A Special Reading

Special Reading in San Jose.

Left to right: Kiyoko Tokutomi, Patricia Machmiller, Pat Shelley, June Hymas.

Seated back to camera, Mr. Shinku Fukuda, who was visiting from Japan.

**

Today when the sun 

shown down on all the flowers

everything opened--

not only the world I made

but an opening silence

Pat Shelley

***

the woodpecker . . . then not

it’s as though the whole forest

has paused 

Patricia J. Machmiller

Just for a moment

This is Ed Grossmith, on the day I first met him during the YT Ginko at Hakone Gardens.

I didn't know then that he was a GREAT photographer whose photos were featured 

on the cover of one of out most beautiful anthologies ever.

Nor did I know how much I would like this haiku,

which is one of my all-time favorites.   jhh

just for a moment

I really believed in you

flickering candle

   

Ed Grossmith

   

Scattered Acorns; Yuki Teikei Member's Anthology 2014,

edited by June Hopper Hymas, page 18.

Tonight's bonus, two translations of a Buson haiku:

                Shoku no hi o shoku ni utsusu ya haro no yu

Lighting one candle 

with another candle-- 

spring evening

Yosa Buson on Poemhunter.com

The light of a candle

is transferred to another candle--

spring twilight

  

Buson; translated by Edith Schiffert & Yuki Sawa

His Haiku Name was Shinku

I always felt like I should call him "Mr. Fukuda" 

but he always insisted on being  called "Shinku."

One time, when he was here in the U.S., he gave us haiku gifts. 

This was written on card with golden sparkles that don't show in the scan

This one hangs in a place of honor in my writing room,

I want you to be sure to go to this link to a page honoring his achievements

that was posted after his death. He was renowned for his revision of the information

about Basho's death verse, and his theory is now widely accepted. For many years

he was also a leading spirit in the revival of renku writing. It was because of Shinku

that Yuki Teikei members were able to visit Sado Island on our trip to Japan.

Sado Island is very special to haikuists because of Basho's famous haiku

about the Milky Way.

the rough sea— 

flowing toward Sado Isle 

the River of Heaven

   

translated byMakoto Ueda, 

Bashō and His Interpreters

Here are some of Shinku's own haiku from his memorial page.

He was a Professor of Literature in Tokyo for many years.

hatsuyume ya sekai ni kakaru niji no hashi

first dream

the rainbow

that bridges the earth

irokusa ya gakuen no asa sugasugashi

colorful grasses

a refreshing morning

on campus

Fukuda Masahisa

Brewer's Blackbird

You can identify him by his metallic sheen and his bright golden eye. 

This bird is named after the 19th century ornithologist, Thomas Mayo Brewer,

who found it first on the beach. I think of this bird as

The Parking Lot Bird, because in California, it is usually found there.

Think about the resemblance of a parking lot to the beach;

there are some!

This fellow turned his head to look at me with his far eye

.near the sea at Asilomar, when I was walking about looking

for haiku inspiration during the YT Haiku Retreat in 2006..

in the beach breeze

my travels forgotten...

evening cool

Issa

translated by David Lanoue

Pipevine Swallowtail

We were at Tilden Botanic Garden recently for a haiku walk. Linda P.

told me that that was a special butterfly and to watch. So I did.

One side of the wings is an iridescent blue, that only shows when the wings are unfolded.
One cannot really see it in this photograph, which is the best one I took.

It is called a Pipevine Swallowtail, because it likes the Pipevine plant.

folding, unfolding

heedless of its beauty--

pipevine swallowtail

  

June Hopper Hymas

And this was my favorite haiku from that ginko!

Day of the Ducklings

                                                                                 jhhymas

The best surprise. One year, for the YTReading in the Teahouse, there was a family

of ducklings in the pond, as never before when we were there, 

 at the Japanese Friendship Garden!

They were quite adept in the water. 

Here the springtime has deepened

I go on and on,

go on and on.

   

The bank lined with willows dips slowly.

Buson

translation by Robert Hass

The Essential Haiku, Ecco, 1994, page 135.

Understanding

Jane Hirschfield was the featured guest at the YT Haiku Retreat at Asilomar 

in September of  1990.Since Jane has been studying early Japanese poetry for a long time, 

she and Kiyoko Tokutomi were able to share their delight in this art form.

Clouds come between friends

only briefly---

a wild goose's migration

Basho

translated by Jane Hirschfield 

& Mariko Aratani

The Heart of Haiku (Kindle)