poet”  by the Italian Haiku Society for the following haiku:

alone
this starless night
tasting black

in twilight
cherry petals fall
without a sound

snow on snow...
her words fall onto
my silence

In this lucky month of mine, I also won a "Honorable Mention" in the 2015 World Haiku Competition:
                
snowed in ...
( this longing
deep inside )

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Butterfly Dream: Fishing Line Haiku by Julie Warther

English Original

weighing options --
my fishing line
splits the pond in two

Modern Haiku, 45:1, Winter/Spring 2014

Julie Warther


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

權衡各選項 --
我的釣魚線
將池塘分為兩半

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

权衡各选项 --
我的钓鱼线
将池塘分为两半


Bio Sketch

Julie Warther lives in Dover, Ohio with her husband and three children.  She serves as the Midwest Regional Coordinator for the Haiku Society of America.

Friday, November 27, 2015

One Man's Maple Moon: Bones Tanka by Susan Constable

English Original

walking
from rain to sleet
to snow …
the years sink deeper
into my bones

Susan Constable


Chinese Translation (Traditional)


步行中天氣變化
從細雨到雨雪
到下雪 ...
這些年的苦痛更深地進入
我的骨髓中

Chinese Translation (Simplified)


步行中天气变化
从细雨到雨雪
到下雪 ...
这些年的苦痛更深地进入
我的骨髓中


Bio Sketch

Susan Constable’s tanka appear in numerous journals and anthologies, including Take Five. Her tanka collection, The Eternity of Waves, was one of the winning entries in the eChapbook Awards for 2012. She is currently the tanka editor for the international on-line journal, A Hundred Gourds.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Butterfly Dream: Lantern Festival Haiku by Shloka Shankar

English Original

lantern festival...
a part of me still
left behind

cattails, September 2014

Shloka Shankar


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

燈籠節慶 ...
一部分的我仍然
遺留在後

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

灯笼节庆 ...
一部分的我仍然
遗留在後


Bio Sketch

Shloka Shankar is a freelance writer residing in India. Her work appears in over two dozen international anthologies. Her haiku, haiga and tanka have appeared in numerous print and online journals. She is also the editor of the literary and arts journal, Sonic Boom.

One Man's Maple Moon: Catboats Tanka by Neal Whitman

English Original

we watch lazily
at catboats on the bay
bonded in pleasure
I double-check
that my cell phone is off

Atlas Poetica, 15, Summer 2013

Neal Whitman


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

我們懶洋洋地
看著獨桅艇繫在一起
的快感
我仔細地檢查
確定手機是關的

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

我们懒洋洋地
看著独桅艇繫在一起
的快感
我仔细地检查
确定手机是关的


Bio Sketch

Neal Whitman began to write general poetry in 2005, haiku in 2008, and tanka in 2011. He writes to be read and believes that the reader is never wrong. With his wife, Elaine, he combines his poetry with her Native American flute and photography in free public recitals with the aim of their hearts speaking to other hearts.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Butterfly Dream: Train's Whistle Haiku by Maureen Virchau

English Original

after the burial
a train's whistle
through the pines

Frogpond, 37:2, Spring/Summer 2014

Maureen Virchau


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

安葬後
一列火車的汽笛聲
穿越松林

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

安葬後
一列火车的汽笛声
穿越松林


Bio Sketch

Maureen Virchau lives in western New York with her husband and son. Her haiku have appeared in Acorn, A Hundred Gourds, Bones, Frogpond, Prune Juice, and tinywords.

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Butterfly Dream: Night Drive Haiku by Debbie Strange

English Original

night drive...
a deer leaps over
the moon

Gems, July 2014

Debbie Strange 


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

夜晚駕車出遊 ...
一隻鹿跳過
月亮

Chinese Translation (Simplified)


夜晚驾车出遊 ...
一只鹿跳过
月亮


Bio Sketch

Debbie Strange is a Canadian short form poet and haiga artist. You are invited to view her published work at www.debbiemstrange.blogspot.ca and www.twitter.com/Debbie_Strange. Keibooks recently released her first collection, Warp and Weft, Tanka Threads, available through www.createspace.com/5520311 and at www.amazon.ca among others.

Monday, November 23, 2015

A Room of My Own: "Blue, White and Red" Tanka

Eiffel Tower
shining blue, white and red ...
on the bus
the girls with headscarves
crowded in the rear section

Butterfly Dream: Acid Rain Haiku by Marianne Paul

English Original

(r)egret along the riverbank acid rain

Marianne Paul


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

(後悔)白鷺沿著河岸酸雨 

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

(后悔)白鹭沿着河岸酸雨


Bio Sketch

Marianne Paul is a Canadian novelist and poet with a keen interest in Japanese-form minimalist poetry. Her haiku have been published in A Hundred Gourds, The Heron's Nest, Acorn, Modern Haiku, Gems, cattails, Bones, and Frozen Butterfly. She was a contributor to the Spring/Summer 2014 publishing cycle on Daily Haiku. You can learn more about her work at www.literarykayak.com

Sunday, November 22, 2015

One Man's Maple Man: Solitary Woman Tanka by Pamela A. Babusci

English Original

a solitary woman
knows a heartache
or two
tossing scarlet petals
into her evening bath

A Solitary Woman, 2013

Pamela A. Babusci


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

孤獨的女人
懂得一兩件
心痛的事
她將猩紅色的花瓣拋入
夜晚洗澡的浴缸

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

孤独的女人
懂得一两件
心痛的事
她将猩红色的花瓣抛入
夜晚洗澡的浴缸


Bio Sketch

Pamela A. Babusci  is an internationally award winning haiku, tanka poet and haiga artist. Some of her awards include: Museum of Haiku Literature Award, International Tanka Splendor Awards, First Place Yellow Moon Competition (Aust) tanka category,  First Place Kokako Tanka Competition,(NZ) First Place Saigyo Tanka Awards (US), Basho Festival Haiku Contests (Japan).  Pamela has illustrated several books, including: Full Moon Tide: The Best of Tanka Splendor Awards, Taboo Haiku, Chasing the Sun, Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, and A Thousand Reasons 2009. Pamela was the founder and now is the solo Editor of Moonbathing: a journal of women’s tanka; the first all women’s tanka journal in the US

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Butterfly Dream: Locust Trees Haiku by Eric Burke

English Original

      belly exposed to the sky
watching wind in the locust trees

Haibun Today, 2, August 2008

Eric Burke


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

  肚子面對天空裸露
凝視在槐樹群中的風

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

  肚子面对天空裸露
凝视在槐树群中的风


Bio Sketch

Eric Burke lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he works as a computer programmer. His haiku and other poems can be found/are forthcoming in Modern Haiku, Issa’s Untidy Hut, Thrush Poetry Journal, PANK, Pine Hills Review, PoetsArtists, bluestem, and decomP. You can keep up with him at his blog, Anomalocrinus Incurvus

Friday, November 20, 2015

One Man's Maple Moon: Footing Tanka by Keitha Keyes

English Original

as snow
turns to ice
our footing
not so sure now
we slip further apart

red lights, 10:2, June 2014

Keitha Keyes


Chinese Translation (Traditional)
  
正當雪
變成了冰時
不確定我們是否站穩
現在更加滑離
彼此的方向

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

正当雪
变成了冰时
不确定我们是否站稳
现在更加滑离
彼此的方向 


Bio Sketch

Keitha Keyes lives in Sydney but her heart is still in the Australian bush where she grew up. She mostly writes tanka and related genres, revelling in the inspiration, friendship and generosity of these writing communities. Her work appears in many print and online journals and anthologies.

Butterfly Dream: Wishing Lamp Haiku by Archana Kapoor Nagpal

English Original

new moon --
another wishing lamp
on father’s grave

Modern Haiku, 45:3, Fall 2014

Archana Kapoor Nagpal


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

新月 --
另一台許願燈
在父親的墳上

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

新月 --
另一台许愿灯
在父亲的坟上


Bio Sketch

Archana Kapoor Nagpal is an internationally published author of 7 books, and her winning stories are now part of international anthologies. She writes inspirational content for corporate newsletters, websites, blogs and print publications. Her inspirational poems touch every area of a person's life. She enjoys writing haiku and tanka as well. Visit her Amazon Author Profile to know more about her.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

One Man's Maple Moon: Sea Star Tanka by Lesley Anne Swanson

English Original

astride
a fault line in the bay
a sea star
one small splice
in this fractured world

Certificate of Merit, 7th International Tanka Festival Competition

Lesley Anne Swanson


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

橫跨
海灣的斷層線
一隻海星
在這個斷裂的世界
作為一個小的接合物

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

横跨
海湾的断层线
一只海星
在这个断裂的世界
作为一个小的接合物


Bio Sketch

Lesley Anne Swanson has lived in Northern California, the Southwest, and the Pacific Northwest, but now calls Pennsylvania home.  Always a wordsmith, she discovered tanka in 2011 and has been enthralled ever since. 

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Butterfly Dream: Intermittent Rain Haiku by John McManus

English Original

intermittent rain
the doctor restarts
our baby's heart

Modern Haiku, 45:1, Winter/Spring 2014

John McManus


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

斷斷續續地下雨
醫生重新使我們寶寶
的心臟跳動

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

断断续续地下雨
医生重新使我们宝宝
的心脏跳动


Bio Sketch

John McManus is a poet from Carlisle, Cumbria, England. His haiku and senryu have appeared in various journals all over the world. He currently works as a support worker for people with mental health issues. In his spare time he enjoys watching films, sharing poetry with friends and spending time with his family.

Blueline and Red Thread: Under the Skin, II

on the rooftop
a line of black women
frantically
waving their hands ...
a summer dream turns white
(written on the day before the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina)

our skin
is the scarlet letter
lingering
on this chilly night
a man with his hands up
(Atlas Poetica, 21, 2015)

Note:  "Under the Skin" is the second themed section of  Blueline and Red Thread, the first collection of sociopolitical tanka."  And you can read the preceding tanka here.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Butterfly Dream: Term Play Haiku by Sonam Chhoki

English Original

end of term play --
with a halo around his head
Buddha forgets his words

A Hundred Gourds, 1:2, March 2012

Sonam Chhoki


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

學期戲劇結束 --
頭上頂著光環
佛祖忘記他的台詞

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

学期戏剧结束 --
头上顶著光环
佛祖忘记他的台词


Bio Sketch

Born and raised in the eastern Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, Sonam Chhoki has been writing Japanese short forms of haiku, tanka and haibun for about 7 years. These forms resonate with her Tibetan Buddhist upbringing and provide the perfect medium for the exploration of  her country's rich ritual, social and cultural heritage. She is inspired by her father, Sonam Gyamtsho, the architect of Bhutan's non-monastic modern education. Her haiku, tanka and haibun have been published in poetry journals and anthologies in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, UK and US.

Monday, November 16, 2015

One Man's Maple Moon: Adoption Fair Tanka by Mary Davila

English Original

the dandelion
trapped beneath a rock …
a swell of tears
from the child not picked
at the adoption fair

Undertow Tanka Review, 2, 2014

Mary Davila


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

蒲公英
被困住在岩石下 ...
收養展示會中
未被挑中的孩子
淚水瞬間滿眶

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

蒲公英
被困住在岩石下 ...
收养展示会中
未被挑中的孩子
泪水瞬间满眶


Bio Sketch

Mary Davila and her husband, Frank, live in Buffalo, NY.  She relies on her faith for everything, including writing.  Mary began to explore haiku and haiga in 2006.  Her work has been published in numerous online journals and in print.  In 2014, tanka became her main focus.  Her website  is www.petalsinthelight.com.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Butterfly Dream: Ice Crystals Haiku by Simon Hanson

English Original

ice crystals
across our window
the pinks of dawn

Acorn, 33, Fall 2014

Simon Hanson


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

冰水晶
橫跨過我們窗口
黎明的粉紅光芒

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

冰水晶
横跨过我们窗口
黎明的粉红光芒


Bio Sketch

Simon Hanson lives in country South Australia enjoying the open spaces and nearby coastal environments.  He is excited by the natural world and relishes moments of the numinous in ordinary things. He is published in various journals and anthologies and never realised how much the moon meant to him until he started writing haiku.

Cool Announcement: A New Release, non-zero-sum

My Dear Readers:

I'm happy to share with you this exciting news: NeverEnding Story contributor Jack Galmitz published a collection of haiku, titled not-zero-sum (Impress 2015),  that "distill words and images to the very barest essence. Each poem is unique to itself, but each contributes to the whole of the work that is greater than the sum of its parts.  Each is a koan-like meditation, sufficient to itself, but each is a part connected to a greater cycle." (see Gregory K.H. Bryant's full review in the note)

About the Author:

Jack Galmitz was born in NYC in 1951. He received a Ph.D in English from the University of Buffalo.  He is an Associate of the Haiku Foundation and Contributing Editor at Roadrunner Journal.  His most recent books are Views (Cyberwit.net, 2012), a genre study of minimalist poetry, and Letters (Lulu Press, 2012), a book of poetry, and yards & lots (Middle Island Press, 2012; see my in-depth review here). He lives in New York with his wife and stepson.


 Selected Haiku:

A glass vase
holds a warped table
& a white rose

A street
of fiery leaves
mood swings

At the rectory
under the bare bulb
two men shooting up

Swimming
in the pond
a few stars


Note: Below is a short review by Gregory K.H. Bryant

With non-zero-sum, Jack Galmitz, a master of minimalist poetry, has produced a collection of three line poems (with one poem of two lines,  that stands out for that very reason) that distill words and images to the very barest essence.

Each poem is unique to itself, but each contributes to the whole of the work that is greater than the sum of its parts.  Each is a koan-like meditation, sufficient to itself, but each is a part connected to a greater cycle. As with all minimalist poems, every mark on the page is necessary, nothing is superfluous.  Absolutely nothing.   The placement of the words, the shape of the letters, the spaces between them, and the space surrounding, is considered, as the silence between the notes of a symphony are as important as the notes that are played.  Indeed, one might be reminded of the works of Satie while reading these.  Nothing is accidental here.

These meditations come to us from the great silence surrounding us all.  Each word, every letter strikes the eye like the ringlets produced by drops of rainfall upon the surface of a still lake.  These poems evoke the very essence of the word `beauty', and each, I find, is beautiful, which allows us to put our attention upon the heart of the things described here, rather than being carried away by the story, or story-telling conventions (the literary equivalent of even anecdotal painting).

Do not read these with the goal of finding out where the story may take you.  Savor each word, each syllable, each moment in the piece.  Let your eye enjoy the placement of each letter as you might study the brush strokes of a painting in a museum.  Read these for what they are, not for what they `mean'.  In that way, the meaning will present itself.

Jack's poetry is light, rendered in deft and nimble touches, evoking a mood, even as we might allow  ourselves to tease out the cycle that is intimated by the whole.  And because his touch is so light, like the touch of a feather, the images he evokes are both powerful and profound.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

One Man's Maple Moon: Wavelets Tanka by Ignatius Fay

English Original

3 AM
on the warm rock
above the lake
tales of time past
in the whisper of wavelets

Kokako, 21, September 2014

Ignatius Fay


Chinese Translation (Traditional)


凌晨三點
坐在湖泊上方
的溫暖岩石
小小波浪用耳語
訴說過去的故事

Chinese Translation (Simplified)


凌晨叁点
坐在湖泊上方
的温暖岩石
小小波浪用耳语
诉说过去的故事


Bio Sketch

Ignatius Fay is a retired invertebrate paleontologist. His poems have appeared in many of the most respected online and print journals, including The Heron’s Nest, Modern Haiku, Ars Poetica, Gusts, Chrysanthemum and Eucalypt. Books: Breccia (2012), a collaboration with fellow haiku poet, Irene Golas; Points In Between (2011), an anecdotal history of his first 23 years. He is the new editor of the Haiku Society of America Bulletin. Ignatius resides in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

Friday, November 13, 2015

Butterfly Dream: Half-Empty Bed Haiku by Peggy Heinrich

English Original

half-empty bed
I try to recall
his faults

Heron's Nest, 16:3, September 2015

Peggy Heinrich


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

半空的床
我嘗試追憶
他的缺點

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

半空的床
我尝试追忆
他的缺点


Bio Sketch

Peggy Heinrich's haiku have appeared in almost every haiku journal both nationally and internationally and in many anthologies. Awards include Top Prize in the Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum English Haiku Contest in both 2009 and 2010. Peeling an Orange, a collection of her haiku with photographs by John Bolivar, was published in 2009 by Modern English Tanka Press. Forward Moving Shadows, a collection of her tanka, with photographs by John Bolivar, was published in 2012.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

One Man's Maple Moon: Gas Fireplace Tanka by Helen E. Herr

English Original

flames lick
at logs that never burn
in the gas fireplace
after our divorce
embers smolder

Gusts, 19, Spring/Summer 2014

Helen E. Herr


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

在燃氣壁爐中
熊熊火苗舔著
不會燃燒的仿真木頭
我們離婚之後
感情的餘燼仍在悶燒

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在燃气壁炉中
熊熊火苗舔著
不会燃烧的仿真木头
我们离婚之後
感情的馀烬仍在闷烧


Bio Sketch

Helen E. Herr lives in a town of 2500: Watrous, Saskatchewan, Canada, where people grow grain, raise livestock, and produce Potash. Her family support her writing, painting and sculpting soapstone.  She loves writing all the different types of poetry. Her grandchildren keep her young.

A Room of My Own: Barkeep and Old Man Haiku

barkeep and old man:
the sound of pouring beer
fills their night

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Butterfly Dream: Hawk Haiku by Nancy Nitrio

English Original

lazy afternoon --
the hawk
drifting in circles                     

Lyrical Passion Poetry E-Zine, 2009

Nancy Nitrio


Chinese Translation (Traditional)


慵懶的午後 --
一隻老鷹
在天空中繞圈子

Chinese Translation (Simplified)


慵懒的午後 --
一只老鹰
在天空中绕圈子


Bio Sketch

Nancy Nitrio began writing haiku in 2007.  Her haiku has been published in various paper and online journal here in the USA and internationally. She has placed second in May 2009 Shiki Monthly Kukai.  She was runner-up in the Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar Contest 2009 and Honorable Mention in the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival 2010. She lives in the Sacramento Valley region of central California with her husband of 44 years and five cats. She also enjoys the practice of Ikebana and origami.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

One Man's Maple Moon: Dead Stem Tanka by Margaret Chula

English Original

summer has ended
and we have parted
yet spiders continue
to spin their webs from
one dead stem to another

Just This, 2013

Margaret Chula


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

夏天已結束
並且我們已分手
但是蜘蛛繼續織網
從一枝枯萎樹幹
到另外一枝


Chinese Translation (Simplified)

夏天已结束
并且我们已分手
但是蜘蛛继续织网
从一枝枯萎树幹
到另外一枝


Bio Sketch

Margaret Chula has published two collections of tanka: Always Filling, Always Full and Just This. She has promoted tanka through her one-woman dramatization, “Three Women Who Loved Love”, which traveled to Krakow, New York, Boston, Portland, Ottawa, and Ogaki, Japan. Maggie currently serves as president of the Tanka Society of America.

Monday, November 9, 2015

Butterfly Dream: Lingering Heat Haiku by Carl Seguiban

English Original

lingering heat --
moonlight settles
on the arch of her back

World Haiku Review, August 2014

Carl Seguiban


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

揮之不去的熱 --
月光停留在
她背部的弧線上

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

挥之不去的热 --
月光停留在
她背部的弧线上


Bio Sketch

Carl Seguiban resides in British Columbia which inspires his haiku. His poems have been published in Mayfly, Modern Haiku, Frogpond, Bottle Rockets, A Hundred Gourds, Moongarlic, Presence, Under the Basho, paper wasp, The Heron's Nest, Cattails, Prune Juice among others.

One Man's Maple Moon: Something Silver Tanka by Barry George

English Original

for a second time
I stoop to pick up
something silver
on the floor and find it
to be moonlight                    

Gusts, 18, Fall/Winter 2013

Barry George


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

第二次
我彎腰撿起
在地板上的銀色物件
我發現
它竟然是月光

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

第二次
我弯腰捡起
在地板上的银色物件
我发现
它竟然是月光


Bio Sketch

Barry George’s haiku have been widely published in journals and anthologies, and in Chinese, Japanese, German, Romanian, Croatian, and French translations. A winner of competitions including First Prize in the Gerald Brady Senryu Contest, he is the author of Wrecking Ball and Other Urban Haiku, nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Butterfly Dream: Softer Grass Haiku by S.M. Abeles

English Original

softer grass
in the retelling
we are barefoot

Acorn, 31, Fall 2013

S.M. Abeles


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

柔軟的草地
在複述故事時
我們赤著腳

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

柔软的草地
在複述故事时
我们赤著脚


Bio Sketch

S.M. Abeles lives and writes in Washington, D.C.  He composes poems on dog walks and train rides, and elsewhere when the moment strikes.  His work appears frequently in the usual haiku and tanka journals, and he posts at least one new poem daily on his website, The Empty Sky

Saturday, November 7, 2015

To the Lighthouse: Kigo and Seasonal Reference

In a poem where the seasonal theme fulfills its true evocative function, there must be a reciprocity between the season, which expands the scope of the haiku and creates the background of associations for the scene, and the specific scene which points out a characteristic yet often forgotten aspect of the season and thus enriches our understanding of it.

Shigehisa Kuriyama, "Haiku," Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, p. 82


Like Lee Gurga, I think what makes haiku unique in contemporary Western poetry is its "introduction of a seasonal consciousness into the poem." But, how to understand  the concept and practice of kigo ("season words") in the Japanese tradition and integrate seasonal reference/the concept of seasonality into a non-Japanese culture is challenging and rewarding work.  

...

When we look for seasonal reference in English haiku, a non-season-specific nature image, such as “migratory birds” would likely not meet the definition, as we cannot determine a single season for migration, which occurs in both spring and autumn. This fact points to the prevalence of naturalism as an expectation within English-language haiku. Nature[3] in English-haiku literary culture generally accords with naturalist views, else the image will not be given credence, and the poem will thereby suffer. Another way to put this is that in order for the reader to enter the poem, the images presented need to be experienced or intuited as “true” within a prevailing cultural context. In this light, it might come as a surprise to the English-haiku poet that “migratory birds” (wataridori) is an autumn kigo in the Japanese tradition. Birds arrive from Siberia to winter in Japan, departing in the spring;[4] nonetheless, in the culture of kigo, migrating birds migrate only one way, in one season.[5] This fact offers a first clue that seasonal reference in English and kigo as found in Japan do not rest on the same conceptual basis...

For further discussion on kigo and seasonal reference, please read the full text of Richard Gilbert's essay, titled "Kigo and Seasonal Reference: Cross-cultural Issues in Anglo-American Haiku."


Selected Haiku

between silent moonlit hills
something waiting
to be named

Blithe Spirit, 13:2, June 2003

Leslie Giddens

the river
the river makes
of the moon

First Mainichi Anthology of Winning Selected Haiku, 1997

Jim Kacian

after the bombing
ruins of a bridge
linked by the fog

Knots: The Anthology of Southeastern European Haiku Poetry, 1999.

Nebojsa Simin

to the spring wind
mother dead, herbal medicine
scatters

Richard Gilbert

(In the essay, Richard Gilbert gives his detailed comments on the haiku above from the perspective of seasonality)


Below are two of my award-winning poems, where, I think, "the seasonal theme fulfills its true evocative function:" 

harvest moon rising ....
a tremble
in the migrant's voice

Second Place, 10th Kloštar Ivanić Haiku Contest, 2013

Judge’s Comment: The year wears on, maybe he is a migrant farm worker, far from his home country. He is working late, the harvest moon rises, huge and yellow over  the horizon. Filled with nostalgia, he thinks of his homeland, his family, his life there, as he talks to fellow migrants he holds back tears, but his voice wavers)

snowy dawn...
bits of yesterday
cling to today

Third Place, Inaugural Janice M Bostok International Haiku Award, 2012

Judges’ Comments (by Jim Kacian and Cynthia Rowe):This ties the natural world with the human -- we drag the dream world into the day with us, for a bit, even as our waking obscures that other “real” world we inhabit. At the same time, snow covers what we knew of the outside, but we recognizes it's still there, beneath the covering, evidenced by its shape

Friday, November 6, 2015

Butterfly Dream: Unfurling Smoke Haiku by Anne Curran

English Original

a man alone
on the porch …
smoke unfurling

Bones, 1, 2012

Anne Curran


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

一人獨自
在門廊 ...
香煙繚繚上升

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

一人独自
在门廊 ...
香烟缭缭上升


Bio Sketch

Anne Curran comes from Hamilton, New Zealand. She has taught English, communications studies and English as a second language. While teaching she has taken time to write Japanese verse forms and a poetry collection. In her spare time she enjoys visiting Art galleries and watching films.

A Room of My Own: Long Winter Night Tanka

twilight ushers in
a long winter night ...
one by one
thoughts of my hometown
unfolding

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Butterfly Dream: Sunset Twinkle Haiku by Goda V. Bendoraitiene

English Original

a child fills his bucket
with sunset twinkle
from the peak of wave

The Mainichi, October 15, 2014

Goda V. Bendoraitiene


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

一個孩子
用來自浪頭的日落微光
填滿他的水桶

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

一个孩子
用来自浪头的日落微光
填满他的水桶


Bio Sketch

Goda V. Bendoraitiene lives in Klaipeda, Lithuania. She studied English at Vilnius Pedagogical University. At the age of 48, she was inspired to write haiku, and joined the Lithuanian site for Literature. She publishes poetry, arranges national haiku contests, and takes part in the contests as a member of the jury.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

One Man's Maple Moon: Seed Tanka by Kala Ramesh

English Original

seeing the whole
blossom contained
in a seed
I look up to the sky
with all the stars

bottle rockets, 25, August 2011

Kala Ramesh


Chinese Translation (Traditional)


在一粒種子中
我看到
一整朵花
抬頭仰望
充滿星星的天空

Chinese Translation (Simplified)


在一粒种子中
我看到
一整朵花
抬头仰望
充满星星的天空


Bio Sketch

Kala Ramesh has published more than one thousand poems comprising haiku, tanka, haibun, & renku in reputed journals and anthologies in Japan, Europe, UK, Australia, USA and India. Her work can be read in two prestigious publications: Haiku 21: an anthology of contemporary English-language Haiku (Modern Haiku Press, 2012) and Haiku in English - the First Hundred Years (W.W. Norton 2013). She enjoys teaching haiku and allied genres at the Symbiosis International University, Pune.

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Butterfly Dream: Karaoke Singer Haiku by Pat Tompkins

English Original

pretending the karaoke singer is pretending

bottle rockets, Fall 2014

Pat Tompkins


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

假裝卡拉OK歌手在假裝唱歌
  
Chinese Translation (Simplified)

假装卡拉OK歌手在假装唱歌


Bio Sketch

Pat Tompkins is an editor in the San Francisco Bay Area. She likes combining haiku with prose in haibun, which have appeared in bottle rockets, Thema, Haibun Today, and Contemporary Haibun Online.

One Man's Maple Moon: New Neighbors Tanka by Joanne Morcom

English Original

I wave
at new neighbors
and hope
that we never
become friends

"The Garage, Not the Garden,"  Atlas Poetica Special Feature, Fall 2013

Joanne Morcom


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

對著新鄰居
我揮手打招呼
並期望
我們決不會
成為朋友

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

对著新邻居
我挥手打招呼
并期望
我们决不会
成为朋友


Bio Sketch

Joanne Morcom is a poet and social worker in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  Her poetry appears in a variety of print and online publications, as well as in her two collections, A Nameless Place and About the Blue Moon. Visit her website at www.joannemorcom.ca.

Monday, November 2, 2015

Butterfly Dream: Three Drunkards Haiku by Doug D'Elia

English Original

sake with friends
the moon and my shadow
three drunkards

Frogpond, 37:2, Summer 2014

Doug D'Elia


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

與朋友喝日本清酒
月亮和我的影子
三個酒鬼

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

与朋友喝日本清酒
月亮和我的影子
叁个酒鬼


Bio Sketch

Doug D'Elia was born in Massachusetts. He is a graduate of the University of Central Florida where he majored in Philosophy and Religion, and he served as a medic during the Vietnam War. He is the author of 4 books. A  list of his published work and projects can be found at dougdelia.com

Sunday, November 1, 2015

One Man's Maple Moon: Blue Boat Tanka by Luminita Suse

English Original

some say
happiness shouldn’t be
expected from others
my blue boat
sails through fall colors

Luminita Suse


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

有人說
幸福不應期待
別人的賜予
我的藍色小船
渡過燦爛的秋景

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

有人说
幸福不应期待
别人的赐予
我的蓝色小船
渡过灿烂的秋景


Bio Sketch

Luminita Suse is the author of the tanka collection, A Thousand Fireflies, 2011, Editions des petits nuages. Her poetry appeared in Moonbathing: A Journal of Women's Tanka, Gusts, Atlas Poetica, Red Lights, Ribbons, A Hundred Gourds, Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka 2010-2011, and Skylark. She got a honourable mention in the The 7th International Tanka Festival Competition, 2012.