On April 20, 2010, Aju Mukhopadhyay, a poet and author, in Pondicherry, India, sent us a comment on the posting ‘International Haiku Spring Festival 2010 ( Akita, Northern Honshu, Japan)’.
He said in his comment as follows:
This is a very nice site which ably shows many areas of Japanese short verse culture.
I would contribute sometimes, if invited.
With best wishes,
Aju Mukhopadhyay
That evening I sent him an e-mail of invitation as follows:
Dear Aju Mukhopadhyay san,
Thank you very much for your nice suggestion!
We sincerely hope that you will contribute your short forms of poetry to our festival from May 12 to 23.
Please send your haiku, senryu, or tanka to me.
Our readers will be pleased to read your poetry, from 10 to 15 pieces of work.
And they will be delighted to know about you through your short self-introduction or some photos of yourself or your favorite places.
We will sincerely appreciate your work of poetry.
We will look forward to your poetry coming.
Best wishes,
Hidenori Hiruta
Now I would like to introduce him to you through his brief biodata
Aju Mukhopadhyay, the poet and author, is a bilingual writer of fiction and essays too. He has written 12 books in Bangla and 14 in English. He has received several poetry awards besides other honours. His works have been recognized by various international institutions including the Sahitya Akademi of India. Besides poetry, essays and fictions, he is a regular contributor of Haiku, Tanka and related works to various magazines and e-zines in India and elsewhere. Conservation of Nature and Environment is the watchword of his life.
Next I present 11 haiku of his with my Japanese interpretation.
a face with
brows and lashes-
quivers in the waves
まゆ毛とまつげを持った顔
波間に揺れる
endangered
black-necked crane
stands on one leg-
危険にさらされた黒い首の鶴
一本足で立っている
the deer runs alone:
none is after
none before
鹿が一頭だけで走る：
前にも後にも一頭もいない
tidal waves
lashed the beach, fumbling beyond;
full moon gloats in sky
津波が浜辺を激しく打ち付け、かき回しながら越えていった；
満月が空でいい気味だと思ってながめる
wild wind rages
fire spreads by leaps and bounds-
beach shelters the refugees
激しい風が荒れ狂う
火事がどっと広がる
浜辺が避難民を保護する
it whirls
with a serious look-
fearful cicada
ぐるぐる回る
重大な表情で ―
おびえたセミ
a round leaf
twirling in space for long-
fall it must
一枚の丸い葉
長い間空間でくるくる回っている ―
落ちるに違いない
crickets drone
routinely but presently
pause to begin
こおろぎ達がだらだら歌う
いつものように しかし 目下
ちょっと止まる そして 始める
so near yet so far-
the sea we know
is unknown
とっても近いのに、とっても遠い
私たちが理解している（本当の）海
まだ確認されていない
cat trying to catch
the water down the slope;
is perplexed
猫がとらえようとしいぇいる
斜面から滑り落ちる水を；
当惑している
dead it falls-
so long a part of the tree;
withered leaf
枯れて落ちる ―
長い間木の一部をなしていた；
しぼんだ葉
© Aju Mukhopadhyay, 2010
Last of all, let me decorate our on line festival with the photo of Lake Tazawa （田沢湖）in Akita (秋田), Northern Honshu, Japan.
The next posting ‘Haiku by Teddy Wojnicki for Int’l Haiku Spring Festival 2010 ’ appears tomorrow on May 20.
― Hidenori Hiruta
