Butterfly Dream: Animal Day Haiku by Dimitar Anakiev

English Original

Animal Day

lop-ears of a rabbit

full of jumping light

Rustic, 2010

Dimitar Anakiev

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

動物日

兔子的垂耳充滿

跳躍的光芒

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

动物日

兔子的垂耳充满

跳跃的光芒

Bio sketch

Dimitar Anakiev (aka Kamesan 亀さん, b. 1960 in Belgrade) poet, writer and filmmaker, began to write and publish poetry at the age of 13, and began writing haiku in 1985. He is the “father“ of many Balkan haiku projects such as Haiku Novine (Serbia) and Prijatelj and Apokalipsa haiku edition (Slovenia). He is a co-founder of World Haiku Association and co-editor of Knots: An Anthology of Southeatern European Haiku Poetry. His awards include the European Award: The Medal of Franz Kafka, The Museum of Haiku Literature Award, Haiku Society of America annual Merit Book Award and prizes from Mainichi Daily News, Daily Yomiuri (both Tokyo) and Azami (Osaka). He has also won several film awards, including the National Slovenian Award for best documentary film.

Butterfly Dream: Parade Route Haiku by Joshua St. Claire

English Original

parade route

the five fingers

of a shut-in

Joshua St. Claire

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

遊行路線

一個閉門不出的人

的五根手指在揮舞

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

游行路线

一个闭门不出的人

的五根手指在挥舞

Bio Sketch

Joshua St. Claire is an accountant from Pennsylvania. His haiku and related poetry has appeared in Modern Haiku, Mayfly, NeverEnding Story, The Heron's Nest, and Blithe Spirit, among others. He is slowly coming to terms with being a formalist.

Butterfly Dream: Day of the Dead Haiku by Marian Olson

English Original

the child licks

a candy skull

Day of the Dead

Sketches of Mexico, 2012

Marian Olson

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

一個小孩舔

一顆糖果頭骨

亡靈節

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

一个小孩舔

一颗糖果头骨

亡灵节

Bio Sketch

Marian Olson, non-fiction writer and widely published international poet, was the author of nine books of poetry, including the award winning haiku in Songs of the Chicken Yard, Desert Hours, Consider This, and Moondance. Published in 2017, The Other and Kaleidoscope were her first books of tanka.

Butterfly Dream: Anzac Parade Haiku by André Surridge

English Original

Anzac parade

shoulder to shoulder

headless shadows

André Surridge 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

澳紐軍團遊行

肩並肩

無頭的影子們

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

澳纽军团游行

肩并肩

无头的影子们

Bio Sketch

André Surridge was an award-winning playwright and poet who immigrated to New Zealand from Yorkshire, England in 1972. He was President of the Playwrights Association of New Zealand from 1998-2000. Widely published, some of his awards included: 1995 Minolta Playwriting Award,  2007 Elizabeth Searle Lamb Award, 2008 Tanka Splendor Award, and 2010 Jane Reichhold International prize. And his first collection of haiku ans senryu, one hundred petals, was critically acclaimed in 2019.

Butterfly Dream: Fireworks Haiku by Masaoka Shiki

English Original

loneliness

after the fireworks

a falling star

Haiku: Ancient and Modern, 2002

Masaoka Shiki

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

煙花之後

的寂寞

一顆流星

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

烟花之后

的寂寞

一颗流星

 

 

Bio Sketch

Masaoka Shiki (October 14, 1867 -- September 19, 1902) was a Japanese poet and literary critic in Meiji period Japan. Shiki is regarded as a major figure in the development of modern haiku, and he also published articles on the reform of tanka. Some scholars and poets consider Shiki to be one of the four great haiku masters, the others being Matsuo Bashō, Yosa Buson, and Kobayashi Issa.

Butterfly Dream: Rebel Song Haiku by Roberta Beary

English Original

st patrick's day

a rebel song that died

with my dad

tinywords, 19:1, 2019

Roberta Beary 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

聖帕特里克節

一首和我爸爸一起死去

的反叛歌曲

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

圣帕特里克节

一首和我爸爸一起死去

的反叛歌曲

Bio Sketch

Roberta Beary writes to connect with the disenfranchised, to let them know they are not alone. She coedited the  women’s haiku anthology Wishbone Moon (Jacar Press, 2018.) Her collections, The Unworn Necklace (Snapshot Press,  2007) and Deflection (Accents, 2015) are multiple award winners. She is haibun editor for Modern Haiku.

Poetic Musings: Dawn-Wet Grass Haiku by Hannah Mahoney

dawn-wet grass

my daughter’s command voice

across the parade grounds

A New Resonance 12: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku, 2021

Hannah Mahoney

Commentary: Enhanced by the cinematic zoom-out technique, this haiku works effectively from the (speaker's daughter's) feet in the dewy grass (L1) at dawn, to include the audio ("command voice") and shift of focus to the daughter (L2), while the haiku lens widens to the thematic context of the parade (L3).  This haiku works literally and symbolically from the newness of a day and the daughter to the change to imminent adulthood and leadership. 

Note: For more about the cinematic techniques employed in haiku composition, see "To the Lighthouse" post, Arranged Marriage of Haiku and Cinema.

One Man's Maple Moon: Fireworks Tanka by Fumiko Nakajo

English Original

overhead a sound

fireworks in the night sky

shoot up and open

everywhere I

can be taken

Breasts of Snow, 2004

Fumiko Nakajo 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

來自頭頂上的巨響

夜空中煙火爆炸

並綻放開來

我的身體

可以被帶到任何的地方

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

来自头顶上的巨响

夜空中烟火爆炸

并绽放开来

我的身体

可以被带到任何的地方

 

 

Bio Sketch

Fumiko Nakajo (中城ふみ子, 1922-54) was a strong-willed woman who lived a tragic life. She died from breast cancer at the age of 32, just few months after her first collection of 50 tanka, titled Chibusa Soshitsu (The Loss of Breasts), won the first prize in a nationwide contest sponsored by a major magazine. She is, though almost unknown outside of Japan, considered to be the third in the three most famous Japanese female poets in the last century, right up there with Akiko Yosano and Machi Tawara.

Butterfly Dream: Pride Parade Haiku by Kishor Matte

English Original

Pride Parade --
searching the colours
inside me

Kishor Matte


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

同志大遊行 --
尋找我內心中
各種的顏色

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

同志大游行 --
寻找我内心中
各种的颜色 


Bio Sketch

Kishor Matte is new to short form poetry. He has published one poem in Jar of Stars and four haiku on NeverEnding Story. Some of his poems were posted on Twitter. He also writes short poems in both Hindi and Marathi.

A Room of My Own: Juneteenth Fireworks Haiku

barbecue smoke billowing

across the white picket fence

Juneteenth fireworks

FYI: "Despite the lack of federal recognition, Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or the Black Fourth of July, has lived on through rich traditions, including lively celebrations in the form of festivals and parades with local bands playing, storytelling, picnics, fireworks and a Juneteenth staple — barbecues."

A Room of My Own: Boxing Day Senryu Set

I find myself
amongst strangers
Boxing Day crowd

Boxing Day Sale
even my friends don't 
notice me

A Room of My Own: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

written in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty against the twilight sky

July 4th parade
a pink-haired girl face to face
with the Trump cutout

Trump fans
outtrump one another
U-S-A!

MAGA barbecue
the sheriff's mouth filthy
with shithole countries

firework-lit sky
in the detention window
a child's face

Note: "MAGA," a hashtag favored by White House Reality Show host Donald Trump, stands for "Make America Great Again."

One Man's Maple Moon: Twilight Sky Tanka by Kozue Uzawa

English Original

waiting for
the fireworks to begin
on the beach
I look up into the twilight sky
with my childhood loneliness

Gusts, 24,  Fall/Winter 2016

Kozue Uzawa


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

在沙灘上
等待煙花
開始怒放
我仰望暮色天空
想到我的童年孤獨

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在沙滩上
等待烟花
开始怒放
我仰望暮色天空
想到我的童年孤独 


Bio Sketch

Kozue Uzawa is a retired university professor. She works as editor of the English tanka journal GUSTS. She composes tanka both in Japanese and English. She also translates Japanese tanka into English and co-published Ferris Wheel: 101 Modern and Contemporary Tanka (Boston: Cheng & Tsui, 2006), and Kaleidoscope: Selected Tanka of Shuji Terayama (Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 2008). Ferris Wheel received the 2007 Donald Keene Translation Award for Japanese Literature from Columbia University.

Special Feature: Human, All Too Human

                                                                    I'm tossed woman to woman April Fool's dream

My Dear Readers:

Today is April Fool's Day, an annual celebration in North America and some European countries by playing practical jokes and spreading hoaxes. As a practitioner of Japanese short form poetry, I would like to "make it new" (Ezra Pound's modernist maxim,'Canto LIII') by sharing a set of selected senry (comic haiku) used to expose human folly and to find means of making sense.

Selected Senryu:

morning commute
bumper to bumper
for lattes

Rob Grotke

retirement day --
my plastic I.D.
snaps in half

Ruth Holzer

support group ...
the comfort of the chair
between us

Julie Warther

frescoed chapel ...
I insert a euro   
and then there is light

Scott Mason

sizing me up
the jeweler measures
her ring finger

Tom Painting

wedding day
the time he takes
to knot the tie

Marylyn Appl Walker

phantom pain --
the shape of her
in a stranger

Jayne Mille

passing the cream puffs
the guest of honor full
of herself

Francine Banwarth

philosophy class
I talk myself
into a corner

Tom Painting

                                                                                                       you're fired
                                                                                                       April fools invading
                                                                                                       the white house

Butterfly Dream: Night of Ghosts Haiku by Jane Reichhold

English Original

night of ghosts
bumping in the bare branches
the lost kite

A Dictionary of Haiku, 2nd Edition, 2013

Jane Reichhold


Chinese Translation (Traditional)
  
群鬼之夜
一隻斷線的風箏在光禿的樹枝之間
不停地碰撞  

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

群鬼之夜
一只断线的风筝在光秃的树枝之间
不停地碰撞


Bio Sketch

Jane Reichhold was born as Janet Styer in 1937 in Lima , Ohio , USA . She had published over thirty books of haiku, renga, tanka, and translations. Her latest tanka book, Taking Tanka Home was translated into Japanese by Aya Yuhki. Her most popular book is Basho The Complete Haiku by Kodansha International. As founder and editor of AHA Books, Jane also published Mirrors: International Haiku Forum, Geppo, for the Yuki Teikei Haiku Society, and she had co-edited with Werner Reichhold, Lynx for Linking Poets since 1992. Lynx went online in 2000 in AHApoetry.com the web site Jane started in 1995. Since 2006 she had maintained an online forum – AHAforum

Butterfly Dream: Boxing Day Haiku by Elliot Nicely

English Original

boxing day
the flapping of plastic bags
caught on a branch

Modern Haiku, 44:1, 2013

Elliot Nicely


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

送禮日
掛在樹枝上的塑膠袋
不斷地拍打

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

送礼日
挂在树枝上的塑胶袋
不断地拍打 


Bio Sketch

Elliot Nicely is the author of Tangled Shadows: Senryu and Haiku (Rosenberry Books) and resides in Lakewood, Ohio.

Butterfly Dream: Pyramid Haiku by Neal Whitman

English Original

pumpkins
stacked in a pyramid
postcard from home town
   
Second Place, 2015 Pumpkin Festival

Neal Whitman


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

用南瓜
堆積而成的金字塔
從家鄉來的明信片

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

用南瓜
堆积而成的金字塔
从家乡来的明信片


Bio Sketch

Neal Whitman lives in Pacific Grove, California, with his wife, Elaine. Neal is the haiku editor for Pulse: Voices from the Heart of Medicine and is Vice President of the United Haiku and Tanka Society.

A Room of My Own: Day of the Dead Tanka

Day of the Dead ...
an old monk
striking his gong
in the moonlit cold
of midnight

Special Feature: Halloween Haiku

Halloween dusk
the army of the dead
...and a barking dog

Chen-ou Liu




Selected Haiku

 All Souls’ Eve --
tipping the spirit level
this way & that

Sandra Simpson

Halloween --
I dress as the self
I left somewhere

Fay Aoyagi

Halloween twilight
again this year my son waits
alone by the door

Roberta Beary

Halloween party --
after a few drinks
the masks come off

David Grayson

All Souls Day
so many masks
left behind

David McKe

this Halloween,
children born since
9/11

John Stevenson


Updated, November 1

Breaking News

white house leaks
onecrowafteranother
in the Halloween dusk

When the streets fall under a blanket of darkness, the army of the walking dead begins their march. On a street corner, a pitbull bares its teeth, growling. A high-pitched scream penetrates the night...

PoemHunter, November 2017

Butterfly Dream: No Way Out Haiku by LeRoy Gorman

English Original

no way out
Death’s at the door
demanding candy

The Heron's Nest, 12:1, March 2010

LeRoy Gorman


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

沒有出路
死神在門口
索求糖果

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

没有出路
死神在门口
索求糖果 


Bio Sketch

LeRoy Gorman writes mostly minimalist and visual poetry.  His most recent book, fast enough to leave this world, is one of tanka collections published by Inkling Press, Edmonton.  More information on his writing can be found at the American Haiku Archives where he served as the Honorary Curator for 2012-2013