World Haiku Series 2019 (30) Haiku by David McMurray

World Haiku Series 2019 (30)

Haiku by David McMurray

 

Photo-haiku 1:　

McMurray and haiku friends in Matsuyama

 

Shiki museum

in the flower seller’s hands

a few scented coins

 

子規記念博物館

花の売り子の手に

いくつかの香水をつけたコイン

 

 

Photo-haiku 2:

 

Looking for the moon

in a lonely winter sky

the island lighthouse

 

月を探す

孤独な冬の空に

島の灯台

 

 

Photo Haiku 3:

 

Sepia photos

faces we once knew

flowers took their names

 

セピア色の写真

私たちがかって知っていた顔

花から名前を取った 

 

 

Unexpected

just enough snow to bend

trillium leaves

 

予想外

まさにエンレイソウの葉の

たわむほどの雪 

 

Summer moon–

light echoes across

the canyon

 

夏の月―

光が反響する

キャニオンの至る所に

 

Summer moon–

light steals across roof tiles

slides through paper doors

 

夏の月―

光が屋根瓦から忍び込む

障子を滑り抜ける

 

blind masseuse’s hands

how the valley curves

at the rising moon

 

盲目のマッサージ師の手

谷の曲がる様

昇る月に

 

Harley bike kick-starts

…po potato… potato…

moon all down the street

 

ハーレーバイクがキックスタートする

．．．ポ　ポテト．．．ポテト．．．

通りのずっと向こうに月

 

Railway crossing gates

stop the full autumn moon

from passing on by

 

踏切のゲート

秋の満月を止める

通り過ぎることから 

 

silent winter

I learned to touch

I learned to feel

 

静かな冬

私は触ることを学びました

感じることを学びました

 

Turning to the page

in the man’s holy bible

pressed chrysanthemum

 

ページをめくる

男性の聖書に

押菊

 

–Translated by Hidenori Hiruta

 

Here is a photo of David McMurray and Hidenori Hiruta

at the International University of Kagoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, on November 3, 2015

 

 

Bio:

David McMurray teaches haiku at the International University of Kagoshima in Japan.

Master and PhD level students in his graduate school seminar actively experiment with photo-haiku.

McMurray writes the Asahi Haikuist Network column at http://www.asahi.com/ajw/special/haiku/ and judges the Matsuyama Photo Haiku Contest. 

David is Winner of an R.H. Blyth Book Award from the World Haiku Club and received the Winning Prize in a Kyoto International Cultural Association Essay Contest from the Japan Foundation and Kyoto University International Center.

 

Here are photos at the haiku meeting in Akita Prefecture, Japan, on October 24-26, 2014

David McMurray and six students of his participated in the international haiku conference held at the Akita International University in celebration of the 29th National Cultural Festival in Akita 2014.

 

 

Let haiku be on the UNESCO list!

 

 

Dr. Akito Arima, the president of the Haiku International Association, addressed academics in an effort to convince them that haiku should be added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Dr. Arima reassured students in the audience that haiku can be composed by everyone, from the man in the street to the likes of Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer, the Nobel laureate of literature in 2011 who penned at age 23: disappearing deep in his inner greenness/ artful and hopeful.

Later in his career he penned in Swedish:

My happiness swelled

and the frogs sang in the bogs

of Pomerania

By stressing that haiku can deepen mutual understanding and enjoyment of different cultures between those people who read or compose the poem, he garnered support for his idea that “haiku can help make the world peaceful.”