Saturday, October 11, 2025

Butterfly Dream: Moving Van Haiku by Cor van den Heuvel

English Original

falling leaves
a moving van
next door

At the Top of the Ferris Wheel, 2017

Cor van den Heuvel 


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

樹葉飄落
一輛搬家車
停在隔壁

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

树叶飘落
一辆搬家车
停在隔壁


Bio Sketch 

Cor van den Heuvel (March 16, 1931 - September 12, 2024) authored hundreds of haiku and haibun, including one of the most controversial works of the 20th century, one-word haiku: tundra. In addition to more than a dozen collections, he edited or co-edited a number of influential anthologies, most notably three editions of The Haiku Anthology, as well as Baseball Haiku. He also won three Merit Book Awards from the Haiku Society of America, a World Haiku Achievement Award at the World Haiku Festival, and the Masaoka Shiki International Haiku Prize. 

1 comment:

  1. L1 sets the scene and mood while the matter-of-the-fact tone of Ls 2&3 about a neighbor's moving away speaks volumes about the N's relationship with his/her neighbor.

    And it might be interesting to do a thematic comparison reading of the following:

    deep autumn
    "my neighbor, how does he live?"
    I wonder

    Basho

    ReplyDelete