Carpark in Moll de la Fusta the old man waiting for his youth
--Isabella Kramer (Nienhagen, Germany)

* * *

every head bowed
texting in the parking lot
Paradise trailhead
--Sherry Reniker (Kent, Washington)

* * *

New Year’s Eve
my parents smile at me
only from photos
--Vessislava Savova (Sofia, Bulgaria)

* * *

traffic light...
a moon-faced child
sells balloons
--Neena Singh (Chandigarh, India)

* * *

climate change
youthful voices plead for
a future
--Gary Evans (Stanwood, Washington)

* * *

old kitchen...
on the woodstove
orange peels
--Giuliana Ravaglia (Bologna, Italy)

* * *

thank you, lady bugs,‎
for choosing our kitchen
as your winter camp
--Lev Hart (Calgary, Alberta)‎

* * *

departing memories
hoarfrost on the door
carves his palms
--Hifsa Ashraf (Rawalpindi, Pakistan)

* * *

Her last day
scent of lemon from
the isolation window
--Lisbeth Ho (Salatiga, Indonesia)

* * *

waiting or leaving
the choices we make
now we’re free
--Xenia Tran (Nairn, Scotland)

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

Yesterday my life wrote to me
“waited 4U as long I could,
now I go on without you!”
--Isabella Kramer (Nienhagen, Germany)

The haikuist has decided to get on with life. Ed Bremson continued grieving in Raleigh, North Carolina. Soft winter sunlight shone through lace curtains in Elizabeth Gibbs’ family home in Calgary, Alberta. Dina Towbin recalled an image from happier times in Washington, D.C. Vandana Parashar cherished words in Panchkula, India. Writing New Year’s cards, Satoru Kanematsu was saddened by the loss of a dear friend.

not so happy...
another New Year’s Eve
without her

* * *

house of empty chairs
I try them all out
remembering you

* * *

You lifted me up,
I, perched on your legs, laughing
A fading image

* * *

long forgotten
mother’s words come back to me
after she’s gone

* * *

Twinkling star--
if I could just send
one more note

At home in Hualian, Taiwan, Che-Yu Lee dreamt of an oil-scented flowing coiffure. Silvana Dimitrievska found the color of her love everywhere she looked in Macedonia.

Combed hair
The fragrance stays in the yard
Satsuki azalea

* * *

torn leaf from a branch
with the color of your hair--
the wind sighs

Minko Tanev was either sitting in a window seat or standing on a hilltop in Sofia, Bulgaria.

horses on the hill
trains rush
into the next century

Lysa Collins rushed to White Rock Centre, British Columbia. Eva Limbach paused in Spain.

a child
and a suitcase
at the depot

* * *

abandoned trawler
the odd tranquility
of seagulls

Kitajima worried for his feathered friends. Thinking they were cold and hungry, he came to realize that “they have been away for weeks to glean the rice leftover from a farmer’s harvest” in Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture. Kristen Lindquist lives in snowy Camden, Maine.

Rice sparrows
flee in waves only
at my step

* * *

last year’s nest
left in the bird box
tracks fill with snow

Madhuri Pillai seemed to agree with the adage that fickle Melbourne, Australia, can have four seasons in one day. Writing from Calgary, Alberta, Hart inserted a homograph between two seasonal references.

deep winter
the wild yellow cosmos
of last summer

* * *

tattered winter
leaves--‎
a spring breeze ‎

Bob Friedland reported that he biked every day this year, traveling more than 6,000 kilometers back and forth from his home in Richmond, British Columbia. Jeff Leong recalled how presents were delivered to kids living on rubber plantations near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Satoru Kanematsu sighed deeply at yearend, perhaps fearing that air pollution levels in Nagoya will rise again after the New Year holidays. It started to rain while Sheila K. Barksdale was delivering a dusty haul of carrots to her friends at yearend in Gotherington, England.

Two wheels in hard rain
Shrouded by my yellow cape
I cannot see home

* * *

rubber estate…
Santa Claus riding
his old bicycle

* * *

Belching smoke
factory chimneys
the oiled earth

* * *

bicycle errand
dusty bunched carrots become
shining waterfalls

A. Sethuramiah celebrated a festival of lights in Bangalore, India, hoping it could help the global leaders to clarify climate change issues. Writing from Ettiswil, Switzerland, Helga Stania looked back on an unsuccessful year. Everyone was hoping for more, noted Horst Ludwig from his new home in Seattle, Washington. Tongue in cheek in Munster, Germany, Pitt Buerken hopes next year will be better.

bursting crackers
on Diwali day wishing
COP illumination

* * *

COP26--
Greta looks deeply
Disappointed

* * *

evening news
that Swedish girl, the queen
expected ... something

* * *

next time
we do save the earth
Promise!

Marilyn Humbert got her feet wet in Sydney, Australia. Mircea Moldovan was insatiable—feeling hungry and thirsty all day long for anything made from rice in Jibou, Romania. Marshall Hryciuk drank a mixture made from potatoes and mangoes in Toronto. Richard L. Matta skinned citrus in San Diego, California.

new moon
fireflies light a path
across the swamp

* * *

rice swamp
sunrise with mochi
sunset with sake

* * *

enough vodka
after tincture making
for the mango juice

* * *

zest of lemon--
the taste of rain
in this high stack city

Perhaps having indulged in a few too many glasses of an aromatic high-proof corn whiskey, Masumi Orihara said she “experienced the sensation of listening to another voice talking joyfully.” Kanematsu measured his words. Kristen Lindquist refreshed her drink in Camden, Maine.

listening to
another me talking
bourbon on the rocks

* * *

Cannot say
only clinking ice
in the glass

* * *

lawn party
garnishing my cocktail
with a blade of grass

Plants crept along the ground and up a wall in Cyberjaya, Malaysia, where Elizabeth Marshall teaches poetry to bright young university students. The ellipsis [...] on her third line is meant to leave readers to continue this line of thought into the New Year.

birds chirp crisp air
creeper sighs
for tomorrow...

Ramona Linke read the writing on the wall in Germany.

end of fossil fuels …
the old miner taps out
his pipe

Kitajima eavesdropped on a secret message and he also witnessed a betrothal, promised between two lovers in moonlight and placed in an envelope marked private and confidential, which may have been sealed with a kiss. Ho observed love grow step by step. Zeljko Vojkovic noted the Year of the Ox ends soon. Murasaki Sagano heard from the heavens above Tokyo.

Chilly night
the final cipher
crickets sent

* * *

Waiting eve
another romance
under seal

* * *

mandarin oranges
in Chinese betrothal
steps to prosperity

* * *

salt at the front foot
emperor chose concubines
chosen by the ox

* * *

Winter stars
beyond time and space
reach for me

Patrick Sweeney appreciated an Irish custom that is also practiced where he lives in Japan, of lingering in view until departing guests reach the horizon.

bamboo by the rusty tracks
waving until
I’m out of sight

It’s a Filipino tradition to wear polka dots for good luck and to throw coins in the home for children to chase at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. Barrie Levine emptied his pockets in Wenham, Massachusetts. Luckily, Laughing waters wasn’t in a hurry.

coins spilling
on the oak floor
waning moon

* * *

elevator ride:
he pressed all the buttons
on her dress

Karen Harvey can start tomorrow with a clean slate in Pwllheli, North Wales.

mislaid ...
my reminders
notebook

Here’s a haiku from John R. Parsons in Northampton, England, to wish readers a Happy New Year.

midnight
how snow gathers light
to throw back

The president of the Association of Francophone Haiku based in Lyon, France, Jean Antonini wished readers a sound sleep with a haiku in French meaning: The fresh snow outside--white like my bed of feathers on which I now lay.

la neige dehors
blanche comme ma coquette
je me couche

Anne-Marie McHarg finally got to bed in London, England, where she penned this line wondering if she might see Mount Fuji, a hawk or an eggplant: To sleep on New Year’s is to dream in a world of dreams.

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

The next issues of the Asahi Haikuist Network appear Jan. 7 and 21, 2022. Readers are invited to send haiku about something new or for the incoming year of the tiger on a postcard to David McMurray at the International University of Kagoshima, Sakanoue 8-34-1, Kagoshima, 891-0197, Japan, or by 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).