Haiku in English Tsunami Special
Selected by Isamu Hashimoto
Following the devastating earthquake and tsunami off northeastern Japan on March 11, we received many haiku condolences and heart-warming words from haijin around the world. We thank you for these and are determined to resume our happy daily lives soon, just as people did after World War II, taking to heart the high-spirited slogan "makete tamaruka": We will never be defeated.
Selection 1
this godless wall
of water
-- o g aksnes (Tonsberg, Norway)
dolls floating
all alone
-- Reza Aerabi (Semnan, Iran)
I hope you and yours are okay.
All the best, George
-- George Swede (Toronto, Canada)
are safe given
the recent earthquake
--- Tyrone McDonald (Brooklyn, NY, USA)
the hand of the painter
stirs
-- Lech Szeglowski (Gdansk, Poland)
all rising and falling
the sky turning dark
-- Gwilym Williams (Vienna, Austria)
Our hearts are with you...
Beautiful Japan.
-- john breacher (Lavington, Australia)
A huge earthquake occurred
A long-hibernated bud of
hydrangea
-- Toshio Matsumoto (Osaka, Japan)
among twisted rubble
cherry white blossoms.
--Remi Pulwer (Toronto, ON, Canada)
there is nothing to say
this dark night
-- Bruce Ross (Bangor, ME, USA)
its shock wave surrounded
the whole world
-- Vasile Moldovan (Bucharest, Romania)
Our thoughts and prayers go out to
you and all Japanese people
-- Ramona Linke (Beesenstedt, Germany)
Chanted for your safety
and protection
-- Don Hansbrough (Seattle, WA, USA)
the wind in the pines
and yowls of stray dogs
-- Sonam Chhoki (Thimphu, Bhutan)
Under the bright stars sky
Fear and sorrow
-- Helio Ciffoni (Tokyo, Japan)
I would write
But who would be left to read? ...
-- Gus Mancini (Woodstock, NY, USA)
in this ravaged country-
wave of pain
-- druart patrick (Urou et Crennes, France)
as difficulty grows, fear
feeds the will to live.
-- Ray Stuart (San Francisco, CA, USA)
ah Fukushima
stay with us!
-- Alan Summers (Bradford-on-Avon, England)
Selection 2
prayers upon prayers sent
with hope and love
-- Keith A. Simmonds (Tunapuna, Trinidad & Tobago)
all the floor is soaked
with tears
-- Zeljko Funda (Varazdin, Croatia)
man in a broken wheel chair
no place to go
-- Radostina A. Angelova (Sofia, Bulgaria)
will there be ever a right place
for earthquakes?
-- Heike Gewi (Aden-Crater, Yemen)
wiping tears from my eye
sending them to Japan.
-- Vojislav Bubanja (Novi Beogra, Serbia)
my thought fly over
fukushima
-- Umeko Yeaton (Conway, NH, USA)
Here in the land of snow
severe flooding due to snowmelt
four years back
this happened to us...
-- ed markowski (Auburn Hills, MI, USA)
the man standing
on his floating roof
-- Verica Zivkovic (Serbia)
Selection 3
the children folding
only paper cranes
-- Cezar-Florin Ciobîcă (Romania)
from Osaka now-
closing the sumi-e set
-- Ralf Broeker (Ochtrup, Germany)
My eyes filled with sorrow today
The people rise happiness
-- Rob Forsyth (Wellington, New Zealand)
eyes straight on the Sun
Yamato, forever
-- Edward Moreno (LaPuente, CA, USA)
after the giant wave-
yet children at play
-- Mario Massimo Zontini (Parma, Italy)
and still the cherry trees
blossom once more
-- Cornel C. Costea (Cluj-Napoca, Romania)
Are you fine?
People are dying.
-- Ram Kumar Panday (Nepal)
my friend from Fukushima
wipes away the tears
-- Artur Lewandowski (Sieradz, Poland)
Selection 4
Two in together
Russian heart is eager to help
-- Valerij Varyukhim (St. Petersburg, Russia)
one thousand and one wishes
for japan
-- john tiong chung hoo (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
I wish I had something warmer
to give you words that fits
-- Helen Buckingham (Bristol, UK)
prayers of hope
ascend
-- Victor Gendrano (Lakewood, CA, USA)
a wave of hope
lingers
-- Stephen A. Peters (Bellingham, WA, USA)
a long string of beads...
Fukushima
-- Keith A. Simmonds (Tunapuna, Trinidad & Tobago)
from the long crack
on the dry field
-- K. Ramesh (Chennai, India)
sweeping into a wasteland
sympathy flowing in
-- Rahadian Tanjung (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Selection 5
the spring moon reflected
on a floating window
-- Verica Zivkovic (Serbia)
of a nuclear plant...
the full moon
--Keith A. Simmonds (Tunapuna, Trinidad & Tobago)
the mirrors of rice fields
reflecting the past
-- jerry ball (Walnut Creek, CA, USA)
now wavelets at my feet
so many broken shells!
-- William Cullen Jr (Brooklyn, NY, USA)
immersing into the light
of lost names
--Ramona Linke (Beesenstedt, Germany)
Aeneas and Anchises
in wave after wave
-- Scott Mason (Chappaqua, New York, USA)