On July 24, 2010, Brian Birdsell(McSherry) sent me an e-mail, contributing a collection of haiku about summer.
Hidenori
Thanks for the email. I agree some thoughts of the cool spring weather is rather refreshing right now. I think Akita is getting the same weather as morioka – hot and humid! I plan to go back to the states for a vacation with my daughter next week. But hope to finish a collection of summer haiku before I go and will send them to you. Enjoy the hot summer days and thanks again!
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 it is early in September, but the hot and humid days have unusually lasted.
Nice summer haiku by Brian make you cool and refreshed, I believe.
a butterfly
then two –
how far
I’ve wandered
蝶一羽さまよう果てや今は二羽
watching the rivers
flood the rice paddies –
her ice cream melts
川の水稲田にあふるアイスとく
a slumped woman
with hands in the earth
makes dinner
落ち込みや夕飯作る女の手
coughing coughing –
a scattering of flowers
in the wind
咳続く風に花々まき散れり
Kitakami river –
cool water rushes past
a collapsed house
家崩れ北上川の水走る
along the road
falling azaleas smear
the asphalt
ツツジ花散りて舗道を塗りつける
staring at a tree
a woman in kimono –
Tenmagu Shrine
木を見つむ和服の婦人天満宮
藤原養蜂 (Fujihara Apiary)
the smoke
from the beekeeper
drips of sunlight
養蜂家の煙日光のしずく
the body welcomes
summer clothes –
letting the breeze in
そよ風や受けて夏服うれしけり
a clod of earth
under the travelers foot –
distant mountains
旅人の足下の土や遠き山
the raspberry pot
still without leaves –
still get watered
葉の出ないラズベリーの鉢水かかる
dusk –
the picked dandelions
close up in her hands
たそがれやタンポポ閉まる彼女の手
the castle wall fades
under wild vines –
fleeting heroes
英雄や城壁のツタに消え行けり
a path made
as my daughter chases
wild flowers
我が娘野花を追って道をなす
an engine hums
in the apple grove –
first smell of cut grass
りんご園エンジン放つ草の香や
the rainy season
wears away at the page –
erasing my tracks
梅雨入りやページすり減り跡消える
traveling east
a shrine on the bluff –
repeating waves
東方の崖の社に寄せる波
I fall asleep
under clouds of green
leaves
blowing overhead
眠り込む青葉の雲が吹き流る
in the bent grass –
a moth with a lost wing
loses balance
草曲がり蛾の羽無くしふらめけり
along the roadside
pausing near rice seedlings –
10 years pass
10年や路傍に止まり早苗見る
Last of all, I present a photo of Kisakata (象潟), Akita for the last haiku by Brian.
Matsuo Basho (松尾芭蕉)stayed here in 1689 , visiting the Nohin Island (能因島)and writing haiku about mimosa blossoms(ねぶの花).
The next posting ‘Haiku by P K Padhy in India (3)’ appears on September 11.
― Hidenori Hiruta
very interesting to read the haiku by Mr Brian. The poems assimilate the beauty of nature with innocence of human behaviour and lively observations.
Kudos to dear Hiruta for your seminal endeavour in the world of Haiku and Tanka.
P K Padhy, India
I love these haiku of Brian’s for the sheer fact that they paint a vivid image in my mind! Beautiful!