Screaming neigh!
in pre-dawn terror
we make love
My English girlfriend Marion and I hitchhiked to the Isle of Wight in the early 1970s. We camped for a night in the mystical New Forest. In the next field . . . Chris/cricket : from my 1986 collection with Aya Press, Foot Through the Ceiling (it received the 1987 Milton Acorn People's Poetry Medal)
ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK/ David McMurray
February 20, 2026 at 08:00 JST
New Year’s dawn--the sound of horses’ hooves in my head
--Marek Printer (Kielce, Poland)
* * *
Lunar New Year
the horse runs away
from the snake
--Ed Bremson (Raleigh, North Carolina)
* * *
New Year’s view:
silvery white sacred peaks
in the distance
--Satoru Kanematsu (Nagoya)
* * *
New Year sun
across the river
drinking Palomino
--Dorna Hainds (Lapeer, Michigan)
* * *
solstice mist
somewhere on the farm
a horse nickers
--Zahra Mughis (Lahore, Pakistan)
* * *
anxious land--
frightened horses whinny
before an earthquake
--Stoianka Boianova (Sofia, Bulgaria)
* * *
wrong forecast
19 cm more than expected--
horse whinnies
--Shannon Wallace (Mississauga, Ontario)
* * *
rocking horse
before curiosity shop
mint condition
--Jerome Berglund (New Orleans, Louisiana)
* * *
the golden horses
of the merry-go-round
riderless in winter drizzle
--Mark Valentine (Skipton, England)
* * *
aged workhorse
tries to munch
frosted grass
--Noel King (Tralee, Ireland)
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FROM THE NOTEBOOK
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Girls in spring clothes
surround the paddock
year of the horse
--Yoriko Tashiro (Kagoshima)
The haikuist said she tested her “luck at the Kyoto Racecourse on the fourth day of the new year.” In today’s column, haikuists mark the turnover of zodiac signs for the Lunar New Year. Helen Buckingham was glad so see off the old year in Somerset, England.
Tail of the Snake
a pattern too dark
to fathom
Jiro Oba cruised past midnight on a boat trip in Kawasaki. And just like that, Chen-ou Liu witnessed the incoming lunar year begin in Ajax, Ontario. Christina Chin’s new year unfolded in Kuching, Borneo.
river runs
through the sands of time
last year and this year
* * *
the glow
of a good-luck crystal
first sunrise
* * *
paper dragon
lantern unfolds
a horse
The zodiac sign of horses on fire symbolizes a divine power that protects its worshippers. Charging steeds pulled chariots of fire in the biblical story of the prophet Elijah’s ascent into heaven. Pegah Rahmati Nezhad dreamt of riding a speedy Akhal-Teke horse breed famous for its golden metallic sheen in Tehran, Iran. In Lahore, Pakistan, Zahra Mughis squeezed her legs and pushed back deep in the saddle.
2026
horses galloping on
snake’s shed skin
* * *
rising wind
we lean in
for the final sprint
Geraldine Sinyuy felt dragon-slayer heat in Cameroon.
long summer dragon
flies clip their wings wild
announcing the heat
Robin Rich’s phone recharged in Brighton, England.
horse year day
social media flurry
overheating phone
Member of the Southern California Haiku Study Group, Susan Rogers witnessed an electrifying sunrise in Los Angeles. Marilyn Humbert was rewarded for closely watching a brilliantly lit night sky over Sydney, Australia.
thunder and white fire
rising in the eastern sky
the storm god gallops
* * *
fire horse
galloping within
a comet’s wake
Rob Scott shouted and waved his umbrella in Melbourne, Australia.
distant thunder--
horses scramble
into the home straight
Shannon Wallace is wary of karoshi in Mississauga, Ontario.
black beauty racing
in the dead of night
death from overworking
Feeling blue, Pippa Phillips followed this line of thought in Greensboro, North Carolina.
cold rain a procession of blue horses
Guliz Mutlu bemoaned the equine workers that hauled coal through narrow dark tunnels until the turn of the century in Ankara, Turkey.
industrial ponies
smokestacks breathing darkness
sky turns amber
Yutaka Kitajima conjured up the hardworking horse named Boxer in George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” penned in 1945. The poor old horse weakened and ended up being sold to a knacker for disposal at a glue factory.
Fatal overwork
under lawless conditions...
cold ashes to rest
Carl Brennan used to wear a boxing robe in North Syracuse, New York.
Fight night ended...
yet behind my closed eyes
ring girls on parade
Nicoletta Ignatti in Castellana Grotte, Italy, and Natalia Kuznetsova in Moscow, Russia, respectively, started their days feeling exhausted.
the wind in the eyes
of galloping horses--
New Year’s Eve dream
* * *
marathon runners--
awed and exhausted
just watching them
Sanjana Zorinc rocked back and forth in Bjelovar, Croatia.
New Year’s morning--
the red wooden rocking horse
swaying
On visit to Sousse, Tunisia, David Cox was inspired by Kahlil Gibran’s poetry.
the new sun
threshing the dune’s grains and so,
I thresh my words
Slanting sunrays from a beautiful, long winter sunset lit Francoise Maurice’s path toward the finish line in Draguignan, France.
running a marathon--
my shadow runs
across the wheat fields
Timing is everything in poetry. Consider the meaning of Yosa Buson’s (1716-1783) starting verse, kogarashi ya hitato tsumazuku modori-uma. Could it be that he saw a huffing and puffing and blowing breath of wind kneel down before a tired packhorse? The master poet had the artistic ability to see something special in the ordinary.
a cold winter wind--
as it stumbles suddenly
the returning horse
Member of a haiku group in Montreal, Quebec, Rita Pomade said she recalled having felt trapped in household duties as she looked out the window and “saw several horses in the pasture exhibiting the freedom I was longing for.”
wild mustangs
at play
my clothes tumble dry
Margaret Ponting sketched a familiar scene at a dairy farm in Labertouche, Australia.
old blue heeler by his side
a queue of cows
await evening milking
Mona Bedi entered a farm in Delhi, India. Capota Daniela Lacramioara entered retirement in Galati, Romania. Kathabela Wilson’s “dear friend who lived in the city … Pasadena, California … left to live in a country atmosphere and became a horse healer.”
winter stiffness
the slow creak
of a farm gate
* * *
like a wild horse
in a meadow--
retirement
* * *
his country life
he speaks now only
in neighs and whinnies
John Zheng visited a historic site in Itta Bena, Mississippi.
plantation tour
a pensive horse
by the fence
Florian Munteanu sacrificed his black knight for a white piece before calling out “stalemate” in Bucharest, Romania.
frosty sleigh
pulled by a piebald horse--
draw in the chess game
Samo Kreutz in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Yoshiho Satake in Tokyo, respectively, went to the races.
finish line…
a crowd noise split
by a feather
* * *
New Year
gleaming horses
lost my bet
James Penha remains mesmerized by the legendary horserace for the Triple Crown, “I was there at Belmont in 1973 when Big Red made our jaws drop.”
suddenly the horse
has no competition--
Secretariat
Dejan Ivanovic couldn’t sustain a winning streak in Lazarevac, Serbia.
my horse won
since then, every day
I wait I wait and I wait
Minko Tanev cheered a black horse in Sofia, Bulgaria. Gordana Vlasic held firm to long flowing hair in Oroslavje, Croatia.
nighttime feast--
horse racing
with burning torches
* * *
I hold on
the already gray mane of the black horse--
letting my hair down
Cornelia Rossberg gritted her teeth in Coburg, Germany. Xenia Tran followed the pack in Nairn, Scotland.
on the galloping horse
the dirt of the last year
flies around my ears
* * *
from old to new...
a cloud of dust
behind the horses
Sniffing around, Berglund investigated the meaning of Shakespeare’s line, “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
winter rose
none in evidence but
the smell of horses
Ashoka Weerakkody headed back to Colombo, Sri Lanka.
un-stable
this cold seasonal mood
horse, a homing...
Nazarena Rampini was raised in a small village in Pogliano Milanese, Italy, where “silence prevails and every sound echoes. On the farms even in the cold, the horses graze in the pasture.”
Orion constellation--
my father’s scent
so close
A sense of humor can also help when writing haiku. Doc Sunday ate and ate in Hiroshima, but never washed the dishes.
year-end party
lots of paper plates
light buffet
* * *
shuttling back and force
sustainable global cuisines
hotel full buffet
After “too much indulgence” during the holiday season in Warwickshire, England, Tracy Davidson is “considering taking up short runs.”
after Christmas turkey
plump meaty legs
pump away
Jennifer Smyth-Davey stubbed her toe in Newcastle, Australia.
my second toe throbs
surer predictor of cold
than the weather girl
Corine Timmer kicked up her heels in Faro, Portugal.
New Year’s Day
--a spur of the moment
decision
Tracy Davidson envied sleeping bats, dormice and hedgehogs in Warwickshire, England.
deepening chill
maybe in my next life
I can hibernate
Refika Dedic’s mother reverently placed a sodium-rich mineral saltlick by a tree for deer wintering near Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ron Scully cleared snow from his porch in Burien, Washington. Berglund swept for expected dinner guests.
winter night
salt left
in the forest
* * *
throwing salt
on the iced steps
then listening…
* * *
salt in doormat’s
embossed welcome
jerk seasoning
Ponting paused for a troupe of leaping marsupials.
the horses freeze
an invasion
of bounding kangaroos
In the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes, a teacher composed “A Time for Everything” that began, for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. Life is sustainable as long as it continually replaces death. Haikuists have a knack for recording these transitions between seasons, between death and rebirth, and the earliest sightings of fauna and flora. Liz Gibbs described a vigil in Calgary, Alberta.
death watch
only he can hear
the horsemen’s apocalyptic gallop
Vasile Moldovan is feeling his oats in Bucharest, Romania. Artur Zielinski is feeling his age in Gdynia, Poland.
Galloping horses--
the stud farm is no longer visible
from the dust cloud
* * *
New Year’s gallop
pulsing through the air
once more, I am old
Tsanka Shishkova listened to Johann Strauss’ quick-stepped music dedicated in 1848 to an Austrian field marshal who fought Napoleon Bonaparte during the long French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1815).
New Year’s concert
galloping horses come alive
in “Radetzky March”
The idea of purgatory, or being stuck between two worlds, troubled Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) who philosophized, ‘The old world is dying, And the new world struggles to be born.” Imprisoned for his Marxist views, he penned in his notebook, “morbid phenomena of the most varied kind come to pass.” Earlier than usual this spring in Bologna, Italy, Giuliana Ravaglia fertilized newly appearing shoots from her long-living garden perennials.
peonies and rosemary--
the progress of the day
into the evening
John Richard Stephens smiled at the antics of a tomcat in Maui, Hawaii.
sparrow on a branch--
an old cat
leaps into flight
Raj K. Bose attempted drawing perfect celestial circles in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Astronomy class
doodling black holes and worm holes
munching donuts
Hifsa Ashraf looked towards heaven above Rawalpindi, Pakistan. On New Year’s morning, Murasaki Sagano reflected upon her beauty in a mirror.
new year eve--
the fireworks spark
my nebula
* * *
the first washbasin
filled with fresh well water
face and hands
In Varazdin, Croatia, Zelyko Funda experienced all sorts of emotions, some sweet, some bitter, some pats on the back and some prolonged embraces.
last day at school
a box of chocolates left
for her colleagues
* * *
departure
each hug says goodbye
in its own way
Feb. 21 is Celandine Day. William Wordsworth, an English poet who lived during the Romantic era, spotted the earliest ever appearance of the lesser celandine flower in 1815, when he composed: “that shrinks, like many more, from cold and rain; and, the first moment that the sun may shine, bright as the sun itself, ‘tis out again!”
Gareth Nurden admired an early riser in Newport, Wales.
Welsh valley breeze
daffodils spring
in and out of sunrise
At his favorite pub in Newcastle, England, named for a swan with a pair of nicks cut into its beak, Ivan Georgiev crooned these lines: “I’m sitting alone by a window, and the sun is set, staring through an open door.”
in a pub the drinking song
there is always a way out--
Swan With Two Necks
Chin admired two swans.
shapes of hearts
the romance of swans
in the mist
Melissa Dennison paused by a river near Bradford, England.
sunset...
the arc of
the swan’s neck
Rick Beven couldn’t intervene in Deal, England.
Spring morning
two cock robins
fighting on a gravestone
Species depend on other species for food or pollination therefore, climate changes mean that to survive, entire ecosystems around the world are taking risks by moving out of their comfort zones, getting in sync with new weather patterns. Mauro Battini watched wintering birds lift the surface off a pond in Pisa, Italy.
leafless branches--
the duck takes flight
skimming the water
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The next issues of the Asahi Haikuist Network appear March 6 and 20. Readers are invited to send haiku for baseball or the vernal equinox on a postcard to David McMurray at the International University of Kagoshima, Sakanoue 8-34-1, Kagoshima, 891-0197, Japan, or e-mail to mcmurray@fka.att.ne.jp.
* * *
David McMurray has been writing the Asahi Haikuist Network column since April 1995, first for the Asahi Evening News. He is on the editorial board of the Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku, columnist for the Haiku International Association, and is editor of Teaching Assistance, a column in The Language Teacher of the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT).
McMurray is professor of intercultural studies at The International University of Kagoshima where he lectures on international haiku. At the Graduate School he supervises students who research haiku. He is a correspondent school teacher of Haiku in English for the Asahi Culture Center in Tokyo.
McMurray judges haiku contests organized by The International University of Kagoshima, Ito En Oi Ocha, Asahi Culture Center, Matsuyama City, Polish Haiku Association, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Seinan Jo Gakuin University, and Only One Tree.
McMurray’s award-winning books include: “Teaching and Learning Haiku in English” (2022); “Only One Tree Haiku, Music & Metaphor” (2015); “Canada Project Collected Essays & Poems” Vols. 1-8 (2013); and “Haiku in English as a Japanese Language” (2003).
