One Man's Maple Moon: Geraniums Tanka by Marion Alice Poirier

English Original

on the porch

Dad's geraniums in clay pots

blushing red --

no green trees for our view

just the Mystic River bridge

Marion Alice Poirier

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

在門廊上

爸爸種在陶盆裡的天竺葵

花瓣泛紅 --

從我們的視線範圍看不到綠樹

只有神秘河大橋

    

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在门廊上

爸爸种在陶盆里的天竺葵

花瓣泛红 --

从我们的视线范围看不到绿树

只有神秘河大桥

Bio Sketch

Marion Alice Poirier is a lifetime resident of Boston, MA. She began writing haiku in 2001 and eventually began to teach haiku in workshops on Poetry Circle and Emerging Poets. She also write short poetry and have been published in on-line haiku and short poetry journals like Tinywords, Hedgerow and The Heron's Nest.

Special Feature: Selected Poems for Father's Day

My Dear Readers and Friends:

Today is Father’s Day. To celebrate, I’m sharing a curated selection of haiku and tanka. These poems capture the changing faces of fatherhood and challenge us to rethink the impact of fathers in our world.

her tiny voice --

the apartment fills

with dad-dads

John Hawk

a toddler climbs

onto father's shoulders

to reach the kite

Goda V. Bendoraitiene

the foster girl

colors me into her life

Father's Day card

Chen-ou Liu

father's newspaper

a constant refuge

from conversation

Mike Gallagher

all that remains --

dad's Chevy leaving

a trail in the dust

Marion Alice Poirier

shooting star -- 

father’s ring

slips off my finger

H. Gene Murtha

I’ve this memory --

riding my father’s shoulders

into the ocean,

the poetry of things

before I could speak

Michael McClintock

fifty years on ...

dad's old guitar and me

get in tune at last

Natalia Kuznetsova

withering

the sunflowers still

in offering

at my father’s tomb --

it’s shorter than I

Kaleidoscope, 2007 

Shuji Terayama

To conclude today's Special Feature post, I would like to share with you the following tanka written for my late father:

alone again

on this winding road home

in slanted moonlight

I try to imagine my place

in the world without Father

FYI: This is a sequel to my tanka below:

Father's breath

fades into forever ...

I gaze out 

his hospice window

at the moon, its fullness

Haiku Page, 11, 2025

reprinted in Charlotte Digregorio's Writer's Blog, February 12 2026

Butterfly Dream: Old Guitar Haiku by Natalia Kuznetsova

English Original

fifty years on ...

dad's old guitar and me

get in tune at last

"Haiku Dialogue," The Haiku Foundation, October 8, 2025

Natalia Kuznetsova

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

五十年過去了 ...

爸爸的老吉他和我

終於合拍了

Chinese Translation (Simplified) 

五十年过去了 ...

爸爸的老吉他和我

终于合拍了

Bio Sketch

Living in Moscow, Russia, Natalia Kuznetsova is a teacher of English and freelance interpreter. Before discovering the haiku world, she wrote poetry in Russian. She started writing tanka and mostly haiku in English in 2007, and participated in numerous competitions worldwide and won some awards. She contributes regularly to World Haiku Review, Asahi Haikuist Network, Daily Haiku, Poetry Pea and other traditional and on-line publications. She was included on the list of "European Top 100 Most Creative Haiku Authors" from 2010 to 2023.

A Room of My Own: The Last Year of My Father's Life

A haiku sequence for my father who was born in mainland China, lived most of his adult life in Taiwan, died and was buried there in 2022

a slice of my life 

in father's foggy mind

birthday sunset

father silver-haired

now my child

foggy winter night

ventilator hiss

Father's face blurry

and blurrier...

this faded photo ...

the story father told us

as mother grinned

this weight

of the words half spoken

a stone on Father's grave

FYI: For more about my father's story, see my tanka prose below:

A Chain Smoker of Few Words

My father, who was born in mainland China, quit his studies to defend his country against the Japanese invasion. Later, he fought his fellow countrymen for the sake of unifying war-torn China. Retreating to Taiwan along with the defeated Chinese Nationalist Army, he was separated from his family in China for four decades. He spent most of his adult life in Taiwan, worked hard to support his new family, died and was buried there without ever again seeing any of his family members from China.

this dream loop:

riding on my shoulders

into the Taiwan Strait

Father cries out, Mama

wait for me, I'm coming home

Contemporary Haibun Online, 19:3, 2023

Added:

for ten days

onslaught after onslaught

of writer's block ...

I look out the window

at the moon, its fullness

Added:

white sand

slips through my fingers

a flash 

of morning sunlight

in each grain

Added:

one brown patch

after another, another

on the lawn ...

we speak less day by day

as the end of spring approaches

Butterfly Dream: Falling Light Haiku by Jo Balistreri

English Original

falling light

rinses over his face ...

father at the sink

tinywords, 19:2, January, 27, 2020

Jo Balistreri

 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

沉落的陽光

洗滌他的臉 ...

父親在水槽邊

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

沉落的阳光

洗涤他的脸 ...

父亲在水槽边

Bio Sketch

Jo Balistreri continues to write haiku, thinks of it as life flow--trying to live in the present makes everything new everyday. She enjoys that  focus, and the challenge of trying to write to the heart of what's seen, losing herself in the process. 

Butterfly Dream: Father's Ring Haiku by H. Gene Murtha

English Original

shooting star -- 

father’s ring

slips off my finger

 The Heron’s Nest, 5:11, November, 2003

H. Gene Murtha

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

一顆流星 --

父親的戒指

從我的手指上滑落

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

一颗流星 --

父亲的戒指

从我的手指上滑落

Bio Sketch

H. Gene Murtha, a naturalist and poet, sponsored and judged the first haiku contest for the inner city children of Camden, NJ., for the Virgilio Group, of which he was a lifetime member. He was widely published for his work in haikai literature from the USA to Japan. 

A Room of My Own: Penetrating Silence Tanka

Yellowing Memories, I:

Father's long stare

and penetrating silence

before he walks away ...

under piles of my textbooks

a new copy of Playboy

FYI: Yellowing Memory is my new writing project, and its first entry is stirred by and written in response to Playboy Enterprises's Jan. 23 announcement: "The reimagined PLAYBOY magazine will arrive on Barnes & Noble newsstands nationwide on February 10, 2025. "

The new issue features: Cover Model Lori Harvey, Playboy interview with comedian and actress Nikki Glaser, and the Playmate of the Year.

And this tanka could be read as a sequel to my tanka below:

at high noon I see

a woman pulling down

her windblown white dress ...

Marilyn Monroe's smile

held my young self each night

NeverEnding Story, July 17, 2015

Added: On the Brink of Trumperica, XVII

written in response to the heated exchange between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Convicted Felon Donald Trump and his lackey J.D. Vance at the White House.

the barrage 

of blaring lies and shit-words

from his meaty mouth ...

between Trump's pauses 

Vance's thunderous echo-fart

FYI: The noun shit-word has been obsolete since its recorded usage only in  the Middle English period (1150—1500) (shit-word entry, Oxford English Dictionary). However, during today's "meeting" at the White House, the Convicted Felon and his lackey "Make Shit-Word Great Again." 

Added: On the Brink of Trumperica, XVIII

white house blowout...

this man-child's meaty smile

in the window

as southern magnolias explode

with a mob of ravens

 

FYI: Among the [symbolically rich] trees on the White House Grounds, the oldest ones, southern magnolias, were planted by Andrew Jackson in 1829.

And PopMatters, Feb.9, 2017: The Spoiled Little Man-Child They Made King: Celebrity, Richard II, and Donald Trump.

Did Shakespeare predict Donald Trump? No. He just wrote a play about a thin-skinned, petty, self-aggrandising narcissist whose poor leadership drove an empire to ruin. 

Added: Yellowing Memories, II:

the ringing

of faraway church bells ...

my ex's smile

lingers in my mind

a shadow I can't escape

Added:

to stay or to go?

I walk through the snowstorm

looking for a sign

in the midnight sky, and yet

there is none, just snowflakes

Added:

a tapestry

of summer clouds

the rocking chair

covered in dust

on grandma’s porch

Butterfly Dream: Goodbye Haiku by George Swede

English Original

waving goodbye

to the father     a clothesline

of children's shirts

Almost Unseen, 2000

George Swede

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

揮手告別

父親       一條晾衣繩

的兒童襯衫

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

挥手告别

父亲       一条晾衣绳

的儿童衬衫

Bio Sketch

George Swede's most recent collections of haiku are Almost Unseen (Decatur, IL: Brooks Books, 2000), Joy In Me Still (Edmonton: Inkling Press, 2010) and micro haiku: three to nine syllables (Inspress, 2014). He is a former editor of Frogpond: Journal of the Haiku Society of America (2008-2012) and a former Honorary Curator of the American Haiku Archives (2008-2009).

Butterfly Dream: Another Autumn Haiku by Fatma Zohra Habis

English Original 

another autumn ...

father's garden seat still 

creaking 

Fivefleas, October 27 2024

Fatma Zohra Habis

 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

又一個秋天到來 ...

父親的花園座位仍然

吱吱作響

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

又一个秋天到来 ...

父亲的花园座位仍然

吱吱作响

 

Bio Sketch

Fatma Zohra Habis lives in Algeria. She loves poetry and Japanese culture. Her specialty is physics. Her haiku and tanka have been published in journals around the world, such as Enchanted Garden, The Sacred Dragonfly, The Leaf Journal, and haikuKatha.

A Room of My Own: Late Father's Face Haiku

dream after dream

my late father's face blurry

... and blurrier

FYI: This is a sequel to my haiku below:

snowflakes drift

from silence to silence

weight of Father's urn

NeverEnding Story, June 16 2024

Added:

alone in the shadow

of Father's gravestone

early snowfall

Added:

loneliness

descends with early snow ...

before sleep

I look a little longer

into the mirror

Added:

border checkpoint

in the child's eyes

a feather-gray sky

Added:

barbed wire ...

wrinkles crisscross

a migrant’s face

A Room of My Own: The Last Years of My Father's Life

in memory of my father who was born in mainland China, lived most of his adult life in Taiwan, died and was buried there in 2022

alone again

in the gathering dark

my father tries

to use his hammer of anger

to break walls of dementia

quiet and quieter

and unable to walk

on his own --

my father's years-long

marathon with dementia

in fading light

on Taiwan's north coast

I finger-write

my father's name in the sand

and watch it wash away

Added:

snowflakes drift

from silence to silence

weight of Father's urn

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, LXIX: "ruins"

written on Father's Day

an old man's stare

late night lightning connects

heaven and Gaza's ruins

Butterfly Dream: Dad's Chevy Haiku by Marion Alice Poirier

English Original

all that remains --

dad's Chevy leaving

a trail in the dust

Marion Alice Poirier

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

殘留之物 --

爸爸的雪佛蘭在塵埃中

所留下的痕跡

    

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

残留之物 --

爸爸的雪佛兰在尘埃中

所留下的痕迹

Bio Sketch

Marion Alice Poirier is a lifetime resident of Boston, MA. She began writing haiku in 2001 and eventually began to teach haiku in workshops on Poetry Circle and Emerging Poets. She also write short poetry and have been published in on-line haiku and short poetry journals like Tinywords, Hedgerow and The Heron's Nest.

Butterfly Dream: Children's Day Haiku by Lavana Kray

English Original

Children's Day --

on daddy's chair

his combat helmet

Lavana Kray

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

兒童節 --

Translation result

在爸爸的椅子上面

是他的戰鬥頭盔

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

儿童节 --

在爸爸的椅子上面

是他的战斗头盔

 

Bio Sketch

Lavana Kray is from Iasi, Romania. She has won several awards, including the status of  Master Haiga Artist from the World Haiku Association. Her work has been published in many print and online journals. She was chosen for 2017 Haiku Euro Top 100. In 2018 she joined the United Haiku and Tanka Society as Haiga Editor of its journal, Cattails. This is her blog.

Butterfly Dream: Empty Bucket Haiku by Djurdja Vukelić Rožić

English Original

fishing with father --

an empty bucket full of

unforgetfulness

Second Prize, 2013 Sharpening the Green Pencil (Romanian Kukai Group)

Djurdja Vukelić Rožić 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

和父親一起釣魚 --

一個空桶裝滿了

回憶

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

和父亲一起钓鱼 --

一个空桶装满了

回忆

Bio Sketch

Djurdja Vukelic Rozic  was born on April 6, 1956, and now lives in Ivanić Grad, Croatia.  Editor in chief of bilingual haiku magazine IRIS, and deputy editor for haiku at Diogen pro cultura magazine, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She publishes humorous sketches, short stories, and poetry. For her work she received a number of awards and commendations in Croatia and abroad.

Poetic Musings: Father's Shoulders Tanka by Michael McClintock

I’ve this memory --

riding my father’s shoulders

into the ocean,

the poetry of things

before I could speak

Tanka of Michael McClintock, Pinterest, 2011

Michael McClintock

Commentary: ...Even a child that cannot yet speak, may, like the readers of this tanka, intuitively grasp the poetry of a moment in time that defines meaning, significance or beauty in a novel and profound way. William Least Heat Moon spoke of those defining times in our lives most eloquently in his book, Blue Highways. For him, the moment was sharing a piece of old-fashioned buttermilk pie with new-found friends who had taken him in for the night on his long journey across the United States. For Michael McClintock a childhood memory was poetry and it became poetry for us as well as for himself, not through the use of excessive or impressive words, but through the sharing of an image that takes us into the experience with him. Tanka is traditionally imagistic, possessing the power and magic of images that take us beneath words to the essence of experience...

-- excerpted from "A Poet's Roving Thoughts: Dreaming Room" by Rebecca Drouilhet

It might be interesting to do a thematic comparative reading of my tanka below:

For my father who was born in mainland China, lived most of his adult life in Taiwan, died on Jan. 5 2022 and was buried there

this dream loop:

riding on my shoulders

into the Taiwan Strait

Father cries out, Mama

wait for me, I'm coming home

Pages Literary Journal, September 30, 2022

A Room of My Own: Father Haiku

The day after Father's Day

pre-dawn silence

thoughts of my father

in the past tense

Note: This haiku is a sequel to my haiku sequence below:

A Man of Few Words

(A haiku sequence for my father who was born in mainland China, lived most of his adult life in Taiwan, died and was buried there in 2022)

a lone star

Father's dreamworld becomes

his hospice window

the slanted beam

of a winter sun ...

Father's last smile

morning chill

a part of me lowered

with Father's coffin

sleepless again

I hear Father crying out

Mama, I'm coming home

this dream loop:

Father rides on my shoulders

into the Taiwan Strait

Father waving his hand

just before I wake up ...

this false dawn

Firelies' Light, 27 2023

Added:

Pacific sunrise --

alone after a storm

I listen 

to the flat calm 

of my inner world

Added: reading between the lives and writing between the lines, LXX

one by one

friends leave me in Toronto

for small towns 

they fancy a house with a lawn,

a backyard pool and dogs

FYI: Toronto Star, Oct. 22, 2022: ‘An exodus of families’: Toronto’s decline in children should be an election issue: We are all familiar with dystopian narratives of societies where children are scarce. Toronto is in danger of becoming such a place.

As Ontario’s population ages and relies on immigration for expansion, children represent a shrinking percentage of the overall total. Some critics have summed up the failures in a single word: housing. As in there simply isn’t enough for families, neither in suitable forms nor at attainable prices.

Butterfly Dream: Father's Newspaper Haiku by Mike Gallagher

English Original

father's newspaper

a constant refuge

from conversation

Mike Gallagher

 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

父親的報紙

不斷避免交談

的避難所

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

父亲的报纸

不断避免交谈

的避难所

 

Bio Sketch 

 

Mike Gallagher, an award winning Irish poet, facilitator and editor,has been published and translated worldwide. He hosts the monthly Listowel Poetry in the Park Open Mic sessions. His collection, Stick on Stone, is published by Revival Press.

A Room of My Own: Paper Cut Haiku

a paper cut

from Father's airmail letter

these words, a poet?

Added:

among strangers

hunting for the cheapest items

this loneliness ...

Added: 

space tourism ...

in the shopping mall window

an old man's tired face

Added: This Brave New World, LXXI

more than two thousand

instances of book banning

in thirty-two states ...

the Statue of Liberty

shadowed against overcast skies

FYI: Pen America, September 2022: "Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools"

And The New Yorker, March 10: "What Are We Protecting Children from by Banning Books?"

... 2,532 instances of book banning in thirty-two states between July, 2021, and June, 2022. The challenges are spread throughout the country but cluster in Texas and Florida...

...many more of the prohibitions seem to cohere around a specific political vision. According to the pen report, forty-one per cent of the banned books featured L.G.B.T.Q.+ themes, protagonists, or prominent secondary characters; the next-largest category of non grata texts has “protagonists or prominent secondary characters of color.” Other problem subjects include “race and racism,” “rights,” and “religious minorities.”...

...a glance at the list of most frequently banned books makes clear that “mature content” is a fig leaf: what parents and advocacy groups are challenging in these books is difference itself. In their vision of childhood—a green, sweet-smelling land invented by Victorians and untouched by violence, or discrimination, or death—white, straight, and cisgender characters are G-rated. All other characters, meanwhile, come with warning labels. When childhood is racialized, cisgendered, and de-queered, insisting on “age-appropriate material” becomes a way to instill doctrine and foreclose options for some readers, and to evict other readers from childhood entirely.

The recent wave of bans comes as many Republicans, in their opposition to gun control, climate science, food stamps, public education, and other social services, work assiduously to render the lives of American children as unchildlike as possible.

Butterfly Dream: Father Haiku by Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă

English Original

Remembrance Day

different stories

about my father

Prize Winner, 19th HIA Haiku Contest, 2017

Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

陣亡將士紀念日

關於我父親

不同的故事

Chinese Translation (Simplified) 

阵亡将士纪念日

关于我父亲

不同的故事

Bio Sketch

Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă is a teacher and writer in Botoșani, Romania. His haiku has appeared in several  journals and anthologies. He coordinates the Sakura Haiku Club activities in his hometown, proposes the themes for the monthly Romanian Kukai, and takes part in the organizing committee of the International Haiku Contest "Sharpening the green pencil." 

Butterfly Dream: Death Day Haiku by Robert Epstein

English Original

tall summer grass

so dry it hums

Dad’s death day

Haiku Days of Remembrance, 2018

Robert Epstein

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

高大的夏草

太乾了, 在風中發出嘶嘶聲

爸爸的忌日

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

高大的夏草

太干了, 在风中发出嘶嘶声

爸爸的忌日

Bio Sketch

Robert Epstein, a psychologist and haiku poet/anthologist, lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has edited four anthologies:  The Breath of Surrender; Dreams Wander On; The Temple Bell Stops; and Now This.  He has written two books of haiku:  A Walk Around Spring Lake; and Checkout Time is Noon, as well as a chapbook titled, What My Niece Said in His Head:  Haiku and Senryu