This document provides a summary of a blog post by Chen-ou Liu that discusses several haiku and tanka poems. It begins by summarizing a haiku by Tatiana Debeljacki about a wedding in an old town. It then summarizes a tanka by George Swede about feeling his poem was brilliant the day before but confused that day. Finally, it summarizes criticisms by Chen-ou Liu of a book by David Cobb about haibun, arguing that Cobb misrepresents the stylistics of haibun and its relationship to haiku based on scholars like Makoto Ueda. The document analyzes different poems and discussions of haiku/tanka forms and styles.

1. First English-Chinese Bilingual Haiku and Tanka Blog
NeverEnding Story
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Posted by Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐 at 3:34 PM 1 comment:
Labels: butterfly dream, haiku, Tatjana Debeljacki, wedding
Butterfly Dream: Wedding Haiku by
Tatiana Debeljacki
English Original
the wedding
in the Old Town
murmur of the river
Asahi Haikuist Network, January 6, 2012
Tatiana Debeljacki
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
在舊城
舉行的婚禮
河流私語
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
在旧城
举行的婚礼
河流私语
Bio Sketch
Tatjana Debeljacki writes poetry, short stories, and haiku. She is a member of the
Association of Writers of Serbia -UKS (since 2004) and the Haiku Society of Serbia. She is
the deputy editor of Diogen and the editor of Poeta. She has four books of poetry
published by Hammer & Anvil Books.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, XXIII
not so-called news
another Chinese jumps
off the roof...
on the nightstand, his dog-eared
Lament for a Nation
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Hot News & Cool Announcements
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唱不完的詩歌
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Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐
Born in Taipei,Taiwan, Chen-
ou Liu was a college
teacher,essayist,editor,and
two-time winner of the national Best Book
Review Radio Program Award.In 2002,he
emigrated to Canada and settled in Ajax,a
suburb of Toronto. There, he continues to
struggle with a life in transition and
translation.Featured in New Resonance 7:
Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku,
and listed as one of the top ten haiku poets for
2011(Simply Haiku, 9:3,4, Autumn/Winter
2011),Chen-ou Liu is the author of Ripples
from a Splash:A Collection of Haiku Essays
with Award-Winning Haiku, Following the
Moon to the Maple Land(First Prize Winner of
the 2001 Haiku Pix Chapbook
Contest),Broken/Breaking English: Selected
Short Poems and Politics/Poetics of Re-
Homing. His tanka and haiku have been
honored with 63 awards,including Certificate of
Merit by the Tankagendai Corp,7th
International Tanka Festival Competition,
2012,Tanka First and Third Places in the 2011
About the Editor/Translator

2. Posted by Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐 at 8:38 PM 1 comment:
Labels: Chen-ou Liu, death, Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, sociopolitics, tanka, tanka sequence
Atlas Poetica, 15, July 2013
Notes:
1 You can read its preceding tanka or the whole sequence here.
Posted by Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐 at 7:49 AM 1 comment:
Labels: CT, gender, one man's maple moon, Pravat Kumar Padhy, tanka
One Man's Maple Moon: Black and White
Paintings Tanka by Pravat Kumar Padhy
English Original
black and white
paintings on the pot
the transgender
searches the streak of colors
to fill the gap of the emptiness
Special Features:Chiaroscuro LGBT Tanka, Atlas Poetica, August 2012
Pravat Kumar Padhy
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
有關鍋子
的黑白畫
一個變性人
搜索色彩的條紋
來填補空白的間隙
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
有关锅子
的黑白画
一个变性人
搜索色彩的条纹
来填补空白的间隙
Bio Sketch
Born in India, poems widely published and anthologized. Works referred in Spectrum
History of Indian Literature in English, Alienation in Contemporary Indian English Poetry
etc. Poems awarded high acclamations by Writer’s Guild of India and Editors’ Choice
awards. Pravat Kumar Padhy's Japanese short form of poetry appeared in many
international journals and anthologies. Songs of Love: A celebration is his third collection
of verse by Writers Workshop, Calcutta. Featured in The Dance of the Peacock: An
Anthology of English Poetry from India, to be published by Hidden Brook Press, Canada,
2014
Sunday, March 16, 2014
San Francisco International Competition,
Grand Prix in the 2010 Klostar Ivanic Haiku
Contest,and 特選 (Prize Winner) in the 2010
Haiku International Association Haiku Contest.
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▼ 2014 (102)
▼ March (23)
Butterfly Dream: Wedding Haiku by
Tatiana Debeljac...
Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, XXIII
One Man's Maple Moon: Black and
White Paintings Ta...
Butterfly Dream: Winter Solitude Haiku
by Neal Whi...
One Man's Maple Moon: A Tanka about
Writing by Geo...
To the Lighthouse: Orthodox Style of
Haibun Based ...
One Man's Maple Moon: Bone-Thin
Hands Tanka by Sus...
A Room of My Own: Ilha Formosa?
One Man's Maple Moon: Earthquake
Tanka by Aya Yuhk...
Butterfly Dream: Holding Hands Haiku by
Simon Hans...
One Man's Maple Moon: Fireworks
Tanka by Carol Pur...
Butterfly Dream: Winter Raindrops Haiku
by Tzod Ea...
One Man's Maple Moon: Words of Love
Tanka by Aleg...
A Room of My Own: Brownie, you're
doing a heck of ...
Hot News: 66 Haiku Selected for 2013
Butterfly Dre...
Butterfly Dream: Destroyed Tank Haiku
by Andrzej D...
One Man's Maple Moon: Purple Flowers
Tanka by Jenn...
Butterfly Dream: Hospice Window Haiku
by Djurdja V...
One Man's Maple Moon: Wedding Tanka
by Ramesh Anan...
Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, XXII
Butterfly Dream: Rabbit Prints Haiku by
Kay L. Tra...
A Poet's Roving Thoughts: The Narrow
Road to the I...
Butterfly Dream: Pond Haiku by Alegria
Imperial
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3. Posted by Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐 at 8:01 AM 3 comments:
Labels: butterfly dream, haiku, Neal Whitman, winter
Butterfly Dream: Winter Solitude Haiku
by Neal Whitman
English Original
talking to myself
out loud ...
winter solitude
Neal Whitman
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
大聲地
自言自語 ...
冬日孤寂
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
大声地
自言自语 ...
冬日孤寂
Bio Sketch
Neal Whitman began to write general poetry in 2005, haiku in 2008, and tanka in 2011. He
writes to be read and believes that the reader is never wrong. With his wife, Elaine, he
combines his poetry with her Native American flute and photography in free public recitals
with the aim of their hearts speaking to other hearts.
Saturday, March 15, 2014
One Man's Maple Moon: A Tanka about
Writing by George Swede
English Original
Yesterday, I thought
my new poem was brilliant
today, it seems confused --
the morning sun in a haze
over the marsh reeds
Modern English Tanka, 1:2, Winter 2006
George Swede
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
昨天，我認為
我的新詩卓越非凡
今天，它似乎顛三倒四 --
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4. Posted by Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐 at 8:10 AM 1 comment:
Labels: CT, George Swede, one man's maple moon, tanka, writing
早晨的太陽浮現在
陰霾的蘆葦沼澤之中
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
昨天，我认为
我的新诗卓越非凡
今天，它似乎颠叁倒四 --
早晨的太阳浮现在
阴霾的芦苇沼泽之中
Bio Sketch
George Swede has published two collections of tanka: First Light, First Shadows
(Liverpool: Snapshot Press, 2006) and White Thoughts, Blue Mind (Edmonton: Inkling
Press, 2010). His tanka have also appeared in a number of anthologies, including The
Tanka Anthology (Red Moon Press, 2003) and a number of journals, including Ribbons
and Gusts.
Friday, March 14, 2014
To the Lighthouse: Orthodox Style of
Haibun Based on That of Basho?
The critic is beneath the maker, but is his needed friend. What tongue could speak but to
an intelligible ear, and every noble work demands its critic... Next to invention is the power
of interpreting invention; next to beauty the power of appreciating beauty.
--Margaret Fuller
Below is excerpt from my review essay, What Happens in [David Cobb’s Conception of]
Haibun: A Critical Study for Readers Who Want More, a 30-page thematic, textual, and
perspectival analysis of David Cobb's What Happens in Haibun: A Critical Study of an
Innovative Literary Form, which was first published in Haibun Today, 7:3, September 2013
......
Renowned poet and a founding member of the British Haiku Society, David Cobb, has
recently published two books, Marching with Tulips and What Happens in Haibun: A
Critical Study of an Innovative Literary Form, simultaneously. The second one uses the
subtitle “A Critical Study for Use in Tandem with the Haibun Collection, Marching with
Tulips” on its front cover, different from the one on its inside cover, which I think is mainly
for a practical as well as an advertising purpose.
Thematically speaking, What Happens in Haibun is divided into two parts; the first one
consists of Introduction (pp. 5-15) and Conclusions (pp. 75-83), which provide Cobb’s
reflections on the literary genre, haibun, practiced in Japan and in the West and his
thoughts on the craft of haibun writing, and the second one Commentaries on Marching
with Tulips (pp. 16-74), which is made up of detailed comments made by the critic David
Cobb on each and every haibun included in Marching with Tulips written by the poet David
Cobb...
......
In addition to failing to correctly understand the “various roles haiku may perform in
haibun” (as the prime focus of his study) (p. 6) and to offer well-defined and structured
material to support his thesis (that “adventitious haiku may sometimes enliven a haibun”)

5. (p. 7), the most disappointing thing about Cobb’s so-called “critical study” is his
complete misrepresentations of two key issues related to the stylistics of
haibun: “haibun as a derivative of haiku” and the so-called “orthodox style of
haibun prose based on that of Basho” (pp. 8-9).
When Cobb discontinues the discussion of his thesis, he not only jumps to the irrelevant
topic, “The Japanese experience of haibun as it has come down to us in the West,” the
fourth section of Introduction, but also changes the point of view, from “I” (individual voice
to make one’s own comments) to “we” (collective voice to convey communal opinions or
concerns), starting from this section, through the fifth section, “Is haibun a derivative of
haiku?,” and ending at the middle of the first fourth of the sixth section, “Is there an
orthodox style of haibun prose, perhaps based on that of Basho?” (pp. 7-9).
After pointing out that poets in the West had received a “very few, mainly ancient
examples in translation” (p. 7), such as those of Basho’s work, as the main source for
studying haibun, and that many of them “[started] by writing haiku and only later
[graduated] to haibun” (p. 8), Cobb stresses that “it may be easy to fall into the way of
thinking that haibun is a derivative of haiku” (p. 8). Suddenly, he shifts the focus from
discussing the pitfall that many of the poets in the West might experience to expressing
the communal concern that “we sense (emphasis mine) that Makoto Ueda (the scholar
known for his study of Basho’s work and haiku-related literature) is thinking along these
lines when he writes, ‘A haibun has the same sort of brevity and conciseness as haiku.
There is a further hint when he continues, ‘Another characteristic of haibun is the extent of
its dependence on imagery. Abstract, general, conceptual words are shunned in favor of
concrete visual images” (p. 8).
The two quotes, both of which are not given page numbers, come from the passages
regarding the stylistics of haibun (pp. 121-124) in Chapter 4, titled “Prose,” of Makoto
Ueda’s well-known book, Matsuo Basho. In these passages, Ueda gives an in-depth
analysis of the stylistics of Basho’s haibun. He outlines the following four characteristics:
the “same sort of brevity and conciseness as a haiku" (p. 121), a "deliberately ambiguous
use of certain particles and verb forms in places where the conjunction ‘and’ would be
used in English” (p. 122), the “extent of its dependence on imagery” (p. 122), and the
“writer’s detachment” (p. 123), all of which are used to prove that “the haibun is a prose
equivalent of haiku” (emphasis mine, p. 124). In terms of stylistics, what Ueda
emphasizes here in Section 1, titled “The Haibun: Haiku in Prose” (pp. 113-24), is
that in the context of literary Japanese prose (“to be sure, literary Japanese
prose has always tended to be imagistic rather than logical in all genres”) (p.
122), a haibun is prose with a haiku spirit, the same conclusion reached by
scholars such as Haruo Shirane (Traces of Dreams, p. 212) and Lawrence Rogers
(p. 280). Furthermore, Ueda points out that Basho’s prose is known for “its
poetic beauty” (p. 112) and “Basho’s haibun carry that [imagistic] tendency to an
extreme” (p. 123), and most importantly that “for one thing, Basho apparently
thought of prose and poetry as complementary, as two modes of writing serving
a single aim” (p. 112). Ueda never says anything about “haibun is a derivative of
haiku” (p. 8) as Cobb claims through a collective voice (“we sense that Makoto
Ueda is thinking along these lines . . .”) (p. 8).
What comes after the section “Is haibun a derivative of haiku?” is another
surprise: “Is there an orthodox style of haibun prose, perhaps based on that of
Basho?” Under this rhetorically problematic heading, Cobb begins with the
following three passages replete with glaring instances of misunderstanding
and misrepresentations of his references:
Shirane 8 quotes Basho as saying that “haibun should have, in accordance with the
Chinese model, an even and balanced rhythm, stressing paired words and parallel
syntax.” He goes on to comment, “Basho’s new haikai prose (read for this haibun prose)
was, at least in Kyorai’s opinion, graceful and gentle in expression.”
Basho urged his disciples to write haibun, not only with Chinese prose as a model, but
in the spirit or style of haikai (he did not himself use the term haiku, but may have
intended his karumi style of haiku which he favoured in his mature style).

6. Whichever translation we may prefer, we are able to see that Basho did not write
consistently in a single style, but selected as appropriate to the context from a variety of
styles. 9
Once again, there is no page number given to any of the quotes or references above.
Cobb’s so-called “critical study” is poorly cited. And the two parenthesized statements
above reveal that he is not familiar with the terminologies used in Japanese haikai
literature: haikai prose means haibun (see Shirane’s General Index: “Haikai prose, see
Haibun,” p. 365; “Haibun (haibun prose),” p. 364). Throughout Traces of Dreams, Shirane
clearly points out that “haikai [is] . . . . Broadly used to refer to genres deriving from haikai
such as the hokku [later called haiku, p.2], haiku, renku, haibun, haikai-related travel
accounts and narrowly used to refer to haikai linked verse” (p. 294). Cobb’s
misunderstanding of haikai-related terms is also revealed in the 10th statement of his “few
bald statements about [his] own practice (p. 9): “In the unlikely event of being asked for a
maxim, I shall not say that haibun should be written in the spirit and style of haikai. I might
say, in the spirit and style of English haiku and English senryu” (p. 10). Historically and
aesthetically speaking, based on the broad definition of haikai Shirane describes above,
which is also adopted by other scholars, such as Peipei Qiu, 3 Cobb’s statement doesn’t
make any sense.
In the beginning of Chapter 8, titled “Remapping the Past: Narrow Road to the Interior,”
Shirane emphasizes that Basho wrote haikai prose throughout his life but “consciously
strove to develop haibun or prose with a haikai spirit” only shortly after his journey to Oku
(p. 212), and that he began to use the word haibun after the journey, which first appeared
in his 1690 letter to his disciple Kyorai (p. 212). And there is no textual evidence or
scholarly reference offered by Cobb to support his own claim that “[Basho] may have
intended his karumi style of haiku which he favoured in his mature style” (p. 9); most
importantly, according to his own description given in Glossary of Japanese Terms (p. 84),
Cobb misunderstands what the karumi style really is, which will be fully explained below in
the passages regarding misunderstood Japanese literary terms.
The second quote (with no note given) in the opening paragraph comes first (p. 216), and
its meaning should be understood in the context of the stylistic comparisons between
Saikaku’s and Basho’s work: “In contrast to Saikaku’s haibun, which combined classical
prose and vernacular Japanese but which Basho considered coarse or vulgar in both
content and expression, Basho’s new haikai prose was, at least in Kyorai’s opinion,
graceful and gentle in expression, it had the flow of classical prose even as it incorporated
the words and rhythms of vernacular Japanese and Chinese” (p. 216). And the first quote
should also be understood in the context of the stylistic comparisons between classical
poetry or classical prose and Basho’s haibun: “In contrast to classical poetry or classical
prose, which was based on an alternating 5/7 syllabic rhythm, haibun should have, in
accordance with the Chinese model, an even or (not “and” in Cobb’s quote) balanced
rhythm (such as 4/4, 6/6) (this part omitted by Cobb), stressing paired words and parallel
syntax, as in the following passage on the Tsubo Stone Inscription (Tsubo no ishibumi) in
Narrow Road to the Interior” (pp. 217-8). This Chinese-influenced style (Six Dynasties
parallel prose, “p’ien-wen”) is just one of the Chinese models explored by Basho. Most
importantly, the thesis statement of Shirane’s in-depth analysis of Basho’s
Narrow Road to the Interior is clearly written at the beginning of Chapter 8:
“Basho remapped the cultural landscape of the Interior, or the northern region
of Japan, through haibun, or haikai prose, a new genre that combined, in
unprecedented fashion, Chinese prose genres, Japanese classical prototypes,
and vernacular language and subject matter, thereby bringing together at least
three major cultural axes . . . Oku no hosomichi (Narrow Road to the Interior),
which may best be understood as an attempt to reveal the different possibilities
of haibun in the form of travel literature” (emphasis mine, p. 212). Shirane never
says anything about or hints at the so-called “orthodox style of haibun prose based on
that of Basho” (p. 9) as Cobb claims.
Read in the context of Basho’s attempt to “reveal the different possibilities of haibun in the
form of travel literature” (p. 212), the first quote above merely indicates the first stop of
Basho’s journey into this literary territory: new haibun, not old haikai prose. As his journey

7. Posted by Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐 at 7:45 AM No comments:
Labels: Basho, haibun, haibun poetics, The Narrow Road to the Interior, to the lighthouse
continues, the Chinese model in the quote evolves into models: a variety of different
Chinese expository genres, “among them, rhapsody (fu), preface (hsu, J. jo), eulogy
(sung, J. sho), record (chi, J. ki), biography (chuan, J. den), essay (wen, J.bun), treatise
(lun, J. ron), inscription (pei, J. ishibumi), encomium (tsan, J. san), admonitions (chen, J.
shin), lamentation (tiao-wen, J. chobun)—which became models for many of Basho’s
haibun, including travel diaries” (p. 219). And most importantly, Basho’s creatively
interweaving Chinese poetic motifs and stylistic techniques with haikai humor, and
vernacular or classical Japanese transformed old haikai prose into new haibun (pp. 213-
23). As Shirane emphasizes at the end of the first section, titled “Haikai Prose,” of Chapter
8, “the end result is that the reader journeys from one type of language and prose genre
to another, exploring the diverse possibilities of haibun” (p. 223).
Strategically speaking, Cobb first reverses the order, chronological and logical,
of the two quotes from Shirane’s Chapter 8, then uses the second paragraph to
enhance the reader’s impression of Basho’s “orthodox style of haibun prose” as
perceived by Shirane, and finally in the third paragraph, he offers the scholarly
support for the textual evidence from Donald Keene as indicated in his note 9,
which is the same conclusion reached by Shirane. And at the beginning of the
following paragraph, the fourth of the section, he cries out that “No! Don’t let’s go any
further down that winding path. After some thirty drafts arguing this way and that what
relevance Basho’s dicta might still have for us, 300 years and a totally different culture
later, I give up” (p. 9). After this crying out, the first-person singular is resumed, and
through a “rather symbolic act” (he “went out into the garden . . . clipped twenty yards of
overgrown hedge . . . [he] came in again”) (p.9), he offers “a few bald statements about
[his] own practices” (p. 9), the aim of which is “to make haibun prose and haiku
companionable, responsive to each other like bedfellows, and not to reduce both to any
kind of common denominator” (p. 11).
Strategically speaking, Cobb first uses the first-person plural to misrepresent Ueda’s and
Shirane’s studies of Basho’s haibun, especially of the stylistics of the prose of haibun,
then he resumes his first-person singular to offer 10 statements about his own writing
practice, which reveals his true agenda, one that is at least intended for one of his goals:
offering “sufficient criteria for selecting haibun to publish” (p. 5). Most importantly, in his
statements (pp. 9-11), he discusses only the stylistics of the prose of haibun, and shows
no interest in exploring any structural aspect of a haibun, such as the different placements
of haiku and prose paragraphs that can have influences on the quality of a haibun as
discussed in Jeffrey Woodward’s thoughtful essay, titled “Form in Haibun: An Outline,” 4
and none of these statements mentions the possibilities of using different types of prose
or any mixture of them in an innovative way as Basho did in Narrow Road to the Interior.
As a critic, David Cobb fails to take readers beyond the text horizon inscribed by the poet
David Cobb as clearly indicated not only by his own statement—a “few bald statements
about my (the poet’s) own practices” (p. 9)—but also by my comments mentioned
above.....
Editor's Note: For an in-depth analysis (structural and stylistic) of Basho's travel journal,
The Narrow Road to the Interior, see A Poet's Roving Thoughts: The Narrow Road to the
Interior by Basho
Thursday, March 13, 2014
One Man's Maple Moon: Bone-Thin
Hands Tanka by Susan Constable
English Original
as a child

8. Posted by Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐 at 7:17 AM 4 comments:
Labels: aging, CT, loss, one man's maple moon, Susan Constable, tanka
she found it difficult
to say goodbye
now bone-thin hands
clutch the blanket's edge
Honorable Mention, TSA Contest, 2013
Susan Constable
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
小時候
她覺得很難
說再見
現在瘦骨嶙嶙的手
緊抓毯子的邊緣
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
小时候
她觉得很难
说再见
现在瘦骨嶙嶙的手
紧抓毯子的边缘
Bio Sketch
Susan Constable’s tanka appear in numerous journals and anthologies, including Take
Five. She placed third in the 2010 Tanka Society of America Contest and her tanka
collection, The Eternity of Waves, is one of the winning entries in the eChapbook Awards
for 2012. She is currently the tanka editor for the international on-line journal, A Hundred
Gourds. Susan lives with her husband on Canada’s beautiful west coast.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
A Room of My Own: Ilha Formosa?
Sendai earthquake ...
the darkness pierced
only by flashlights
At night, I toss and turn, worrying about the long-term health risks for Japan and its
neighbors. My homeland, Taiwan, is one of the closest.
Fukushima at dawn --
one vending machine
still glowing
I remember during the late 1990s at the height of the anti-nuclear movement in Taiwan,
someone handed me a flyer on the street. It listed important instructions on how to survive
a nuclear disaster. The last one on the list said: "When driving away in the rescue convoy,
please remember to look back, because that will be your last sight of Taipei."
radioactive scare
this a world of dew

9. Posted by Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐 at 8:40 AM No comments:
Labels: a room of my own, Chen-ou Liu, disaster, haibun, haiku, sociopolitics
and yet ...
Notes:
1 In 1544, a Portuguese ship sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it "Ilha
Formosa," which means “Beautiful Island.” Taipei is its capital.
2 This poem is a revision of Ilha Formosa?, which was first published in Sketchbook, 6:3,
May/June 2011
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Posted by Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐 at 3:41 PM 1 comment:
Labels: AyaYuhki, CT, disaster, one man's maple moon, tanka
One Man's Maple Moon: Earthquake
Tanka by Aya Yuhki
English Original
after the earthquake --
the arch bridge
drops its shadow
onto the water
more distinctly
Eucalypt, 15, 2013
Aya Yuhki
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
地震之後 --
拱橋
投射它的影子
在水面上
更為明顯
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
地震之後 --
拱桥
投射它的影子
在水面上
更为明显
Bio Sketch
Aya Yuhki was born and now lives in Tokyo. She started writing tanka more than thirty
years ago and has expanded her interest to include free verse poetry, essay writing, and
literary criticism. Aya Yuhki is Editor-in-Chief of The Tanka Journal published by the Japan
Poets’ Society. Her works are featured on the homepage of the Japan Pen Club’s
Electronic Library.

10. Posted by Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐 at 7:50 AM 3 comments:
Labels: butterfly dream, haiku, relationship, Simon Hanson
Butterfly Dream: Holding Hands Haiku by
Simon Hanson
English Original
hand in hand
our shadows
do the same
A Hundred Gourds,2:3, June 2013
Simon Hanson
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
手牽手
我們的影子也做
同樣的動作
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
手牵手
我们的影子也做
同样的动作
Bio Sketch
Simon Hanson lives in country South Australia enjoying the open spaces and nearby
coastal environments. He is excited by the natural world and relishes moments of the
numinous in ordinary things. He is published in various journals and anthologies and
never realised how much the moon meant to him until he started writing haiku.
Monday, March 10, 2014
One Man's Maple Moon: Fireworks Tanka
by Carol Purington
English Original
The staccato of fireworks
from the neighbor's field
we sit in coolness
emerging stars punctuate
the words we haven't said
June 2003 Poem of the Month, Christian Science Monitor Online
Carol Purington
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
來自鄰居田地

11. Posted by Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐 at 8:03 AM 3 comments:
Labels: Carol Purington, CT, one man's maple moon, relationship, star, tanka
的斷續煙花聲響
坐在陰涼中
逐漸浮現的星星標示
我們尚未說過的話
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
来自邻居田地
的断续烟花声响
坐在阴凉中
逐渐浮现的星星标示
我们尚未说过的话
Bio Sketch
Carol Purington is at home in the hills of western Massachusetts. She writes about
seasonal and emotional rhythms, exploring connections between the worlds inside us and
the worlds our bodies interpret. Her works have appeared in English-language haiku/tanka
publications, both print and online, and they have won recognition in international
contests. She has published three books of tanka: sThe Trees Bleed Sweetnes, A Pattern
for This Place, and Gathering Peace.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Posted by Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐 at 7:58 AM 3 comments:
Labels: butterfly dream, CH, haiku, rain, Tzod Earf, winter
Butterfly Dream: Winter Raindrops Haiku
by Tzod Earf
English Original
winter raindrops ...
the voice
in my mind
Tzod Earf
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
冬天雨滴 ...
在我腦海裡
的聲音
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
冬天雨滴 ...
在我脑海里
的声音
Bio Sketch
Tzod Earf lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. He is a beginning haiku poet.

12. Saturday, March 8, 2014
Posted by Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐 at 3:24 PM 2 comments:
Labels: Alegria Imperial, CT, love, moon, one man's maple moon, tanka
One Man's Maple Moon: Words of Love
Tanka by Alegria Imperial
English Original
the way her hand
rests on his palm like
moon on water
mirrors words of love
never spoken
Moonbathing, 8, June 2013
Alegria Imperial
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
她的手
放在他手掌的樣子像是
月亮在水面上
反映從未說過
的情話
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
她的手
放在他手掌的样子像是
月亮在水面上
反映从未说过
的情话
Bio Sketch
Alegria Imperial’s haiku for Haiku Foundation’s 2012 Haiku Competition was Commended
in the traditional category. She has also won honorable mentions in the 2007 Vancouver
Cherry Blossoms Festival Invitational Haiku and her tanka adjudged Excellent, 7th
International Tanka Festival Competition 2012. Her poetry have been published in
international journals among them A Hundred Gourds, The Heron’s Nest, LYNX, Notes
from the Gean, eucalypt and GUSTS. Formerly of Manila Philippines, she now lives in
Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Friday, March 7, 2014
A Room of My Own: Brownie, you're doing
a heck of a job
debris scattered
here and there
an old man playing blues

13. Posted by Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐 at 8:46 PM 1 comment:
Labels: a room of my own, Chen-ou Liu, death, disaster, haibun, haiku, racism
It is not just the levees that break... the smell breaks away... from the skin when a boy is
pulled out of the waters. The waters that come and stand ... still with the bodies of black
people, of my people... she says, her voice breaking.
a green doghouse
with FEMA on its roof
lower ninth ward at dusk
Note: The title comes from George W. Bush's comment on Katrina relief work done by
Michael DeWayne Brown, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Director. My
haibun is inspired by Spike Lee's 2006 award-winning documentary, titled When the
Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.
Hot News: 66 Haiku Selected for 2013
Butterfly Dream Anthology
Haiku is a new experience every time.... And that is poetry.
-- paraphrasing Jorge Luis Borges
My Dear Fellow Poets and Readers:
I'm pleased to announce the following 66 haiku selected for Butterfly Dream, 2013:
Selected English-Chinese Bilingual Haiku. The anthology is scheduled to be published in
July. Each poet whose haiku is/are included in the anthology will receive a copy of its e-
book edition.
Please post to all appropriate venues. Your time and help would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks for your support of my project. And look forward to reading your new work
(see 2014 anthology submission guidelines)
Chen-ou
Note: The 2013 Butterfly Dream Prize winner will be announced in April.
Selected Haiku
evening drizzle
notes from his guitar
perfume the air
Haigaonline, 12:2, December 2011
Christine L. Villa
morning mist
texturing the canvas
of a dream
Haiku Reality, 9:16

14. Angelo B. Ancheta
where soldiers
once slept and died --
a spider's home
Ambrosia, 3, 2009
Dick Whyte
blogging…
my random thoughts
yellow as lemon
Mainichi Daily News, Oct. 23, 2012
Ernesto P. Santiago
reading obituaries
the here and there
of fireflies
Frogpond, 35:3, Winter 2012
Ben Moeller-Gaa
snow falling…
a darker silence
in my father’s room
Simply Haiku, 3:4, Winter 2005
Irene Golas
over my thoughts the hush of pines
Tinywords, August 2010
Peter Newton
crayon map
my son shows me the way
to Neverland
The Heron's Nest, 16:1, March 2012
John McManus
shooting stars…
the fizz of champagne
on my tongue
2nd place, Shiki Kukai February 2012
Stella Pierides

15. Spring evening --
the wheel of a troop carrier
crushes a lizard
Konts: The Anthology of Southeastern European Haiku Poetry
Dimitar Anakiev
first summer rose
in each drop of dew
a new thorn
Honorable Mention, 2011 Mainichi Haiku Contest
Sonam Chhoki
low winter moon
just beyond the reach
of my chopsticks
Beyond the Reach of My Chopsticks
Fay Aoyagi
a grass snake
escaping into
my thought of it
Honorable Mention, 2010 Haiku Now! International Haiku Contest
Anatoly Kudryavitsky
my father's footsteps the size of every morning
World Haiku Review, December 2012
S.M. Abeles
November cherry blossom --
what was I thinking?
Past All Traps
Don Wentworth
concert under the stars --
a drop of sweat lost
in her décolletage
Lishanu, 2, 2011
Djurdja Vukelić-Rožić

16. eyes of the ancestors
the twinkle
in winter stars
NeverEnding Story, February 21, 2013
Rebecca Drouilhet
first sunrise ...
avoiding eye contact
with his gay brother
Haiku of Merit, World Haiku Review, August, 2010
Ignatius Fay
the night he left ...
many sounds
of summer rain
DailyHaiku, Cycle 12, November 02, 2011
Kirsten Cliff
skinny dipping --
one small step to land
on the moon
Winner of the Every Day Poets Great Big Little Poems Competition 2012
Marion Clarke
breezy morning
the gliding yellow bird
turns into a leaf
Peeling an Orange
Peggy Heinrich
hazy moon
all the shapes
of a hangover
Notes From the Gean, 2:4, March 2011
Polona Oblak
lengthening shadow ...
above her eggs the hen's heart
beats against my arm
First Place, British Haiku Society James W Hackett International Haiku Award 2003
Beverley George

17. train tunnel --
the sudden intimacy
of mirrored faces
Best of Issue Haiku, Presence, #22, 2004
Beverley George
the snow melted --
fences reappear
between neighbors
Heron’s Nest, 13:2, June 2011
Adelaide B. Shaw
bedroom mirror --
the coldness of that dangling
single breast
Third prize, Sharpening the Green Pencil Haiku Contest
Rita Odeh
white lie
the mirror doubles
the white chrysanthemum
The Unworn Necklace
Roberta Beary
winter moonlight …
full lips pout
from a billboard
bearcreekhaiku.blogspot.com, Feb 2013
Anne Curran
Winter sunshine
The smell of sprouted potatoes
in the cellar
Second Prize, Mainichi Haiku Contest 2005
Rajna Begović
full moon
returning
to an empty house
Full Moon
Ed Baker

18. moving into the sun
the pony takes with him
some mountain shadow
American Haiku in Four Seasons
Jane Reichhold
holding the day
between my hands
a clay pot
Frogpond, 23:3, Autumn, 2000
Jane Reichhold
a poppy . . .
a field of poppies!
the hills blowing with poppies!
Haiku Magazine, V.5, N1, 1971
Michael McClintock
to each other
in the dark --
waving lanterns
Second Prize, San Francisco International Haiku Competition 2009
Michael McClintock
slipping through my fingers ...
a school of fish
and summer sunset
NeverEnding Story, June 13, 2013
Anna Yin
harvest moon ...
a child wades in the pond
full of it
2nd place , 2012 Maple Moon Haiku Contest
Brian Robertson
Rereading The Iliad
another corpse dragged
through Fallujah
Grand Prix, 39th A-Bomb Contest

19. Sylvia Forges-Ryan
scattering his ashes
the moon
in bits and pieces
First Prize, 1993 Harold G. Henderson Award
Sylvia Forges-Ryan
june breeze
a hole in the cloud
mends itself
Third Runner-Up, The Heron's Nest Readers' Choice Popular Poets Award (2001)
an'ya
when my gendai world was flat I kept falling off
the text horizon
Notes from the Gean, 19, May 2013
kjmunro
a chrysalis
waits for spring
autistic son
Windfall 1 2013
Marilyn Humbert
after the divorce
a tattered moon
in every window
Distinguished Work Prize, 5th Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum Haiku Contest
Pamela A. Babusci
winter stars…
only the sound of the neighbor
wheeling his trash
Modern Haiku, 36.1, 2005
Barry George
morning mist…
disconnected thoughts search
for conjunctions
Modern Haiku, 2013, 44.2

20. George Swede
alone at twilight...
sound of a mosquito
and unfinished dream
NeverEnding Story, August 29, 2013
Asni Amin
autumn nap --
sunlight
combs my hair
FreeXpression, August 2010
Keitha Keyes
graveyard visit
a spider's web glitters
in a broken vase
Sketchbook, 2012
Máire Morrissey-Cummins
two light beams shining
where there were once twin towers --
my son, my daughter
Grand Prize, 15th International “Kusamakura” Haiku Competition
Jack Galmitz
in Bryant Park
2,753 empty chairs
not a breath of air
yards & lots
Jack Galmitz
night storm
her waters
break
Commended, NZPS International Haiku Contest 2008
Nola Borrell
fading light
dad tells the only story

21. he remembers
Modern Haiku, 41.2, Summer 2010
Bob Lucky
on the porch
a chair rocking
the waning moon
A Hundred Gourds, 2:3, June 2013
Diana Teneva
autumn twilight
my parents in silence
on the swing
The Mainichi Daily, 2012
Ramesh Anand
harvest moon
the horizon between here
and hereafter
First Prize, Katikati Haiku Competition 2012
Lorin Ford
shades of winter --
my mother in the passage
between dreams
Frogpond, 35:3, Autumn 2012
Lorin Ford
spring breeze --
the pull of her hand
as we near the pet store
Into the Open: Poems from Poets of the Sixth Skagit River Poetry Festival
Michael Dylan Welch
first rain
the paper boat carries
my childhood
Asahi Haikuist Network, May 31 2013
Pravat Kumar Padhy
in five-seven-five

22. I compact confusing thoughts ...
New Year's morning dew
Simply Haiku, 10:3, Spring/Summer 2013
Damir Janjalija
hurricane near
she gets her nails done
the color of the sea
South by Southeast, 12:2, 2005
LeRoy Gorman
no
way
to see
the
mountain
(((((((((((((((((sombrero)))))))))))))))))
Modern Haiku, 38:3, Autumn 2007
LeRoy Gorman
buds on the apple tree
my daughter trying on
her first bra
NeverEnding Story, January 10, 2014
Hristina Pandjaridis
worn-out stairs
up to my old mother’s home -
an owl hooting
The Heron’s Nest, 2007
Saša Važić
rest home garden
tomatoes rotting
on the vine
Modern Haiku, 44:2, Summer 2013
Erik Linzbach
somehow
our shrinking shadows touch --
harvest moon
Dottie Dot Awards, Haiku Bandit Society, September 2011

23. Older PostsHome
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Posted by Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐 at 8:19 AM 14 comments:
Labels: anthology, haiku, HC, hot news
Alegria Imperial
golden hills
turkey vultures circle the remains
of summer
First Place, UkiaHaiku Contest (2013)
Annette Makino
cold day at the beach
a man casts his line
only twice
Simply Haiku, 7:2, Summer 2009
Neal Whitman
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