lying on the grass under bare branches--a flock of migrating geese
--Fatma Zohra Habis (Algiers, Algeria)

* * *

the boy lies on the grass
watching the clouds--
a curious dragonfly
--John Richard Stephens (Maui, Hawaii)

* * *

lying down on the grass
I listen to the turtle-doves
in the wind
--Francoise Maurice (Draguignan, France)

* * *

turtledoves
clandestine cooing
in the chestnut tree
--Rosemarie Schuldes (Mattsee, Austria)

* * *

Killing time,
Children sitting on tree branches,
Swinging their legs
--Raj K. Bose (Honolulu, Hawaii)

* * *

silent vigil
a wild orchid glistens
between the trees
--Xenia Tran (Nairn, Scotland)

* * *

atop a Dura-plastic tree
a gibbon bathing
in a morning sunbeam
--Patrick Sweeney (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

* * *

wildflower walk
the bees and i
buzzing
--Gareth Nurden (Newport, Wales)

* * *

soaking up some sun
a nosy bee stops
and checks me out
--Melissa Dennison (Bradford, England)

* * *

Warm hearts radiate
cicadas hum in chorus
all eyes on the bride
--Julie Ann Lebitania (Sorsogon, Philippines)

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

from neighbours’ gardens
a concert of lawn mowers--
first night of the Proms…
--Alan Maley (Canterbury, England)

The haikuist implied that he didn’t really need tickets for tonight’s July 18 grand opening of what the BBC bills as “the world’s greatest classical music festival” at the Royal Albert Hall. Murasaki Sagano made up her mind who to vote for in the Upper House election on July 20 in Tokyo. Isabella Kramer would like to hear a lullaby in Nienhagen, Germany.

Election
his flowery words
shoo-in speech

* * *

full moon night
the cicadas are fully awake
--and so I am

Wieslaw Karlinski awoke early to supervise the riverside at a local summer camp for girls and boys.

summer dawn
at the scout camp
scent of toothpaste

Driving on a highway in Texas that runs parallel to the Gulf of Mexico (or America), David Cox penned this line moments before rivers flooded catastrophically:

interstate 20 heavy rain pooling mirrors the far sea

Laila Brahmbhatt contrasted sounds from passersby on the streets of Brooklyn, New York.

Heavy rain
once a rush of new feet,
drifts into the old sound

In today’s column, haikuists tried to escape the madding crowds by going on poetic strolls, called “ginko” in Japanese. Usually confined to an overcrowded classroom, Ian Willey escaped to the forested hills of Kagawa Prefecture to enjoy an “amazing string of clouds,” and perhaps a bottle of wine in his knapsack.

corkscrew clouds
unwinding
in the hills

Germina Melius kicked off her shoes in Castries, Saint Lucia: shoes on cold feet until July

Brahmbhatt squinted painfully at new stilettos.

an onlooker’s gaze
at passing heels near
a new office building

Giuliana Ravaglia walked through a forest landscape, concentrating on the energy of her surroundings, and most importantly, appreciating the present moment. On a holiday in Japan set aside for nature appreciation, Boryana Boteva was revitalized from head to toe.

away from the crowd--
in the silence of the forest
feeling at home

* * *

Greenery Day
I am in harmony
with my roots

Forest-bathing is a creative translation of “shinrin-yoku,” a term coined in 1982 by government foresters who extoled the virtues of Japan’s trees. Old-growth forests can be found on the southern island of Yakushima as well as in the far north of Aomori Prefecture where Patrick Sweeney used to venture.

touching a five-thousand-year-old cedar
thou
before I

Glorija Lukina and her daughter Brigita Lukina, respectively, immersed themselves in soothing green forests. The green they saw was so intense it could have turned their eyes blue. The Japanese expression for the deep green we see when walking through summer woods is “ao ao shita midori,” which literally means a blue, blue green.

in the waves
the hills rise--
green view

* * *

green eyes,
mixed with all shades
of green

Luciana Moretto blended green hues to create an abstract painting of an indelible view.

enameled sheer
green slope in the blue
Cornwall of my youth

David Cox slept well in Penang, Malaysia.

green city
after a dreamful night…
it seemed to grow

Working in his Dublin office on the Green Isle, Padraig O’Morain longed to take a meditative walk to gather inspiration and connect with nature. In Japan, doctors can write prescriptions allowing patients to spend time off work to go for a soothing, restorative walk in the woods.

a smell of pine trees
the wood my desk
is made from

According to Qing Li at the Nippon Medical School who wrote “Shinrin-yoku: The Art and Science of Forest Bathing” in 2018, it is beneficial to view different shades of green while lying down on a forest floor. Masumi Orihara took note of several plants “that were so cute.” Then she rolled over and saw heaven above.

close-up
these nameless flowers--
lying prone on the grass

* * *

the world
above the drifting clouds--
lying on the grass

Jessica Allyson peered up at the sky overhead Ottawa, Ontario. Ravaglia gazed up through a hole in the tree canopy. Rosemarie Schuldes couldn’t be happier.

hidden by
the long grasses
above us only blue

* * *

lying under a tree
looking up
seeking God

* * *

lazy sunday
whistling on a blade of grass
watching clouds

Mary Oishi danced amid the harmonious sights and sounds of a forest in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

wind and leaf chorus
sway treetops
concert in the park

Horst Ludwig, at 5 years of age, asked his mother what was circling in the sky overhead, and recalled her reply: “you shouldn’t lie in the meadow, you could catch cold.” Sweeney is bothered by black specks that drift across his vision.

Lying on young grass,
hearing the black spot twitter
in the forenoon sky

* * *

battling eye-floaters on a Sunday afternoon
Alexander just cut
the Gordian Knot

A haikuist named Tre, recalled lying back on the grass at night in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo, at a cherry blossom party that “brought the city together--like it always does. Random laughter interrupted gentle conversations.”

Dreams on grass
Prickle other words
With starlight

Teiichi Suzuki bemoaned the recent red-necked longhorn beetle infestation of cherry blossom groves in Osaka Prefecture.

Cut down sakura…
the bench in the city park
lacks a shady nook

O’Morain was momentarily distracted from his forest meditation.

in the forest’s silence
a sharp click
someone snaps a selfie

In Marmora, Ontario, John Hamley was entertained by the acrobatic antics of nuthatches: “the only birds I know that walk down a tree trunk nose first.” Chen-ou Liu may have felt like doing a handstand when he returned to office work in Ajax, Ontario. Govind Joshi was distracted by a bird at work in Dehradun, India.

Upside down bird
up and down
the ironwood

* * *

this 5-9
glass cubicle job
same old me

* * *

knocking in the garden
at work
a red-crowned woodpecker

Robin Rich noted a peculiar correlation in Brighton, England.

tallest tree
has the fewest leaves
spring is sapping

When his patients finish lying on their backs in a forest, Dr. Li recommends they perform a meditative green tea ceremony. These two haiku by Melissa Dennison followed the doctor’s orders.

spring
so many shades
of green

* * *

our
tea ceremony
in the cafe

Recovering from an illness, Monica Kakkar returned to a former habit.

listening to tea
in layers of silence…
Throwback Thursday

O’Morain breathed in a distinctive taste and smell.

inhaling the forest
from somewhere the tang
of new-mown meadow

In Treviso, Italy, Luciana Moretto went off in search of wild herbs to add to a risotto the way her mother did. These two haiku suggest that she found more than she was looking for.

walk in the grove
fiddlehead fern...
coup de foudre

* * *

glass of tea
outline of a leaf
baby’s breath

Tomislav Maretic likely whistled softly so as not to startle a couple in Zagreb, Croatia.

summer grasses--
two bicycles at the edge
of the meadow

In Ajax, Ontario, Liu invokes Matsuo Basho’s warrior dreams penned on June 29, 1689: Natsukusa ya tsuwamonodomo ga yume no ato

summer grass bed
where our tangled bodies lay...
all that remains

Immersing herself in the tranquil atmosphere of a forest, Orihara listened and relistened to the sound made by a Japanese warbler--her favorite musical instrument. Sweeney’s favorite is on the tip of his tongue.

sonorous
beak to tail
uguisu songs echo

* * *

ah, listen...
the uvular trills of that
whatchamacallit bird

All alone in his study room in Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture, Yutaka Kitajima was interrupted while he was reciting a poem penned by William Blake in 1789. The haikuist said he overheard “an exquisite voice” reply to his oration from a flowering sakaki evergreen tree out the window.

“the echoing green”
echoed back soon in whispers...
bulbul’s unknown tact

Maretic was inspired by Durdja Vukelic Rozic’s anthology, “An Unmown Sky.”

unmown sky--
only when I too lay down
in the grass

Orihara praised a “lady who loves gardening but doesn’t have her own garden, so, she voluntarily takes care of the trees in a neighborhood park in Atsugi, Kanagawa.”

sweeping joyfully
fallen blossoms from the park
every single day

Jerome Berglund patched together this haiku in New Orleans, Louisiana, while embroidering with a machine capable of sewing dense, textured-fill stitches to recover satin-trimmed tatami mats.

birth canal
panama red
tatami stitch

Stephen J. DeGuire saw an infant suddenly stir in Los Angeles, California.

tatami nap
baby hears wind through
the rushes

Junko Saeki recalled a summer solstice holiday afternoon at her neighbor’s house in Tokyo. Her neighbors were so tolerant, she said that she spent hours there. She misses those “relaxed, warm human relations that were Japan” in yesteryears.

Geshi holiday
stretching on the tatami floor,
neighbor’s child

Stoianka Boianova reminisced in Sofia, Bulgaria.

modern times
an old tatami mat
in the attic

Tired after a long day of bird-watching, Kitajima stretched into a perfect pose. Emil Karla succumbed to a final yoga pose in Paris, France. Nancie Zivetz-Gertler found what she was looking for in Bend, Oregon.

Spreadeagled
on the new tatami...
rush-scented

* * *

Is this a breeze
under my neck?
Shavasana

* * *

Sometimes in corpse pose
i can find what i’m after
spring tranquility

Exhaling, Sagano’s eyes likely began twitching rapidly. Laila Brahmbhatt squinted groggily in New York.

On the tatami
deep breath in my dream
Silk Road journey

* * *

Foggy moon
finding my glasses
on worn tatami

Robin Rich isn’t used to removing his shoes when visiting friends’ homes in Brighton, England.

afternoon tea party
jam cream and scones
socks with holes

Sherri J. Moye-Dombrosky ran across a grassy field in Liberty, South Carolina. Berglund followed the wind.

reading in the pasture
my jealous pony
steals my book

* * *

parked in grass
the map blows out
the window

Ron Scully honeymooned in Burien, Washington.

June gust
pulls out the tent stake
groom’s side

Brigita Lukina simply relaxed.

quiet surrender--
intoxicated by the scent and
embrace of grass

* * *

meeting
on the tatami--
I’m learning to fall

Zahra Mughis listened intently in Lahore, Pakistan. James Penha spent a lovely afternoon in Bali, Indonesia. Charlie Smith, his wife and pet dog enjoyed an afternoon in Raleigh, North Carolina.

humming
in our ears
green earth

* * *

tatami for two:
comfortably on my chest
my dog rests his head

* * *

three of us
on soft clover mat
cloud gazing

Aparna Pathak practiced until evening in Gurugram, India.

karate class
the moon positioned
on the tatami mat

Joanna Ashwell turned off the lights and bowed reverently in Barnard Castle, England.

earth hour
the tip of sun
lengthens my spine

* * *

taking a bow
within the murmur
of forest whispers

With all its waves, phases, and more or less visible changes, Anna Goluba let out a sigh while asking whether “life isn’t just a never-ending transformation?”

Lying down on the grass
I just let it all go
Again

Xenia Tran closed her eyes.

Caledonian pine
breathing in, breathing out
this stillness

Marie Derley had an epiphany in Ath, Belgium.

figs fallen on the grass
I was beautiful
and didn’t know it

Sweeney has more to tell next time.

I never got to the end
of the story about the girl
who followed the bear into the woods

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Relax with haiku at http://www.asahi.com/ajw/special/haiku/. The next issues of the Asahi Haikuist Network will appear Aug. 1, 15, and 29. Readers are invited to compose haiku related to humbleness, humility, or hubris. Please mail your haiku 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).