my three faces lunar eclipse
--Pere Risteski (North Macedonia)

* * *

copper moon...
her shadow over them
as they face light
--Sushama Kanpur (Pune, India)

* * *

lunar images--
from the cone runs out
the earth’s shadow
--Minko Tanev (Bulgaria)

* * *

day moon
he puts on his mask
and enters the bank
--Ian Willey (Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture)

* * *

the new moon
hands over a comfortable darkness…
finally into sleep
--Hidehito Yasui (Osaka)

* * *

muezzin’s call
the dawn moon
in a sheet of clouds
--Adjei Agyei-Baah (Kumasi, Ghana)

* * *

stuffy night
the moon reflection didn’t rise
out of the river
--Serhiy Shpychenko (Kyiv, Ukraine)

* * *

circle of the moon
draws me into…
its radiance
--Douglas J. Lanzo (Chevy Chase, Maryland)

* * *

the dark
behind the moon
my fear she’ll leave
--Keith Evetts (Thames Ditton, U.K.)

* * *

outer-edge nostalgia
stowed in my black box
for later
--Luciana Moretto (Treviso, Italy)

------------------------------
FROM THE NOTEBOOK
------------------------------

100th full moon
embarrassingly long
and bumpy life
--Masumi Orihara (Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture)

The haikuist’s aunt celebrated a centenary in good health and spirits, admitting to her niece that she felt “a little embarrassed to have lived so long.” Satoru Kanematsu celebrated an auspicious rising full moon in Nagoya.

Elder’s Day
mom in the photo
one hundred

In Tokyo, Kiyoshi Fukuzawa misses hearing from his dad. Agus Maulana Sunjaya suddenly realized he had grown taller than his father in Tangerang, Indonesia.

Global warming--
I wonder when father enjoyed
the best-colored leaves

* * *

my shadow
longer than father’s
harvest moon eclipse

A full cold moon rises tomorrow; Michael Lindenhofer enjoyed this sublime moment last month in Linz, Austria: lunar eclipse eclipsing the crickets.

Writing from Exeter, New Hampshire, our thomas readied himself for Dec. 21 when the sun will reach the Tropic of Capricorn and create the shortest day and longest night of this year in the Northern hemisphere.

winter solstice--
the spaces between
the stars and me

Susan Antolin selected this line by first-year medical student Honomi Morimoto as the top prize winner of a haiku contest held at Kagawa University: Midnight city starry sky is fallen on the ground. Willey judged this line by nursing sophomore Ai Tada to be worthy of an honorable mention in the annual contest: winter sky very cold and dry like your heart.

Horst Ludwig looks forward to heavenly occasions to observe what’s going on in the universe, noting that he is “a piece of … some light far out there.” The seasoned writer ended his haiku with an authorial act--by not ending on an ellipsis he retained his creator’s right to the interpretation of this haiku, of his life.

When I rise from my bed
see the moon through the window
no eclipse... no more

Iliyana Stoyanova trimmed her ornamental, miniature potted tree in the deep autumn glow of a miniature moon over St. Albans, U.K. November’s moon traveled almost as far away as it could get from Earth, rendering it a minimoon. Natalia Kuznetsova’s heartstrings pulled as she watched her love fade away from Moscow, Russia. A small orb caught Roberta Beach Jacobson’s eye in Indianola, Iowa. Rp Verlaine window-shopped in New York, New York. Germina Melius was the last to leave the room in Castries, Saint Lucia.

full moon
the bonsai tree’s leaves
gleam into the night

* * *

the farther you go
the more I long for you...
waning moon

* * *

mistaking
60-watt bulb for the moon
a fly

* * *

the moon
in each window of shops
closed for good

* * *

red moon
God turns off
the light

Helga Stania marked an auspicious 50th anniversary, which took place when the moon came as close as it could to Earth. In Hildesheim, Germany, Beate Conrad recorded a haiku in her diary about a spectacular eclipsing full moon.

golden wedding
on the horizon
the perigee moon

* * *

On May 26th
just stand out of my sunlight
the moon’s only wish

Bob Friedland said his toddler mistook the circular sun for a round full moon overhead in Richmond, British Columbia; Mary L. Leopkey saw red everywhere in Gillies Bay.

Pointing, moons ago,
to a silhouetted sun,
my son said, “Dere moon”

* * *

penetrating light
my skin and poppy petals
blood moon of May

Pitt Buerken sensed a stand-off in Munster, Germany. Orihara figuratively compared the Earth to a protective matchmaker for the moon--an exposed prospective bride, and the sun--a curious groom. Vandana Parashar may need some protection in Panchkula, India,

the moon glowers
once again the earth stands
to him in the sun

* * *

earth
as a go-between
moon and sun

* * *

brewing storm...
mom says my dress
is too revealing

Anne-Marie McHarg admired a very smooth and shiny moon emerge from a pond on the horizon in London. In Raleigh, North Carolina, Charlie Smith placed a romantic flower in his wife’s shimmering hair. The fragrant trumpet-shaped flower stays open until sunrise.

The moon on glassy water
She preens herself
For a night out

* * *

first moonflower
adorns long black hair
in moonlight

Evetts equated a fraction. Samo Kreutz measured diameter.

moon/water
the distance to the woman

* * *

in a puddle
between him and her
the whole moon

Roberta Beach Jacobson hopes all the negativity she’s had to face in Indianola, Iowa, will produce a positive force.

winter morn
all the double negatives
show up

Patrick Sweeney walked around a jellyfish while beachcombing in Misawa, Aomori Prefecture. Having enjoyed a day on one of the most beautiful beaches in Italy, Isabella Kramer hopes to return a forgotten toy before tomorrow.

circumambulating
a washed-up moon jelly
who should I tell

* * *

World Children’s Day
on Spiaggia dei Conigli
a lonely teddy bear

Stania didn’t pry while walking this fine line: moonlit path questions we did not ask.

Rosa Maria di Salvatore hesitated to confide a secret in Catania, Italy. Murasaki Sagano felt all wound up in Tokyo. Fukuzawa looked over his shoulder. Kuznetsova hoped to soon be free.

hidden moon...
those words
I’ve never said

* * *

The moon…
an old clock ticking
in rhythm with my thoughts

* * *

strangers follow me
getting off at the bus stop--
stop for the full moon

* * *

another lockdown--
through my barred window
winter moonshine

At home enjoying a full beaver moon over Camden, Maine, Kristen Lindquist was reminded how beavers build with twigs and mud all night long under moonlight before cramming into their winter lodge.

beaver moon
all the party guests
in the kitchen

Alan Summers shivered at the call of an iconic wild animal that can “make the moon ‘concertina’ in fear!” John R. Parsons heard from vixens in Northampton, England. Two weeks after last month’s full beaver moon, Zdenka Mlinar finally caught up on her sleep in Zagreb, Croatia.

timber wolf--
the cold moon
concertinas

* * *

graveyard on the hill
a distant fox cries out
across evening snow

* * *

new moon
wolves are sleeping

On a frosty night in Calgary, Alberta, Meghan Elizabeth Jones savored the Canadian year-end tradition of eating imported fruit. Sweeney sensed the presence of a ghost.

finger peeled
burst of sweet tart juice
Christmas mandarins

* * *

playing with the loose skin
on her elbow
ghost of her dead son

Ludwig reflected on how stressing man’s direct connections to the grace of God detracts from the interconnectedness of all human beings. Having offered prayers on the Day of the Dead for the many souls of those who have died this year, Wieslaw Karlinski now looks forward to celebrating the birth of Christ in Namyslow, Poland.

All Souls Day
dignity of flickering
candles on earth

* * *

All Souls’ Day
in the store almost ready
Santa Claus

Chen Xiaoou lit a candle on a pine tree in Kunming, China. Giuliana Ravaglia decorated a fir tree in Bologna, Italy. Sharon de la Rama remarked on how bark beetles had infested spruce trees in the Czech Republic.

Christmas tree
lit up with tiny candles
tiny living flames

* * *

grandma’s house...
on the Christmas tree
the tangerines

* * *

Sunny autumn hike
Thirsty, waiting for some rain
Spruce with brown needles

Verlaine peered down at a Christmas display. Bona M. Santos faced a confusing decision in Los Angeles. There remains a lot of work to be done to protect the planet, suggested John Hawkhead in Bradford on Avon, England. Maya Daneva decided what to buy in the Netherlands.

the tightening noose
on my last good gold watch
in pawnshop window

* * *

jetting to a meeting
to reduce carbon footprint--
a conundrum

* * *

COP26
still so much to do
with hot air

* * *

this electric car--
the guest on earth
I want to be

Singaporean poet Elancharan Gunasekaran suggested other guests: not invited to COP26 mother nature and god.

If enough people want something to happen, it will, noted the Torontonian poet Marshall Hryciuk who improvised a refrain from John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” to create this line: oil is over if we want it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Readers are invited to enter up to a dozen poems in the 11th Matsuyama International Photo-Haiku Contest supported by The Asahi Shimbun, at this online site: http://www.matsuyamahaiku.jp/contest/theme_eng/entry/.

The next issue of the Asahi Haikuist Network appears Dec. 31. Readers are invited to send haiku for the New Year on a postcard to David McMurray at the International University of Kagoshima, Sakanoue 8-34-1, Kagoshima, 891-0197, Japan, or e-mail to mcmurray@fka.att.ne.jp.

* * *

David McMurray has been writing the Asahi Haikuist Network column since April 1995, first for the Asahi Evening News. He is on the editorial board of the Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku, columnist for the Haiku International Association, and is editor of Teaching Assistance, a column featuring graduate students in The Language Teacher of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT).

McMurray is professor of intercultural studies at The International University of Kagoshima where he lectures on international haiku. At the Graduate School he supervises students who research haiku. He is a correspondent school teacher of Haiku in English for the Asahi Culture Center in Tokyo.

McMurray judges haiku contests organized by Ito En Oi Ocha, Asahi Culture Center, Matsuyama City, Polish Haiku Association, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Seinan Jo Gakuin University, and Only One Tree.

McMurray's award-winning books include: "Only One Tree Haiku, Music & Metaphor" (2015); "Canada Project Collected Essays & Poems" Vols. 1-8 (2013); and "Haiku in English as a Japanese Language" (2003).