Poetry for Lake Whatchamacallit
| Sep 2, 2026, 9:09 PM (23 hours ago) | |||
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Haiku published in the #AsahiHaikuistNetwork fit the vibe of the moment for readers.
ASAHI HAIKUIST IS CALLING FOR HAIKU RELATED TO THE NAMES OF LAKES, GULFS, OR SEAS to be published here,
https://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/s
in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper that shares cultural insights from around the globe
in all seasons 
, here, https://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/a
Thank you,
David McMurray
ASAHI HAIKUIST NETWORK/ David McMurray
September 4, 2026 at 08:00 JST
(Illustration by Mitsuaki Kojima)
rising tide--fish gather round glowing candle lanterns
--Doc Sunday (Hiroshima)
* * *
blood moon
one voice lifts
then another
--Sandip Chauhan (Great Falls, Virginia)
* * *
harvest hour
beggar’s tribal dance in the market--
his bowl overflows
--Justice Joseph Prah (Accra, Ghana)
* * *
dancing
with myself
solo chain poem
--Jerome Berglund (New Orleans, Louisiana)
* * *
Called you up
cheeks rosed by sake
magnolias
--Murasaki Sagano (Tokyo)
* * *
practicing our foxtrot,
my intended
turns her ankle
--Noel King (Tralee, Ireland)
* * *
unfinished dance
a thread from her
skirt on his guitar
--Laila Brahmbhatt (New York City)
* * *
second-hand guitar
a tomato picker’s song
about bony fingers
--Randy Brooks (Taylorville, Illinois)
* * *
faint blue smoke
from Nana’s “Cameo Lights”
lapis lazuli brooch
--Lee Nash (Poitou-Charentes, France)
* * *
Tall grasses
With a whisper from the wind
Dance in unison
--Anne Marie McHarg (London, England)
------------------------------
FROM THE NOTEBOOK
------------------------------
Dancing fools,
why not celebrate life?
Sano’s Shinrikyo
--Junko Saeki (Tokyo)
The haikuist used the literary technique of apostrophe to conjure Sano Tsunehiko (1834-1906), founder of a religious sect of priests who officiate at ceremonies such as weddings, festivals and the sale of fortune-telling papers. It seemed like yesterday to Helga Stania, when she “studied in Bonn and met the barrel organ player” on her way to market. Angela Giordano played in Avigliano, Italy.
ballads
from the barrel organ…
I was so young
* * *
a barrel organ--
we dance and sing
the tarantella
A lover gently bypassed Dorota Kasparewicz’s emotional walls in Szczecin, Poland. Ugur Olgar was tempted to go skinny-dipping like a naturist in the Goksu River that flows to the Mediterranean Sea. AJ Johnson admired wildflowers in Stephens City, Virginia. Hoping to join in the fun, Daniela Misso peered into undine-filled Vera River that meanders through shade trees in Assergi, Italy.
evening of love--
her fingertips lightly touch
the chambers of my heart
* * *
river dancing
a barefoot ripple
touches the bank
* * *
dry pond
the banks brim
with daisies
* * *
Laughter…
on the water’s surface
tiny bubbles
At a recording studio in Ankara, Turkey, Guliz Mutlu explored the meaning of not being. In a soulful mood, Minko Tanev reflected in Sofia, Bulgaria.
blue sky tea is poured
jazzman laughing in the booth
why-not-ness in bloom
* * *
midnight blues
silhouettes in love
dance on walls
Sagano ascended a steep staircase leading to the Shinto god of water, enshrined since ancient times in Kyoto. John Stephens clambered up a stone staircase to reach a sanctuary.
wet stone steps
mountain water spirits pray
Kifune shrine
* * *
after school--
pony tails bounce up the steps
of Ise Grand Shrine
John Zheng in Itta Betta, Mississippi, slashed three words with virgules to make a scene happen all at once. The placement of the word light serves the double function of noun and adjective.
spring/light/breeze brushes across bluebells
In Zagreb, Croatia, Amir Kapetanovic extinguished the lights when day turned into night. Nicoletta Ignatti was silenced by soft, steady hissing musical sounds in Castellana Grotte, Italy.
through a dark grove…
firefly trails in a clash
quench the dusk
* * *
white noise
water among the rocks…
night song
Embracing silence between words connotes the Japanese concept of pausing (ma); for Giuliana Ravaglia it meant hesitating all night long in Bologna, Italy.
yet it remains
an empty space
between the words
* * *
night of waiting…
in the fading dawn
the harsh rhythm of illusions
Tejendra Sherchan’s courtyard in Kathmandu, Nepal, was covered in fragrant blossoms that open for just one night.
her fertility
night jasmines fall
all night
Hungry for a quick bite in Kuching, Malaysia, the first place that came to Christina Chin’s mind was a sushi bar. Archie G. Carlos walked into a snack bar, “where an old man comments on my Guernica t-shirt. And soon the stories come flowing.”
the bar
goes round and round
sushi rolls
* * *
full moon
stuffed with old Basque tales
over pintxos
In Santa Fe, New Mexico, Matt Surprise introduced himself by describing humanity. Olivier-Gabriel Humbert paused between sips at a party in Les Avenieres Veyrins-Thuellin, France.
At times destructive
Resilient but sometimes soar
Are we not beetles
* * *
cocktails with friends--
a tiny water nymph
clings to my straw
Sagano went to the theater to watch a musical. Robert Kania entered an opera house in Warsaw, Poland.
Shibuya crowd
sits up straight on opening night
“At the End of the Day”
* * *
Song to the Moon
I see a water nymph
at the opera
Sitting cheek by jowl, Tuyet Van Do spilled red wine in Melbourne, Australia. Head cocked to one side, Nash described tonight’s last quarter moon phase. Boryana Boteva was lulled to sleep in Sofia, Bulgaria.
starry night
a bottle of shiraz
overflows our hearts
* * *
half moon
at a jaunty angle--
I’m tipsy too
* * *
wheat harvest
merging with the summer heat
maidens’ songs
Slobodan Pupovac slept comfortably on a feather pillow in Zagreb, Croatia.
starry sky in the stork’s nest the moon rests
Living in seismically calm Belgrade, Serbia, Divna Vuksanovic imagined spending an evening on the active Ring of Fire in Sakurajima, Kagoshima Prefecture. Visiting from Ochten, the Netherlands, S.T. Hills noticed fruit offerings alongside coins on a haiku-engraved stone monument.
Summer night
lava from the volcano
melting stars
* * *
memorial shrine
monkey observes banana
samurai’s tribute
Joanna Ashwell posed like a ballerina in Barnard Castle, England. Mutlu danced up a sweat.
rain or shine
these tiptoes
dance anywhere
* * *
silver gardenia
dancing on the lake
hot season gleams
Submerged, Vasile Moldovan observed this surreal movement in Bucharest, Romania.
waterfall flowing
from the depths toward the surface...
spirit of the waters
Lori Kiefer was comforted by twinkling string lights in London, England. A beetle on Laurinda Lind’s computer in Sackets Harbor, New York, “seemed like he kept trying to crawl under the plastic display bezel.” Nani Mariani was stumped in Melbourne, Australia.
campsite...
from mum’s tent to ours
fairy lights
* * *
laptop screen
not that kind of window…
beetle keeps trying
* * *
child’s question
why do beetles buzz?
i opened Google
Stephen J. DeGuire placed a bet in Los Angeles, California. James Penha interpreted the meaning of a faint ticking sound from inside a stand of timber in Bali, Indonesia.
mandibles
or horns win the day
beetle sumo
* * *
deathwatch beetles
drum wood with their heads to woo--
not to augur doom
Urszula Marciniak smiled knowingly at a love quadrangle in Lodz, Poland. Stoianka Boianova heard love calling in Sofia, Bulgaria. Jessica Allyson quickly put away her gardening tools in Ottawa, Ontario. “From a fiery hot Italy,” Ravaglia contrasted reality with illusion.
two stag beetles fighting
the third male embracing
the female
* * *
golden beetle
in the heart of a rose
a buzzing flower
* * *
rolls of thunder
the beetles burrow into
the new roses
* * *
champagne and roses--
in the slow air
his hands of salt
Picking “every day a rose for her,” Zdenka Mlinar described romance in Zagreb, Croatia. Gordana Vlasic feigned doubt in Oroslavje, Croatia. Mauro Battini’s garden lay bare in Santa Croce sull’Arno, Italy.
just the coast
the sea and the two of them
the dolphin dance
* * *
romance--
is a rose
enough
* * *
on the first date
twenty-five red roses
picked in vain
Charlie Smith and his best friend Wendy walked at dusk in drought-stricken Raleigh, North Carolina. Mutlu beheld a magnificent moonrise. Jacek Margolak’s mouth was parched with stardust in Kielce, Poland. Lilia Racheva sparkled last night in Rousse, Bulgaria.
brutal heat
fireflies, dogs, and people wait
late moonrise
* * *
stag beetle
antlers of midnight
lifting the moon
* * *
empty well
the bucket returns
full of stars
* * *
blue-green beetle wings,
sparkle on old jewelry
a new beginning
Aching in Ajax, Ontario, Chen-ou Liu aligned his back toward the glow of the Milky Way and began rolling. Timothy Daly strolled through Fountainebleau, France. Melissa Dennison prefers dancers to chiropractors in Bradford, England.
stiff joints again...
the upturned dung beetle
flailing its legs
* * *
my only real friends
in that forest near Paris...
the dung beetles
* * *
flamenco--
the click beetle’s
curved spine
Subhash Roy Choudhury watched Cockroach People’s Party demonstrators late at night near an 18th-century astronomical observatory in New Delhi, India. On her toes in Newcastle, Australia, Jennifer Smyth-Davey expressed the feeling of “regret that is always part of combat--Pyrrhic victory.” Tony Williams was suddenly “surrounded en masse” in Glasgow, Scotland.
Jantar Mantar, 3 am--
cockroach tests the darkness
and finds a way through
* * *
Quick-witted cockroach
dodging my relentless shoe
crunch but no winners
* * *
dozens of beetles
on the forest floor…
I stand on only one
Amir Kapetanovic admired flowers at the Institute of Croatian Language in Zagreb, Croatia.
stifling summer--
white geraniums
freezing the pupils
Elizabeth Moura listened to the words of American folk artist Goebel Reeves in East Taunton, Massachusetts.
Hobo’s lullaby
crickets in the freight yard
remind him of home
Ignatti listened to a violin-like evening vigil. Hifsa Ashraf stood watch in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
armor laid aside--
the cricket songs
smell of rust
* * *
candlelight vigil
flicker in the eyes
blue flames
In Phoenix, Arizona, John Daleiden whispered “See Saw Margery Daw, Johnny shall have a new master.” A variant alludes to mythical mischievous fairies of British folklore: “Sold her bed and lay on the straw; Sold her bed and lay upon hay; and pixie came and carried her away.” Damir Damir tried to hold on a little longer in Kotor, Montenegro.
Oh, the games
world leaders play--
see-saw Marjorie Daw
* * *
a few more hours of summer:
the sea is tired,
the sea is salty
“Honestly speaking,” admitted Ashoka Weerakkody, “quiet moments and unadulterated traditional Sri Lankan singing voices” are captivating. The haikuist is neither a fan of electronically produced sounds nor noisy streets in Colombo. High-pitched falsetto notes were originally perceived by Italian opera purists to be artificial. In Toronto, Ontario, Marshall Hryciuk listened until “al niente.”
fake notes
blended with genuine silence
synthesized music
* * *
wavering cardinal song
fades
into false dawn
Listening to folk music in Northern Luzon, Philippines, Anthony Q. Rabang commemorated the 40th anniversary of a peaceful uprising that ended a dictatorship.
moon almost full
cathedral bell tolls
people power
Reading “The Thousand and One Nights” stories, Sagano learned that guests were often executed because of a king’s misuse of power and traps set by a genie.
they did guests proud
those who disappeared
Arabian Nights
Envisaged as an Arabian nights story in a Western world setting, Daleiden’s haiku conjures “Salome, Where She Danced,” a 1945 film about a town named after a dance-hall performer who entranced outlaws.
heat distorted
the mesquite dance--
Salome
Mike Fainzilber interpreted a dream, considered consequences and will meditate before Rosh Hashanah, which falls this year on Sept. 11 in Tel Aviv, Israel.
the hostage’s wife
their nightly appointment
her first dream
* * *
all his vows
a ring
of bright water
* * *
all the crannies
in the Wall
his unread confession
Isabella Kramer danced for joy in Nienhagen, Germany. Lakshmi Iyer spun around until she got dizzy in Kerala, India
round and round
the puppy jumps
leaves tumble
* * *
buzzzzz…
our granddaughter runs
around the house
At the end of a long day, Joseph Elliott turned out the office lights in Kingston, Ontario. Morgan Ophir imagined the thoughts of a Tokyoite who didn’t get home last night.
beaver moon
all the work
I didn’t notice
* * *
metro station floor
salaryman dreams
of his first peach
Seyed Edris Hosseini prepared for bed in Shiraz, Iran. Ophir turned off a reading lamp in Sydney, Australia.
midnight toothbrushing
on the mirror--
a small beetle
* * *
separate bedrooms
a soft peach
has become a stone
Ivan Georgiev passed gas in Gottingen, Germany.
her apology--
gas bubbles are found even
in gemstones
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Shall we dance at http://www.asahi.com/ajw/special/haiku/. The next issue of the Asahi Haikuist Network appears Sept. 18. Readers are invited to write a haiku using caesura punctuation to silence a moment in autumn, 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).
