her ears cherry-blossom pink his whisper
--Masumi Orihara (Atsugi, Kanagawa)

* * *

Mount Fuji
their folding hands
bow to each other
--Anna Yin (Mississauga, Ontario)

* * *

blossom haze...
mom goes out without
her walking stick
--Kanchan Chatterjee (Jamshedpur, India)

* * *

spring blush
the orchestra plays
in waltz time
--John Pappas (Boston, Massachusetts)

* * *

sakura blooms
after all is said and done
my soul flying
--Lilia Racheva (Rousse, Bulgaria)

* * *

long haul flight
taking in the curvature
of her sleeping lips
--John Hawkhead (Bradford on Avon, U.K.)

* * *

slight curve
of the universe
geisha’s side lock of hair
--Dorna Hainds (Lapeer, Michigan)

* * *

spring rain
a toddler paints
the sky pink
--Lori Kiefer (London, England)

* * *

my dragon and I
share separate dreams
cherry blossoms
--Mel Goldberg (Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico)

* * *

pink light
unwrapping in the sky
a heart-shaped cloud
--Ivan Gacina (Zadar, Croatia)

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

today’s sunrise
through misty green
spring rain
--Marta Chocilowska (Warsaw, Poland)

The haikuist disappointingly “read in the news that cherry trees have already bloomed in Japan” and asked if it was really “true that they bloom earlier and earlier every year?” Haikuists visiting from abroad who missed their chance to see sakura this year, instead had to write about “shinryoku” meaning the first fresh green of early summer’s young leaves. Anica Marcelic looks forward to tasty chartreuse garden greens.

on Saturday
I will plant
basil seeds

An unusually warm winter in Washington, D.C., also meant blossoms peaked there in March, just when the National Cherry Blossom Festival was scheduled to begin. Haikuists are guessing whether Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will exchange haiku greetings at a state dinner with his U.S. counterpart this April 10. Nine years ago, on April 29, 2015, then U.S. President Barack Obama toasted the late Prime Minister Abe Shinzo with this harmoniously felt haiku penned in 5-7-5 syllables: Spring, green and friendship United States and Japan Nagoyaka ni

Despite the “daffodils, pear trees, Japanese magnolia, and cherry trees blooming in 21 degrees” Celsius in Raleigh, North Carolina, Ed Bremson said he prefers the simplicity of winter and is not yet ready to move on.

unready for spring...
can’t let go of the winter
dead

David Cox shook things up in Beijing, China. Roberta Beach Jacobson awoke in dreamlike Indianola, Iowa. Jennifer Gurney was famished for breakfast in Broomfield, Colorado.

shudder the tree...
a cloudburst
of breadfruit

* * *

springtime
waking from hibernation
fairies

* * *

the scent of bacon
hangs in the air--
alongside thoughts of you

Christina Chin painted a nostalgic moment in Kuching, Borneo.

peaceful under
fragrant durian blossoms
aching timbre of a flute

Having visited a temple near his home in Nagoya to pray to Nirvana, Satoru Kanematsu also hopes to attend a flower festival on April 8 to celebrate the birth of Buddha.

Spring chillness
recorded sutra
sounds empty

* * *

Long ear lobes
of the Great Buddha
spring birdsongs

Mario Massimo Zontini spotted a warbler on an early blossoming tree in Parma, Italy. Giuliana Ravaglia heard from the small migratory bird in Bologna.

winter deepens:
the red of crab apples
a blackcap

* * *

the dawn is clearer--
the song rises
from the blackcap

Yutaka Kitajima felt as though he was riding a roller-coaster in Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture.

The bulbul
loops-the-loop again
through sunshine

Head over heels in love, Stoianka Boianova mailed shorthand notes from Sofia, Bulgaria.

I’m writing you
letters on cherry petals
the wind carries them

Eric Kimura penned this 5-7-5 syllable poem during a visit to see early blossoming cherry trees on the Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture.

Old boggy pond yet
When Kawazu flowers bloom,
Sounds of snapshots heard

Monica Kakkar found a few mementos of spring hidden in the mountains.

off the beaten path…
leftover cherry blossoms
trickle in selfies

Bidding farewell in Tokyo, Shizuku Tsukino had just enough time to write these two lines.

cherry petals follow you
to north, to north

A blossoming love has fallen and faded in Canterbury, England for Alan Maley.

old letters--lost loves,
words now wintered leaves, fading--
that once broke my heart…

Junko Saeki reasoned that “Typically, we fall in love in the springtime of our life, when hormones are raging. Yet this is the time” we need to earn a living, so “this problem of premature love may perhaps be solved by universal income for all.”

love in the springtime--
couldn’t it come later
and more quietly

David Greenwood returned too late to St. Andrews, Scotland.

Magnolia tree
I return to find no blooms
Spring abruptly gone

Urszula Marciniak’s career was revitalized, but soon she lamented losing her freedom in Lodz, Poland.

after all those years
as I walk to my new job
I notice new sprouts

* * *

my first job
violets bloom freely
outside the window

Mihaela Babusanu composed a haiku connecting Bacau, Romania, to Narita Airport.

eagerly awaiting our reunion--
from the plane’s luggage hold
cherry blossom scents

Padraig O’Morain may have worn rose-colored glasses at a springtime park in Dublin, Ireland.

he walks against the wind
his dog in a pink coat
trots on a pink lead

Barbara Anna Gaiardoni may have seen migrant pink flamingos in Verona, Italy.

pink moon…
winged creature
suddenly returns

Xenia Tran was almost bowled over when her dog greeted friendly hands in Nairn, Scotland.

dog-friendly cafe
staff give our collie
the high-five

Florian Munteanu cried at the end of spring in Romania.

blooming season done
a dry spring is time to cry
tears from Bucharest

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

It’s your last chance to see blossoms at https://www.asahi.com/ajw/special/haiku/. The next issue of the Asahi Haikuist Network appears April 19. Readers are invited to respond to Barack Obama’s 2015 haiku: Spring, green and friendship United States and Japan Nagoyaka ni. Send postcards to David McMurray at the International University of Kagoshima, Sakanoue 8-34-1, Kagoshima, 891-0197, Japan, or e-mail (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).