Haiku by Dennis M. Holmes in USA

On January 25, 2010, I received the first mail from Mr. Holmes through Facebook:

Hi,
Did we perhaps meet at the World Haiku International Conference, 2002, held in Yuma Town, near Akita? I attended as part of the World Haiku Club.
I enjoyed the area very much. It was September; but, the fall colors were not yet full. There were many red dragonflies, (akatonbo), as I recall.

Sincerely,
Dennis M. Holmes (my haigou, “chibi”)

Our friendship renewed then.

He really loves Japan and Haiku.

This is a photo which shows that he enjoyed the cherry blossoms in Japan.

During his stay in Akita,  he wrote the following haiku:

 

Golden Rice ―
Open the lunch Box
From AKITA

駅弁を解いて秋田の稲穂波　 　チビ

Ekiben o  toite Akita no  inaho nami     by Chibi

Her eyes
Light up the AKITA
Moon

女の目きらと秋田の良夜かな　　　同

Onna no me  kira to Akita no  ryouya kana  by Chibi 

Please-please
Red dragon fly stay
On the fox shrine

赤とんぼ来い来い狐の神の上　　　同

Aka tonbo  koi koi kitsune no  kami no ue   by Chibi

 Following
The slope of hills
Fields of flowers

山陵に沿ひたる坂の草の花　　　同

Sanryou ni  soitaru saka no  kusa no hana  by Chibi

 Wild chrysanthemums
I will roll on
Its path

どこまでも野菊の道を歩きけり　　同

Dokomademo  nogiku no michi o  aruki keri  by Chibi

The front door opens
A glimpse of
Autumn 

関の戸より小さき秋は来ぬ　　　同

Seki no to yori  chiisaki  aki wa kinu  by Chibi

This is a photo taken with Matsuo Basho （松尾芭蕉）.

 

As the homepage ‘HAIKU俳句’ by Yanagibori  Etsuko（柳堀悦子） says , Mr. Holmes won first prize, Ninth Mainichi Haiku Grand Prix, English Haiku of International Section 2004.

 

He is a member of ‘Haiku 俳句’.

 ○在アメリカ会員のデニス・ホームズさんが第九回毎日俳句大賞国際部門の英語俳句で最優秀賞に選ばれました。七月の授賞式にご子息と出席の為、来日されます。その際、皆様との再会を楽しみにしていますとのことです。柳堀悦子

On July, 2004, Mr. Holmes contributed the following haiku to ‘HAIKU　俳句’.

 

seventeen year
cicada―songs sink
into everything

十七年いちじつの蝉鳴きにけり

Juu shichinen  ichijitsu no semi   nakinikeri

the swing chain clank
on the screened front porch ―
hunmming bird

ふらここにをれば蜂鳥宙に浮く 　

Fura kokoni  oreba hachidori  chuu ni uku

the rainy season ―
lettuce wilts at
the open-aer bistro

五月雨やサラダをカフェ・テラスにて

Samidare ya  sarada o  kafe terasu ni te

 

this summer day ―
I thought it was
2003!

昨年のけふを思へる夏日かな 　

Kyonen no kyou o omoeru  natsubi kana

the rainy season
starts again ―
moonless dawn

月失せて梅雨の夜明けは闇あるのみ 　

Tsuki usete  tsuyu no yoake wa  yami aru nomi

The members of ‘HAIKU俳句’ congratulated on his winning first prize in Tokyo.

Recently Mr. Holmes sent his self-introduction to me as follows:

 Dear Hidenori san,

Thank you for your kind reply. As to my introduction, I am but a student of haiku, always. We live in Georgia, USA. Currently, we have temporary assignment on the Atlantic coast of Georgia, Saint Simons Island, USA. I write poems daily inspired by the ocean and the southeastern, USA. Renku is part of my current interests, and I am happy to say that Professor Shokan Tadashi Kondo, Seikei University, is a friend and my renku teacher. A Japanese friend and I compose juunichiou renku over the internet on the weekends. Some of the juunichiou have been aired on NHK Radio Japan’s program, World Interactive. I hope to be able to return to Japan to meet Dr. Gabi Greve, Okayama; Professor Kondo at Seikei University; Tokyo friends, and of course my Akita friends, again.

Mr. Holmes reads and writes Japanese, Hiragana（ひらがな：平仮名）and Kanji characters（漢字）.

He writes and posts haiku on his Facebook page every day.

His latest haiku is this:

Mystery shrouds

The relics of Easter ―

Rosemary

 

イースター遺せし帳やロ－ズマリー

 Iisuta  nokoseshi tobari ya  rouzumarii

 

Among haiku poets in USA, not only Mr. Holmes but also Cor van den Heuvel, Roberta Beary, Michael Dylan Welch, Curtis Dunlap, Charlotte Digregorio, Charles Bane Jr, Diane Dehler, Morgan Harlow, Roberta Burnett, Stevie Strang,  J. Andrew Lockhart, George O Hawkins, are Facebook haiku friends of mine.

I sincerely hope that you will be a Facebook friend, and that you will share and exchange poetic works with each other.

― Hidenori  Hiruta