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
Hi, Brian,
I like all your poems, but this one is particularly wonderful!
Congrats,
Teddy
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
P.S.:
Plz, let me know when your chapbook is out.
I enjoyed the haiku. The images are vivid and poetic.
P K Padhy