wind sweeps the leaves on their way autumn’s closure 風が葉を運び去る その途中 秋の終わり little girl displaying her ornamental dolls Hinamatsuri *hinmatsuri: Girl’s day/Dolls Day in Japan 小さな女の子が飾る 彼女の人形を ひなまつり sing-alongs from balconies in isolation spirits of hope 一緒に歌う 孤立したバルコニーから 希望の精 quarantine the only onlookers pigeons on a wire 検疫 唯一の見物人 電線のハト in the sakura trees bright green plumage bird concert 桜の木で 鮮やかな緑の羽 鳥のコンサート if eyes could speak what they have suffered weeping willow もし目が話せたら 苦しんでいることを シダレヤナギ A soft wind sighs little puffs dandelion 柔らかな風がため息をつく 少しぷっと吹く タンポポ moist moss on statues’ heads nature touches humanity 湿った苔 彫像の頭に 自然が人類に接触する winter galaxy Mount Fuji in a frame of stars 冬の銀河 富士山 星の組織の中に her crinkled skirt flutters in the wind bottle gourd petals 彼女のしわのスカート 風にはためく ひょうたん瓶の花びら in a field of sunflowers the light in me summer ひまわり畑で 私の中の光 夏 in the stream of tears hope glimmers moon river 涙の流れの中で 希望がかすかに現れる ムーンリバー ― Translated into Japanese by Hidenori Hiruta
Kimberly Olmtak
The Haiku Collection 2020
22 November 2020
Biography
My name is Kimberly Olmtak and I am 59 years old and was born in Suriname, South America.
I studied English and German at a Teachers Vocational Training Institute in the Netherlands.
After my studies in 1983 I returned to Suriname, where I taught English as a foreign language at an administrative and economic vocational institute. In 2003 I became the principal of the third institute for administrative and economic education and taught English part-time.
In 2016 I decided to make some career changes and started working as a manager of the training department of an IT company. Besides being a teacher I am also a sworn translator and interpreter of English/Dutch v.v. in my spare time.
Currently, I am working as a part-time teacher at the Teachers Vocational College in Suriname.
My love for haiku reading and writing came from my aunt, who writes haiku in Dutch. Through her I learnt about the phenomenal haiku poets like Basho, Shiki and so on.
I started reading about haiku and cautiously wrote the first haiku with my sister, first in Dutch and Sranan (Creole language of Suriname) and later on in English as well. In 2019 I became a participating member of Haiku Column University Japan.
Ever since my haiku have been selected and translated in Japanese and will be featured in the anthology volume 6.
Furthermore some of my haiku have been featured in the Haikukai Japan HCU Japan.
Akita International Haiku Network 