tundra swan lands on a lake in Japan--winter’s return
--Florian Munteanu (Bucharest, Romania)

* * *

first blizzard
my snow blower
out of tune
--Archie G. Carlos (St. Louis Park, Minnesota)

* * *

quick edit
a change of kigo
adds color
--Stephen J. DeGuire (Los Angeles, California)

* * *

mounting casualties--
my basket emptier
than before
--Kelsey Oliver Imanishi (Nara, Japan)

* * *

Trying to catch a glimpse
the price of my bowl of ramen
climbing Mount Fuji
--Ludovic Heyraud (Montpellier, France)

* * *

winter fashion
thrift for the love of the earth
mismatched gloves
--Masumi Orihara (Atsugi, Kanagawa)

* * *

hands warming
on a bag of roast chestnuts...
melting snow
--Melissa Dennison (Bradford, England)

* * *

cold wind
he puts another
coin on the coffee counter
--Michael Buckingham Gray (Perth, Western Australia)

* * *

the coffee table
bares the weight of cups
a friendship
--Nada Mutlaq (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)

* * *

black coffee--
the bitter taste of
inflation
--Federico C. Peralta (Philippines)

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

Snowy cape...
behind a sharp turn
the billows
--Yutaka Kitajima (Joetsu, Niigata)

Driving from Niigata to Kyoto, along National Route 8, coastal cliffs dangerously meet the sea in several places, according to the haikuist. The suspense around every bend in the road kept him alert while trying to locate where Matsuo Basho slept at Ichiburi, near Oyashirazu in Niigata Prefecture. That’s where the master poet penned: hitotsu-ya ni yujo mo ne-tari hagi to tsuki (At the same inn courtesans too were sleeping; bush clover and the moon).

Heyraud noted a certain tautness in a society on the verge of snapping. Ed Bremson realigned his line of sight in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Lonesome car-boy
in traffic jam--
Dreams running the red light

* * *

rearview mirror...
the sun wasn’t there this time
yesterday

A.J. Johnson has seen enough of white falling snow in Virginia.

one more funeral--
bouquet’s white petals
fall to the floor

Helga Stania heard her train whistle as it shunted down the line in Ettiswil, Switzerland: missed the train by a whisker... already snow on the swiss mountains

A group of young people filed a lawsuit at the Nagoya District Court suing power plant operators to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2). Warmer than usual temperatures lingered for so long this year that Murasaki Sagano began to question her need to buy things she really didn’t need.

Shopping
give it a second thought
lingering autumn

The young plaintiffs felt an increased sense of danger in their daily lives, including insufferably hot weather which has made it difficult to concentrate on their studies, limited their club activities and deprived them of opportunities to enjoy skiing on real snow. Marek Printer realizes that even the smell of snow can be a precious memory in Kielce, Poland.

reading her letter
the fragrance
of the snowflakes

Slawa Sibiga has a story ready to tell inquiring minds in Tychy, Poland.

global warming
an old man tells a story
of winter

This morning, Stephen J. DeGuire realized he should have better appreciated the view he once held in Los Angeles, California.

suddenly
the sky goes missing
new high-rise

On visit from Newcastle, Australia, Jennifer Smyth-Davey “tried so hard to see the mountain--at times thinking I did see it but never being sure--on seven Tokaido Shinkansen trips!”

Was that Fuji-san
grey blue brown white cloud massing
I am not certain

Mutlaq felt protected.

the moon peeks through clouds
checking on me
winter night

Ice particles in the atmosphere above Hokkaido tend to take in surrounding water vapors and grow into crystals that resemble columns, needles, plates and dendrites, which create the smooth and light powder snow that attracts hordes of skiers from around the world. Dorna Hainds added granular sugar to the cream in her coffee cup in Lapeer, Michigan.

evening snow
one heap
into a full moon

Simona Brinzaru loves when fluffy snowflakes fall in Transylvania, Romania. John Hawkhead loves the moon overhead Bradford on Avon, U.K.

the snow comes
slowly…
so does love

* * *

crystal moon
a waterfall shatters
in shards of light

Rimed crystals, which are attached with cloud particles, and graupel characterize the wet snow that falls on the Sea of Japan side of the Hokuriku to Tohoku regions. In Yamagata Prefecture, wind-blown heavy snows in February make the alpine trees at Zao Onsen Ski Resort look like snow monsters. Roberta Beach Jacobson from Indianola, Iowa, thinks snow-covered trees appear angelic.

branches
heavy with snow
angel trees

Last October there was enough snow to roll a snowman in Victoria, Australia, but with the rising costs of vegetables Margaret Ponting ate his nose. John Hawkhead was lucky to reel in a can of oily fish in Bradford on Avon, U.K.

sweet and crunchy
they taste the same
crooked carrots

* * *

fishing for sprats
the lines getting longer
at the foodbank

In Nagoya, Satoru Kanematsu felt well taken care of. In Tokyo, Murasaki Sagano counted her blessings, one by one.

Daycare home--
hot gratin for lunch
freezing day

* * *

Tonight’s menu
I’m not so badly off
oyster stew

When there’s a squeeze on Tony Williams’ wallet in Glasgow, Scotland, he settles for “soup, rice or beans” as a dinnertime meal.

a bill
I thought I’d paid…
soup for tea

Global warming could transform Hokkaido’s powdered snow into the wet flakes found in Hokuriku. Yutaka Kitajima went bird-watching in the cold rains of Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture, lamenting “I’ve been looking at the fowls of the air for decades, asking myself whether we’re really better than they.”

Splashing
in the eaves gutter...
the bulbul

Researchers at Hokkaido University and the Japan Meteorological Agency’s Meteorological Research Institute claim snow particles will likely change to sleet if average global temperatures continue to rise. Writing from Woodend, Australia, Myron Lysenko’s haiku is about the frustrations faced by Ukrainians. C.X. Turner uncovered an early sign of spring.

melting snow
he had to learn how
to enjoy fighting

* * *

yellow crocus
I raise a buried head
from the snow

Global warming is melting the effect of albedo, the ability of snow and ice to reflect heat back into space. Each year of less white ice in the Arctic, Antarctic and mountain glaciers accelerates global warming. In Glasgow, Scotland, Tony Williams read the curious news about a massive block of ice that has been caught in the churn of a powerful ocean current since last January.

reprisals or peace…
an iceberg spinning
in the open sea

Tejendra Sherchan hopes to sleep blissfully tonight, surrounded by snow-capped mountains in Kathmandu, Nepal.

bedridden
setting sun cheers me up
through the window

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The next issue of the Asahi Haikuist Network appears Jan. 31. Readers are invited to send haiku about seasonal illnesses 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 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).