tears and smiles in an emotional storm home again
--Tsanka Shishkova (Sofia, Bulgaria)

* * *

Raindrops
on early columbines
a dragon’s last breath
--Isabella Kramer (Nienhagen, Germany)

* * *

calling out to Shenlong
the blue dragon
stop the rain!
--Wilda Morris (Bolingbrook, Illinois)

* * *

Grey skies bring
Continuous rain falling
Wet so wet
--Anne-Marie McHarg (London, England)

* * *

digital detox…
abubble in the Hot Spring
a Welsh onion head
--Monica Kakkar (Hot Springs, Virginia)

* * *

early spring
warmer and warmer even
the rains
--Vessislava Savova (Sofia, Bulgaria)

* * *

again spring
the scent of wet earth through
an open window
--Marek Printer (Kielce, Poland)

* * *

a newborn kitten
left by a stray cat
unexpected job
--Shizuku Tsukino（Tokyo）

* * *

while I sit
facing the wall…
spring drizzle
--Kanchan Chatterjee (Jamshedpur, India)

* * *

7 a.m.
seven miles left
on the treadmill
--Elisabeth Guichard (Lyon, France)

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

a whiff of perfume
memory of her
dancing in the rain
--Linus Blessing (Berne, Switzerland)

The haikuist’s sense of smell triggered a powerful link to an intoxicating moment. Before a heavy rain we can sniff ozone and the earthy scent of petrichor. Angela Giordano’s nose lead her to compose this line in Avigliano, Italy: love blossoms among the mimosas enveloped in perfume

Mario Massimo Zontini arose from an afternoon nap to the smell of coffee in Parma, Italy: daylong rain the aroma of coffee from the kitchen

Roberta Beach Jacobson wrote this line as a tribute to someone who passed away in Indianola, Iowa: the eulogy ends in rainfall

Writing from New York City, Laurence Raphael Brothers alluded to a monologue from character Roy Batty (portrayed by Rutger Hauer) in the 1982 film “Blade Runner.” The haikuist suggested that “it may require profound sadness for a fish to cry, but as their tears are washed away instantly no one will ever remark on their sorrow. If we don’t write them down, the same observation applies to our own memories.”

a sad fish sniffles--
lost memories vanishing
like tears in the rain

Robin Rich struggled to stay focused in Brighton, England.

popping candy
gone
shopping in a hailstorm

Zontini unwrapped another baci kiss.

all day rain
dark chocolate melts in my mouth--
alone

Apsara Dilrukshi Perera tended a tropical plant that symbolizes solace and conveys sympathy during difficult times in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Blooming
peace lilies
along an iron wall

Hussein Amuka composed this haiku in Nairobi, Kenya.

nature’s gift--
a white rain lily blossoms
close to my door

Having returned to Dublin, Ireland, O.R. Melling dreamed of her recent travels around Japan.

In the Zen garden
koi dream in the pond
a broom rests against the stone

Teiichi Suzuki said he often sees “foreign travelers in the Nankai train bound for Mount Koya” to visit temples and gravestones. When the rain lifts on the mountain road sunbeams shine down through gigantic cedar trees.

Suffocated
in the wind of young leaves
Koya road

Elizabeth Moura hopes the bus to East Taunton, Massachusetts, arrives soon.

crowded bus stop
bluebirds also waiting out
the sudden storm

Yutaka Kitajima recommends travelers to Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture, taste jellied “sasa-ame” that can be eaten together with the wrapper as mentioned in Soseki Natsume’s “Botchan,” published in 1906: “Couldn’t sleep last night. I dreamed of Kiyo… Will return next summer.”

Green paddies...
wrapped in bamboo leaves
rice jelly

Francis Attard felt restless last night in Marsa, Malta: night’s loud tussle cat’s whiskers drying rainbows the morning after

Rain-soaked in Thames Ditton, England, Keith Evetts pondered how superstitious beliefs might be formed.

sometime after
all the prayers for rain
the deluge

Ian Willey reported from Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, on today’s rained out game.

soccer field at dawn
the crows have
possession

Satoru Kanematsu in Nagoya and Masumi Orihara in Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, respectively, started to sing in the rain.

Passing spring
“Yesterday once more”
vinyl disc

* * *

“Unforgettable”
the ultimate blue
forget-me-not

Giuliana Ravaglia rejoiced in Bologna, Italy.

With joy from Italy
The taste of the sea...
and a beautiful song

Sights and sounds entranced Zontini. John Pappas was nonplussed in Boston, Massachusetts.

the winding road
floats in the winter fog:
nuanced sounds and colours

* * *

neither here
nor there--
morning fog

Marie Derley looks forward to sunnier days in Ath, Belgium.

promotion at work
transplanting the rosebush
to a sunnier spot

Ana Drobot hopped over a puddle in Bucharest, Romania.

rainy day--
I take a jump
over the sky

Wary of thorns on rose stems, Barbara Anna Gaiardoni also avoided the quills among shaking iris blooms in Verona, Italy.

bed of irises
watch out
for porcupines

Natalia Kuznetsova was the first to awake in Moscow, Russia.

primroses
at the nursing home
another spring

Kanematsu has lots to do.

Rainy June--
it’s time to hustle
garden snail

Monica Kakkar fused a soft, welcome rain on rice paddies with a tasty cup of hot tea and a steaming bowl of blended flavors in Bangalore, India.

glass of cutting chai--
Indo-Chinese glass noodles
spice up the spring rain

Kyle Sullivan penned this poem while intermittent rains fell in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

rain that returns…
moths make what they can
of moonlight

Helga Stania waited patiently for stars to shine above the mountains in Ettiswil, Switzerland. Junko Saeki walked by a rain-filled rice field rimmed with dandelions in Tokyo.

dandelion meadow
wait for the appearance
of constellations

* * *

dandelions,
little puffs by the paddy fields--
tanpopo

Gazing skyward from the San Francisco Bay area, Sally A. Fox titled this haiku “A Star.”

Clear skies, moistened grass,
Dreams of welcoming loved ones…
Make haste… advancing!

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The next issue of the Asahi Haikuist Network appears on June 21. You are invited to send a haiku about a June wedding, by 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 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).