Fresh claw marks on the persimmon--greedy bears
--Yutaka Kitajima (Joetsu, Niigata)

* * *

country road
beside every farm house
a weeping willow
--Mario Massimo Zontini (Parma, Italy)

* * *

morning glory
curling up a corn plant
kisses its mustache
--Tejendra Sherchan (Kathmandu, Nepal)

* * *

summer heat
the oak droops
over the canal
--Emil Karla (Paris, France)

* * *

Minefield
in the hollow of an oak tree
a newborn and a bible
--Tsanka Shishkova (Sofia, Bulgaria)

* * *

A yellow leaf has fallen
So many stories
remain untold
--Levko Dovgan (Lviv, Ukraine)

* * *

bare desk
I trace the grain
of a stranger’s ending
--C.X. Turner (Warwickshire, England)

* * *

on speaking terms…
it took a storm
to untangle the trees
--Tony Williams (Glasgow, Scotland)

* * *

view from my window;
each year trees grow a little--
I die a little…
--Alan Maley (Canterbury, England)

* * *

border
buried under snow
young spruce
--Slawa Sibiga (Tychy, Poland)

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

patches of pink
neighbor’s ripe peach…
gone missing
--Charlie Smith (Raleigh, North Carolina)

Doubting that the traditional four-season climate will ever return to normal, the haikuist pinched the last fruit from a tree. He may well have blushed, like the side of the fruit most exposed to the sun. Expensive fruits didn’t sell well at supermarkets this autumn. Baskets of peaches, pears and apricots grown in blinding sunlight and intense heat waves had to be discounted because of their discolored skins and watery brown cores. Yutaka Kitajima got a 50 percent reduction at a supermarket in Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture, but said his wife was deeply disappointed at its taste.

Clearance sale...
imposing watermelons
labeled “hollow fruit”

Back home for a visit in Hamilton, Ontario, during the peach, plum and pumpkin harvest season, Jessica Allyson closely observed her mom slice a homemade pie like clockwork. First, she cut the pie in half, slicing straight across its center, followed by a perpendicular cut that divided the pie into quarters. The final cut straight through the center of the pie divvied up eight equal slices, plus a few crumbs, for the family to share. Nicoletta Ignatti served an extra big piece of pie in Castellana Grotte, Italy. In Tokyo, Murasaki Sagano served a heaping bowl of her favorite soup.

family time
a seven-minute slice
of pumpkin pie

* * *

elderly father--
one slice of pumpkin pie
is enough

* * *

pumpkin
in salty miso soup
autumnal balance

In response to the haikuist column previously published on July 18, contributors continued to share their fascinating stories about poets lying down under green-leafed trees to express their love for forest-bathing in Japan. Teiichi Suzuki begged to hear Santoka Taneda’s (1882-1940) free-style verse: Wake itte mo wake itte mo aoi yama

Deep into
even deeper into
still green mountains

* * *

Wandering
in the green mountains
I meet Santoka

Mark DeMiglio enjoyed a weekend at a cottage surrounded by trees in Bobcaygeon, Ontario.

Bamboo shadows fall,
Cottage doors swing wide with joy
Uncle Dave returns

An educator in in St. Andrews, Scotland, David Greenwood cut into a physic nut tree that bled milky red sap. Murasaki Sagano visited a Shinto shrine and once bustling village that were built around majestic camphor and cedar trees. The centuries old grove symbolizes the spiritual heart of the community, a living deity offering eternity, longevity, and resilience to worshippers. Mohammad Azim Khan followed in the footsteps of swirling leaves in Peshawar, Pakistan.

green new leaves
the Good Friday Tree
springs forth

* * *

Ancient life
around sacred trees
autumn sky

* * *

autumn breeze
leaves tiptoe towards
Buddha’s bust

Marshall Hryciuk took note of a reflective green leaf on a tree standing in Toronto. In Warsaw, Poland, Lidia Iwanowska Szymanska contemplated mending a comfortable old rattan chair.

hornbeam leaf
resounding through the woods
in its hue

* * *

wicker armchair
under an old poplar
tall grass reeds

Repose in the quiet summer green forests has given way to an autumn workout method, pioneered in Japan, that combines high-intensity interval training principles with moving around outdoors. Refika Dedic felt an irresistible urge to move in Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

on the stone
loose hair...
restlessness in the palms

The simplicity of this Japanese way of exercising makes it accessible to people with varying fitness levels, requiring only a pair of shoes and the willingness to alternate paces while walking in nature. Ana Drobot put a spring in her step in Bucharest, Romania. Shoeless in Durham, England, Joanna Ashwell applied a soothing natural liquid onto her soul.

spring walk--
all my senses
awakening

* * *

bare feet
dancing in dew
summer’s balm

Mario Massimo Zontini sums up how climate change has changed the way he traditionally composed haiku using seasonal markers in Parma, Italy.

entering autumn
the leaves are still green
the days are still warm

Kim Goldberg painted a veranda in Nanaimo, British Columbia.

tall grass hides
crooked steps still wet
with purple paint

Shaking his head after a dizzying night in San Diego, California, Richard L. Matta shared “some bad dreams: wine tasting, losing the girl to poor aim, then being asked to walk a straight line.”

heel-to-toe test
the flashing reds
end summer

Justice Joseph Prah cleaned up in Accra, Ghana. John S. Gilbertson remarked on how dry weather made leaves redden sooner this fall in Greenville, South Carolina. Philip Davison trod carefully while walking near Dublin, Ireland.

long summer...
cleaning itself against dry grass
hot wind

* * *

The sun talks first
to the higher leaves
of the coming fall

* * *

underfoot
nut-brown cinnabar
burnt ochre

During a heatwave in London, England, Anne Marie McHarg said she “returned home from work… to find two naked trees minus their leaves just standing there,” yet her neighbor’s garden that was covered by weeds and wildflowers looked refreshingly cool.

Shaved of greenery
two naked trees stand
blazing heat

Green eyes playfully spied on Vladislav Hristov in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

among the green leaves
my son’s eyes…
last summer day

Pamela A. Babusci in Rochester, New York; Alan Summers in Chippenham, England; and Gordana Vlasic in Oroslavje, Croatia, respectively, have had enough.

never-ending wars
summer after summer
after summer

* * *

heart of the hurt
forever, forever, for ever
summer campaigns

* * *

sweltering heat...
one more day like this
and the ring flies

The core concept of the Japanese walking method is to alternate between periods of brisk, fast-paced walking and periods of slower, recovery-focused walking. Richard Bailly’s pace alternately slowed then sped up again.

magical forest
sprite behind every tree
sweet summer vapors

Stephen J. DeGuire went too fast in Los Angeles. Eric D. Rowe composed a truism in Washington, District of Columbia. Alexander Groth walked from one season to the next in Berlin, Germany. Kim Goldberg went hunting in Nanaimo, British Columbia.

June 1st there was
a summer ahead…
then August

* * *

Summer’s heat abates,
The fires of war rage on...
Only seasons change

* * *

under my foot
the cicada’s song fades…
the crickets rejoice

* * *

trigger reset
target shimmies in heat
cicadas click away

Sagano rose to her feet at a theater in Tokyo to hear the people sing these three stirring lines during the closing act in the musical “Les Miserables” performed in English: Singing the songs of angry men? It is the music of the people who will not be slaves again!

Finale
do you hear the people sing?
wails of cicadas

Japanese walkers start at a fast pace for 3 minutes and then slowdown for 3 minutes, repeating this cycle for a total of 30 minutes. Studies suggest this Japanese technique of walking outdoors improves cognitive function, reduces stress and even boosts creativity. Archie G. Carlos is all for speeding up in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Luciana Moretto quoted from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” to comment on the timing and sustainability of peace agreements.

how much ground
can this inchworm cover
peace talks

* * *

“time is out of joint”
a short-range hope
dawn is breaking

Now that fall has arrived, Japan-walking is experiencing a boom, especially when the exercise takes place in a park or a tree-lined riverbank. Slavica Mileva followed a marked trail in Mileva Skopje, North Macedonia. T.D. Ginting was simultaneously wary of hitting his head on a branch and muddying his shoes in Medan, North Sumatra. Moretto showed courtesy. Mauro Battini stayed up all night long in Pisa, Italy.

Feather on the path--
the sky is closer
than it appears

* * *

phone in silent mode--
walking
avoiding the (s)lop

* * *

bending to pick up
a dead leaf from off the ground--
was really a bow

* * *

thinking all the night
about the leaves on the tree…
an autumn moon

Giuliana Ravaglia hesitated to put on a brightly colored coat symbolizing the passion, love and vitality of the battledress worn by Italian volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) on campaigns to unify Italy. Stoianka Boianova crunched on a red apple while walking in Sofia, Bulgaria. Azi Kuder’s gold tooth took a bite in Gdynia, Poland.

my red coat
locked in the closet--
distant peace

* * *

ripe apples
on the summer paths
dry grasses

* * *

a golden apple
stirring on its fine stem...
summer’s end

Brent Goodman enjoyed a momentary musical and rainbow over Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Philip Davison went soaring over conifer trees in Dublin, Ireland.

sunshower
all the songbirds
loud about it

* * *

Above the larch stand
a peregrine falcon drifts
in the flush airstream

Distracted by one of the first migrating birds to skim onto a tidal flat this autumn, Morgan Ophir might have composed this haiku in the red ink with which he was sketching momiji leaves in Kyoto. Shishkova sketched in crimson.

sketching
a maple tree--
sandpiper’s song

* * *

maple leaves
in a new shade of red
late summer

The haikuist Tre no longer trims her once bonsai-sized maple tree that grew in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

imperial moon
softly scrawls autumn leaves
red dragon lets go

When an autumnal breeze blows, Canadian flags proudly wave a red maple leaf symbolizing the nation’s bounty of trees. Eyeing the border from Fargo, North Dakota, Bailly drew this line on the horizon:

summer smoke from northern forests textured death

Luminita Suse reluctantly spiraled into cooler autumn weather in Ottawa, Ontario, that colored leaves red and released little winged seedpods.

opening
hidden doors
maple keys

Sue Colpitts enjoyed maple leaves while mushroom hunting in Peterborough, Ontario.

red leaves
a mushroom breaks
their fall

At the end of summer vacation, those colorful deciduous trees can continue to help students keep cool despite the lingering hot sun. Students sweltering in classrooms this fall can go outside and sit under shade trees planted on the south and west sides of their schools. Hryciuk swept leaves off a parking lot.

impending storm’s leaves
tossed from the north
so grey the asphalt

Worried by heat exhaustion, Vlasic’s child feared going back to school. Fearing more school refusals (hikikomori) and even suicides this year, Junko Saeki noted fewer numbers of red, black and colored satchels climbing the hill to enter the school gate this autumn.

school holidays
my grandson still doesn’t leave
his room

* * *

back to school season
uptick in children who can’t
face the entrance gate

Mohammad Azim Khan’s grandma in Peshawar, Pakistan, stirred another jug of sweetened sherbet for schoolchildren.

endless summer
school extends
the summer vacation

In the United States, lingering hot weather isn’t keeping students from returning to school--ICE is. According to educators, rising Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity around schools this fall lead to an increase in absenteeism and anxiety among students, especially the youngest children. No bugs bothered Barrie Levine’s recital in a shaded veranda in Wenham, Massachusetts.

violin lessons
on the screen porch
September after school

Instead of nurturing shade trees, parks and schoolyards are increasingly being paved over in asphalt for ease-of-maintenance. Saeki restates the obvious about a combined religious organization, real estate company and government decision to replace trees with high-rise buildings in Tokyo. Anna Goluba hesitated in Warsaw, Poland.

Meiji shrine park
to nurture 100-year-old trees
it took 100 years

* * *

Autumnal leaf
Shaking
Before making a decision

When school playgrounds are surrounded by metal chain-link fencing and their parking lots resemble barren desert wastelands, it could disrupt the return of students to school in the fall. Mariya Gusev sketched this scene of an oasis in Sterling, Virginia.

a child listening
for a heartbeat in the trees
grateful for the rain

Linus Blessing wrote this bedside haiku in Berne, Switzerland.

red leaf sliding down
hindered by a spiderweb
mother’s life-support tubes

No sooner had tourism become a seasonal marker in haiku than it started to become a year-round phenomenon. Mario Massimo Zontini’s beautiful hometown in Parma, Italy, suffers from overtourism.

a long summer--
in town closed shops and
lost tourists

International visitors to Japan love to stop and take photos of a ubiquitous convenience store backed by Mount Fuji in Fuji-Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture. Noticeably, there are no shade trees in their snaps--not even one--to be seen at this, nor at any other photos of convenience stores in Japan. That is because trees are unceremoniously cut down during the construction of the airconditioned boxes surrounded by paved burning-hot asphalt parking lots. Summers worries the heat “will bring out tougher insects and their 24-hour clockwork march.”

predatory insects
tick tock their shells
perpetual summer

Zrinko Simunic shooed away visitors from his orchard.

tourists wander
in the middle of harvest
Indian summer

Gordana Vlasic escaped by canoe from increasingly frequent and widespread forest destruction. Shishkova noted that nesting birds are not so lucky.

wildfires
canaders paddle
the sea

* * *

fast-moving wildfire
swallow does not abandon
newly hatched chicks

Colpitts saw a beaver swimming through a mirror pond.

a beaver swims
through autumn leaves
birches’ reflection

In Bhubaneswar, India, Pravat Kumar Padhy composed a line in appreciation of the wood snake, this year’s zodiac animal.

a snake meandering muse through autumn leaves

In Hiroshima, Doc Sunday stopped to catch his breath on one of the 840 granite paving stones on a prayer path to a cenotaph. He listened to the sounds of insects, noting that summertime cicadas and locusts would soon give way to the sound of chirping crickets.

Cicadas sing
Peace Memorial Park
moment of silence

Maya Daneva met a leaf-blowing gardener at The Hague, Netherlands. Charlotte Bird waited for the last leaf to fall in Phoenix, Arizona.

leaf by leaf
the compost pile moves...
sound of a hedgehog

* * *

One lonely gold leaf
Clings to maple’s skeleton
Awaiting winter

Julie Ann Lebitania kicked her legs up higher and higher into the autumn sky over Sorsogon, Philippines.

legs swing
beneath the seat
crisp maples

Mariya Gusev knows a perfect spot to wait for a fellow walker, if not the ghost of a historic streetcar, on the Bethesda Trolley Trail in Maryland.

on the trolley trail
there’s a bench in the shade
for those still waiting

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

The next issue of the Asahi Haikuist Network appears on Oct. 31 for Halloween revelers. Readers are invited to send haiku about the start of winter 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 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 The International University of Kagoshima, 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: “Teaching and Learning Haiku in English” (2022); “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).