Akita International Haiku Network

 

On April 10,2010, I received an e-mail from Brian Birdsell (McSherry).

He says in his mail as follows:

Hidenori – 

I received your email from a friend of mine in Akita. I currently live in Morioka and have lived here for the past 6 years. I teach English at a private high school. I have a background in linguistics and literature. I have written two previous collections of poems, though rather unsuccessfully and I am currently putting together a collection of short poems. I have entitled it “Fair Equinox” and divided into 4 seasonal sections. Attached it the “winter poems”.  

All the best, 

Brian Birdsell (McSherry) 

On May 18, 2010, the second e-mail came, saying as follows:

Thank you Mr. Hidenori Hiruta for your interest in my writing and adding it to the Akita haiku website. I also just recently finished the spring section to this collection and have attached it to this email. I also attached a photo (I will try to get some more photos to you later this week) and provided below a brief intro.

Thanks again for everything! 

Brian

 

According to his self-introduction,

Brian McSherry has lived in Chicago, San Francisco, Prague, Italy and currently lives in northern Japan. He has lived there for over 6 years and enjoys spending time with his daughter, hiking in the mountains of Tohoku, writing, and traveling. He has a background in linguistics and teaches English at a private high school in Iwate. 

Now I present 15 haiku of spring to you with my Japanese translations.

 

Opening the shade –

my pencil gets whittled down

into a seed

 

日よけを開けながら ―

私の鉛筆は少しずつ削られ

種になる

 

 

Fell asleep in the garden –

seeing my mistake

my sleeves

covered with snow

 

庭で眠ってしまった ―

自分の間違いに気づき

そでは

雪に覆われた

 

 

Suddenly I find

the 16 stone-carved buddhas …

by their feet –

sake

 

不意に私は見つける

１６個の石に彫られた仏を

足下に

酒

 

 

Atagoyama –

snow falls on the poem

on the rock

 

愛宕山

雪が詩に降る

岩の上

 

 

Not yet –

only a plastic bag blows

on the cheery tree

 

桜はまだ咲かない ―

ビニール袋だけが風に吹かれている

桜の木の上で

 

 

Spring thaw –

the beauty of the mountains

flows into the valley

 

春の陽気

山々の美しさが

谷に流れ込む

 

 

Apricot branches

in a vase

and yet outside –

the trees are still bare

 

あんずの枝

花瓶の中に

しかし外では ―

あんずの木はまだむきだし

 

 

Rain drops hang

on the vacant trees –

first buds of the year

 

雨の滴がかかっている

からっぽの木々に ―

一年の最初の木の芽

 

 

Smoke rises

from Iwayama orchard –

before the flowers

 

煙が上がる

岩山果樹園から ―

花々の前で

 

 

The mountain pass

now open

a wall of snow

falling in the sun

 

山道が

今開通

雪の壁が

太陽を浴びて落ちる

 

 

On the patio

a forgotten tulip blooms

near a rusty spade

 

中庭に

一本の忘れられていたチューリップの花が咲く

錆びた鋤の近くで

 

 

A pulse –

the tip of maples red

with spring

 

鼓動 ―

モミジの赤の先が

春と共に

 

 

Hesitating

the buds shrink away –

sunset

on the tree tips

 

ためらいながら

蕾が縮んでゆく ―

夕焼け

木の先端の上に

 

 

Turning thirty-six

the swans begin to migrate –

spring loneliness

 

３６歳になる ―

白鳥が渡り始める

春の寂しさ

 

 

Down the narrow lane

a scent trails a young lady –

plum blossoms open

 

細い小道を下って

香りが若い女性の後からついて行く ―

梅の花が開いている

 

 

 

 Last of all, let me decorate our on line festival with the two photo flowers. One of them is presented by Patricia Lidia, a haiku poet, in Romania. And the other by me, Hidenori Hiruta.

 

The next posting ‘Tanka by Tsutomu Nimure for Int’l Haiku Spring Festival 2010’ appears tomorrow on May 22.

 

― Hidenori Hiruta