This the hour
Looked for, strived after –
A stray dog runs noiselessly
Under stars.
(Arashiyama, Kyoto, 11.11.74; first broadcast on Nippon TV,
’91)
In slant-light of evening
Boatmen fish a river,
Their every silhouette
On blue mercury.
(Angara River, Irkutsk, 18.8.74; first published in ‘Palpi’, ’87)
Heat of the day –
A pine-clad cliff
Down which a washing machine
Has tumbled.
(Mount Ogura, Kyoto, 13.8.03; first broad. Osaka TV,
’04)
Chancing on a pattern
That I wish to hold forever –
Mirror
Of ten thousand flowers.
(by Primrose Hill, London, 9.91; first broad. BBC Radio 4, ’91)
Cup your hand
Under the first drops
Of midday rain –
Three or four, enough to drink.
(Araku, Orissa, 16.4.90; first pub. ‘Haiku Quarterly’,
’91)
Hot summer wind –
The scarecrow’s smile
Almost lost
In waving rice.
(Kitasaga, Kyoto, 4.9.95; first pub. ‘Ginyu’, ’98)
Only the mole
Rubs their shoulders –
Blank rocks peering
From a dank moor.
(Eldroth, Yorkshire, 7.1.74; first pub. BHS ‘Hidden’,
’02)
Rickety bus’s
Plume of dust
Having settled…
A stack of ravaged tires.
(Sanchakou, Xinjiang, 30.7.99; first pub. ‘Modern Haiku’ ’04)
Cycling along
In the spring wind,
Box of eggs
In my pocket.
(near Buckingham Palace, London, 2.3.77; first pub. ‘The Haiku
Seasons’, Kodansha Int. ’96)
Along the dirt track,
A dead insect –
Autumn storms
On the prairies.
(nr. Big Springs, Nebraska, 17.9.78;
first pub ‘Haiku Spirit’, ‘95)
A buffalo day –
To browse in pastures
Rub against a tree
Grunt in the water-hole.
(nr. Kaski, Nepal, 22.9.81; first pub. ‘A Guide to Haiku for the 21st
Century’, Gendai Haiku Assoc., ’97)