flashing through bare trees jay’s blue
--Marshall Hryciuk (Toronto, Ontario)

* * *

my autistic son
a blue butterfly’s wings
folding, unfolding
--Chen-ou Liu (Ajax, Ontario)

* * *

blue irises--
the deafening noise
of the scooter
--Angiola Inglese (Rapallo, Italy)

* * *

house
in demolition
an intact iris blooms
--Tejendra Sherchan (Kathmandu, Nepal)

* * *

at the crossroads
a single blue iris
has bloomed
--Mario Massimo Zontini (Parma, Italy)

* * *

winter sky
all the blues
in me
--C. Jean Downer (White Rock, British Columbia)

* * *

every moment
a hymn of life
the blue iris blooms
--Fatma Zohra Habis (Algiers, Algeria)

* * *

Gloomy evening
Color of the roses disappears
in blare language
--Shakhawat Tipu (Dhaka, Bangladesh)

* * *

pheasant cry
swallowed by the fog--
the last hydrangea
--Mauro Battini (Pisa, Italy)

* * *

moist bluebells
ink dye catheter
a rain of veins
--Sheikha A. (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)

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

San Pedro Square
white smoke in the grey sky
above colorful flags
--Julia Guzman (Cordoba, Argentina)

The haikuist penned this haiku as soon as the incoming Catholic pontiff was named Pope Leo XIV. Murasaki Sagano began to tell a colorful story in Tokyo. She didn’t mind that her usual nighttime interlocutor had grown weary and faded in the blue. When she saw the color purple, her namesake, however she was rendered speechless.

Crocuses
share a fairy tale
morning sky

* * *

Granted that
the morning moon is thin, yet
the spring day shines

* * *

Irises
take the words out of
my mouth

In today’s column, haikuists crayon the colorful springtime. Monica Kakkar watched children play outdoors in Northern Virginia. Anne Marie McHarg taught the rules of a popular game in London, England. Eva Limbach chalked a sidewalk in Spain. Marek Printer recalled a day hopping along on one leg in Kielce, Poland. Paul Callus watched a puppy play in Safi, Malta. Ivan Georgiev watched his daughter and mother jump together in Gottingen, Germany.

the colors of spring
polka dot the patio…
children in free play

* * *

Numbers chalked, stone thrown
Merry children hopscotching
Summer games

* * *

hopscotch
I never asked
for the rules

* * *

autumn day
on the hopscotch squares
only chestnuts

* * *

playing hopscotch--
an excited puppy
joins in the fun

* * *

hopscotch--
a trip down memory lane
for her granny

While playing a game in St. Augustine, Florida, Kimberly A. Horning inadvertently conjured up a ghost.

i got
the ouija board blues
uninvited guest

Rhyming playfully in Bucharest, Romania, Florian Munteanu seems to have been inspired by Dr. Seuss’ 1957 children’s book “The Cat in the Hat.”

a lady with a hat
full of flowers and a cat--
miaow, what a price

Alan Maley was likely tempted to draw this scene with pastel-colored crayons.

one wild cherry tree
on the fringe of the wood flowers--
a mist of colour…

Zeljko Vojkovic wandered in Kyoto. Nishieeta Daksh walked through an arbor of trees in Kolkata, India. Marek Kozubek breathed deeply in Bangkok, Thailand.

Philosopher’s Path
color of the skirt matches
with the cherry blossoms

* * *

’Neath the blue
copse of sakuras
spring’s lacework

* * *

long cherry alley--
stronger and stronger
the scent of twilight

Maley lapped up the taste of the season.

this froth of pink cream
clotting April cherry trees …
so mouth-watering!

Patrick Sweeney’s eyes followed the flight path of a translucent blue insect in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

early damselfly
not sure why
I’m holding my breath

Giuliana Ravaglia watched a playful blue flower in Bologna, Italy. By evening, the games turned to love.

patch of sky
in a game with the wind--
a cornflower

* * *

the moon dances
in the celestial blue--
romantic blues

In the small town of Mladenovac, Serbia, music got the better of Zoran Antonijevic.

In the tavern’s dark,
a dance of smoky devils
We listen to blues

A.J. Johnson felt trapped in Stephens City, Virginia.

winter blues--
horned larks circle
ice-bound fields

Manasa Reddy Chichili enjoyed welcoming new arrivals to Telangana, India. Archie G. Carlos blessed a newlywed’s home in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Melissa Dennison tied blue flowers outside her home in Bradford, England.

spring shower
their new home sprinkled
with salt and rice

* * *

antiquated house
warding off spirits
spring blossoms

* * *

primroses
hang from the door...
warding off faeries

Shishkova was delighted by birdsongs and blossoms in Sofia, Bulgaria. Mile Lisica watched pastel-colored trees sway in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

song
from a budding tree
baby’s smile

* * *

wind in the canopy
drives away evil spirits--
scented flowers

Luciana Moretto had quite a day.

January 20
foul weather
I feel blue

Angela Giordano had quite a week: fragility... the flu puts me to bed for a week

Tsanka Shishkova stirred in her sleep.

blue iris field
the wooden rocking horse
in my dreams

Having weathered winter, Teiichi Suzuki revels in the freedom of clear skies.

Withering wind
leaving the blue sky
as it is

Joshua St. Claire knows where clouds come from.

the north wind brings them
stratocumulus
pear blossoms

St. Claire didn’t cower when birds flew past his head in York County, Pennsylvania.

a bit of praise
for old bird shit
wild pear blossoms

Satoru Kanematsu sniffed a season word that his favorite haiku poet often wrote about.

Fresh dog dung:
a nice haiku theme
if Issa

Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828) penned this humorous line while watching wild geese migrate back north: ta no hito no kasa ni hako shite kaeru kari

the wild geese take wing
pooping on the farmer’s hat
in flooded rice fields

Incredulous, Sweeney overheard this line: I think he said, ‘it’s just a bunch of geese taking off’

On the mend in Phoenix, Arizono, Charlotte Bird savored the greenness of springtime. Vessislava Savova exhaled slowly in Sofia, Bulgaria.

after week’s illness
the first, sweet taste
of morning matcha

* * *

meditation
green curves in the middle
of the circle

Claire Ninham sliced greens and blues in North Yorkshire, England. If only for a moment, the haikuist hoped that we could all agree that the sky outside is blue and the stems are green.

a snippet of sky
between daffodil stems--
calm interlude

Perhaps it seemed there was little chance of sustaining peace long enough to create a Golden Age, but Ninham penned this joyous line of gold: a daffodil chorus skirts the frozen puddles

Yutaka Kitajima composed a haiku based on a cartoon sketch by Pulitzer Prize winner Ann Telnaes that was denied publication in the Washington Post.

A flock of sparrows
singing out through the hedge...
“A Dark Age kicked off!”

Determined never to quit trying in Bend, Oregon, Nancie Zivetz-Gertler “knows we need tenacity right now.”

the cherry blossom
gives me reason to believe
in tenacity

Brooding in Faro, Portugal, Corine Timmer submitted this haiku for publication.

Black Forest at dusk
my evil-eye ring
catches the moonlight

On May 12, when a full moon was rising overhead Paris, France, Emil Karla ravenously ate everything on his dinner plate. Mihovila Ceperic-Biljan peered inside a swirling latte in Rijeka, Croatia.

flower moon
this sudden surge
of appetite

* * *

morning chirp...
in a cup of coffee
full moon

Glorija Lukina wrote her first haiku in Zagreb, Croatia.

sunny day--
spring opens
cherry buds

Capota Daniela Lacramioara got mail in Galati, Romania.

a cherry petal
slipped into my mailbox--
letter from Japan

Roberta Beach Jacobson prepared for dinner in Indianola, Iowa.

just in case…
she collects blossoms
in her apron

Robin Rich shredded pink paper in Brighton, U.K.

old love letters
made into confetti
cherry blossom affair

Barbara Anna Gaiardoni sorted old sepia photographs in Verona, Italy.

blossoming apple tree
long before I came into
the picture

In Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, Masumi Orihara experienced a dramatic encounter with someone she had not seen for 50 years.

stormy arrival
a friend from my prime
on the blossom winds

St. Claire held his breath at the scene of an accident.

beyond the police tape
scattered red
maple blossoms

In Devon, England, David Cox walked between crosses, lined up row on row.

frilled in red…
poppies rise
from dead earth

Maley’s face momentarily sped by.

our train flashes by:
in a field of wheat, a fox
red against bright green …

Slawa Sibiga played hide and seek in Tychy, Poland. Sanjana Zorinc can’t stop playing in Bjelovar, Croatia.

empty playground
a red balloon tied
to the worn bench

* * *

children gone--
we go on playing
as we put away the toys

In Stratford-upon-Avon, England, Tracy Davidson bookmarked a page to read next time.

under the cherry trees
a falling blossom
becomes my new bookmark

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

The next issue of the Asahi Haikuist Network appears May 30. Readers are invited to compose haiku related to fish. Send haiku 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).