End of the year --
this freezing snow
fell in love to me?



Happy New Year!

I read my calendar and found that:

       eight minutes 
       longer day today --
       this dwindling year

21st Dec Sun from 9:22 to 15:14
29th Dec Sun from 9:23 to 15:21

This is here in Turku, 60 Degrees North, in Utsjoki (70 Degs North) not any sun at all.

Ice-lantern # 2

 
the day after Christmas -- 
pretty new snowflakes 
just born

inside 
ice-lanterns 
candles flicker

Merry and warm Christmas!

Not whistling,
suspicious bird,
just looking

A Happy Christmas for you!

winter solstice --
a dog barks at
the bright sky

       new snow 
       on the old one ...
       the sky's breath

One of my favorite lines in Ogura Hyakunin Isshu:
Poem Nr 15 L5: yuki wa furitsutsutsu. The whole waka (=tanka):

As I gather herbs
From this field in early spring,
Intending them for you,
The falling snow starts to gather
On the sleeve of my outstretched arm.

-- Emperor Kōkō

Also Ogura Poem Nr 4:
Yamabe no Akahito's waka in 'Turku-area-language'

In English:

As I venture out
Onto the shore at Tago Bay,
I see snow, pure white,
Falling now ever deeper
On Mount Fuji's lofty peak.

-- Yamabe no Akahito

English translations' copyright by

http://www.jlit.net/authors_works/premodern/hyakunin_isshu/poems_01-05.html#top

snowing
large flakes
as nothing else
to do


(Mr. Santoka wrote many two-liners, also as well as some four liners!)

Snoring # 3

December night
or this cloudy day --
snoring sun

shoveling snows --
an unfinished snowman
arguing

Snoring #2

Reading
Takuboku's poems --
a snoring sofa


(Ishikawa Takuboku 1886 - 1912, quite many translated in Finnish some years ago. Tried to read it again, but ... The language is not tankapoetry written in Finnish but some kind of raw-translations only. Otherwise Takuboku is an interesting poet, I think, anyway.)

 
Snoring car -- 
December snow 
silently all over

From the poem The Man with the Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens:

The sea drifts through the winter air.

It is the sea that the north wind makes.
The sea is in the falling snow.

This gloom is the darkness of the sea.

After a chilly night a chilly morning. When having my morning tea by the window I saw our squirrel. It seemed to seek something, food perhaps?

The snow is sheltering the soil; under the thick snow there is much warmer. But the snow is not so thick at all yet. Does the squirrel know it?

 
Chilly morning -- 
buried under warm snow 
squirrel´s supplies?

a clinky winter

Arctic cold reached us. Our weathermen are surprised. Seems to be a winter, just now, already, this early. But I do like how river is rapidly icing. Icing river is making some noise. Word clinking's etymology: Middle English clinken, probably from Middle Dutch, says Webster.

  
a chilly wind 
clinking 
in the river's ice

Radio Telegraphy

Finnish Radio Officers celebrated yesterday; our Union is 90 years old. Telegraphy is no more used commercially. I met many retired Radio Officers; returned from Helsinki with an old friend of mine. In the train's cafe he had one beer and I a small bottle of red wine.

We sailed on the high seas a while. I remembered my trip up to Canadian NWT:

 
         a message 
         from the northern icefields --
         drifting iceberg

All Saints' Day, All Hallows day

We are going to visit the graveyard today. Got a long-burning candle with us to put it there in my mom's grave. (My father still lives; he is 92 years.) Today is also the New Moon. So the nightly sky was somewhat empty, just a few star between some drifting clouds. I read some Santoka, and stopped by this one:

The frosty night's bed must be somewhere.

Translation's copyright by Hiroaki Sato.

      No-one 
      slept with you, 
      o chilly night?

In my notebook the first version was a two-liner:

         Calm autumn day -- 
         a candle

a crane having
one more frog --
a warm autumn

comment moderation on again, sorry

Due to unknown url into my comment (which I removed) I had to turn comment moderation on again. Sorry for that. Tikkis

juhani.tikkanen@gmail.com

(gmail got a good enough spam-filter)

 
no more leaves 
to fall down -- 
this windy autumn

Between me
and this autumn rain
one leaking umbrella

 
a nervous bench --
an undelivered 
snowfall

 
a squirrel
participating 
this hectic autumn

 
yellowed leaves 
going to move ... 
a ceased snowfall

Fallen leaves - Zen

This morning this express train from Turku to Helsinki is ten minutes late, as usual.
During the last winter due to lot of snow. Now lot of fallen leaves on the rail making those slippery.
Checked my Email - waiting a message; none yet.
Surfing and found following:

Zen and the Art of Poetry: An Interview with Jane Hirshfield
by Ilya Kaminsky and Katherine Towler


url: http://www.bu.edu/agni/interviews/online/2006/towler.html

                ten minutes late --
             a morning-train's zen 
                for the fallen leaves

      chilly night -- 
      so many happy leaves 
      landed safely

wherever I walk
the fallen leaves crowded
all the paths


Yellow leaves sailing
from the shore
to the open sea


These are from September 2010 Kukai
(Both none points...)

autumnal equinox
these lenghtened nights
also swelled


(Autumnal equinox was on 23rd September)

            migrated cranes --
            nightly sky so bright,
            so bright

As a comment in:

http://haikubanditsociety.blogspot.com/2010/09/september-2010-moon-viewing-party.html


This is one from the series I posted (migrating cranes) in my blog 22nd September. And September 23rd night was so bright!

http://juhanitikkanen.blogspot.com/2010/09/porukalla-on-mukavaa-muuttolentaa.html

      September field -- 
      from the forest 
      some fallen leaves

     Flying objects 
     and a rainy sky -- 
     my umbrella is ready 

      unknown sleeper 
      occupied the whole bench --
      a long autumn

Sketchbook

lingering heat --
hems of pine cone 
widely open

This text-section was in Sketchbook-August 2010:

http://poetrywriting.org/Sketchbook5-4JulAug2010/0_Contents_Sketchbook_5-4_JulyAugust_coolnessheat_Kukai_Results_.htm.

Photo's data 7th Aug. 2010: Canon EOS, 1/250, F/18, ISO 1600. Manual settings.

Through morning sun
sudden thunder
squalls

This I wrote as a comment into Fred Masarani's Facebook today:
evening fog--- / thunder and lighting / and my neighbor sings

After a very warm summer we have now a warm autumn, raining a lot. Today heard a sudden noise (thunder!), and after that a heavy rainshower.

waning August moon --
longing for
many warm memories

;-)

I wrote this a comment for
samuru999.blogspot

august afternoon --
two or three ravens
flying behind the trees

I wrote this a comment for
magyar-haiku.blogspotSee the text also there.

When visited my mother-in-law I followed what was happening in the forests. Somewhere near us was some ravens. Great birds, I think. But they eat carcasses, I think. There are many bears, but the bears are eating all kind of berries etc? Some wolves near that area but not exactly so near, so what those ravens ate?

A four-liner

so many haiku
in this world --
August moon passed
safely

Yesterday I visited Pori Jazz. Just a short visit. When returning home I stopped for a while. (Had nr one, you see I am an old man already!) Behind the trees the waxing moon was peeping.

     O waxing moon - 
     where are you coming from? 
     I'm going home.

Data: Canon Pocket camera, 1/30, F 4,3, ISO 400, Zoom 60 mm (=full)
Date: 21st July 2010 at 22:54 local time
Sky: somewhat hazy
Myself: Happy

Ps. A Finnish draft version here: click into my my Facebook

Sakuo´s birthday!

I sent this one for Nakamura Sakuo in his Facebook; it's his birthday today!

     unhurried -- 
     arriving somewhere 
     sometimes

       no-one 
       needing a dry path -- 
       the day off

         seeking 
         a calm place 
         for a short nap

          an eruption  
          of a sunny day -- 
          a short flowering

     TV antenna 
     is still full of fire -- 
     the football

Data: 1/200, F/3.2, ISO 200. date: 10th July 2010 at 23:08 local time.

washing
the sky --
an unsleepy rain

Liberté!

Liberté!
The toast
ready to be eaten.

(This was a comment for Bill's and also Marcel Peltier's blog...)

June 2010 Kukai

These were my texts in June 2010 Kukai:

    Freezing breeze -
    the nakedness
    of my old bones

That one I wrote when visited Lappland at June 2010. It was a northeasterly strong wind and temperature was something like +2 Degrees Celcius. (35 F I think?)
In the middle of the night I had a mission for a number one. Went out with just a thin shirt and thin trousers on me, without socks. (That cottage doesn't have a WC inside.)

Kigo subject was Nakedness. That was just what I felt.

Following one is Free Format Theme: Children

    proudly watching
    childrens' first flight -
    a mother-crow

I can hear the mosquitoes
but it does not mean
that we are close friends

sibilant grass
the sun's light
passing by

father planting
new violets
on his son's grave

(From Caribbean Kigo Kukai, June 2010)


silent walk ...
he doesn't hear
what I'm saying

(From my comment in Bill's blog.)

Midsummer Day , afterwards

funny night --
I and the sun
still fully awake

Here in Turku - 60 degs North - the sun is up from 3.57 to 22.48 o'clock. In Utsjoki - 70 degs North - from 17th May to 28th July.

I'm again at Turku.

Ps. also it was the Full moon last night; whick one did I celebrated with??

     From which waters 
     this particular flow 
     is a summary of?

an echo
in the middle of the short night --
the sun is snoring

Summer solstice --
just after six months
Santa Claus is coming!

rainy day ...
a good reason
to stay inside

Turned their backs

Follow-me-not?
This short summer
just begun.

An empty coffee cup

black-and-white
road homewards --
emptied coffee cup

My car watching for
the same looking stones --
a pitiful tourist

     I'm not leaving ... 
     my sweet 
     homeland

Norwegian series

homewards --
to the right
the land of mosquitoes

One variation

Every day
in the sky
some newborn clouds

Sávjápahta series

On the hill
also today new rocks,
a new tree

#1

an old man coughing --
a sound
from olden times

#2

reached the hilltop --
found many new
clouds

Savjápahta series

Savjápahta (Lappish, meaning The Holy Hill or something like it.)

#1

a windy day --
fresh reindeer's shit
on the path


#2

below the hill
some boulders
on the top, boulders


#3


across the path
a small brook
otherwise silent

69.33 North, 25.53 East

I'm going stay here next two weeks. Internet once or twice a week.
This river is Teno. Deatnu in Lappish. (= Big River)

     Also the sunrays 
     flowing northwards -- 
     The Big River

you too 
on your vacation -- 
peace on the road

    long legged 
    flying object 
    seeking the sun

     O water grass,
     how icy it was,
     the last winter? 

- I suppose those are not any watergrasses, but they anyway seemingly thrive in the cold lake-water.

Celebrated my mother-in-law's 85 years. Staying here in Ilomantsi one week. Some noisy birds. Windy but warm weather.

     windy moon 
     traveling behind 
     the thin clouds 

      the spring train 
      not arriving  
      as scheduled?

     a retired man 
     fitting the sunglasses -- 
     entering summer

This was my comment for Bill 12th May 2010. And if some-one will ask I'm that retired man!

     Bankers' crisis -- 
     eight-petalled anemone 
     blooming it's best

Reminded me the following waka:

The eight-petalled cherries
From the Nara capital
Of the ancient past
Today nine layers thick
Have bloomed within our court!

(Ise no Tayuu, tr. by Joshua S. Mostow from
PICTURES OF THE HEART
The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image,
Honolulu 1996.)

ps.
(Bankers crisis; The Creeks lived beyond one's means, now the other European countries are helping them, also Finland.)

Oops, it's Mother's Day

# 1

A noisy morning --
capsized coffee cup
in her bed



# 2

Mother's Day's drizzle
watering
the wood anemones



ps.
her coffee cup in the middle

Post # 765

When last time in Helsinki I took the metro from Siltasaari downd to Ruoholahti. When rised up from The Ruoholahti Station of the Metro, I found a group of parked bicycles, bright colored. & a sunny day.

   
     menopause -- 
     the bicycles 
     appealing to ride

I checked with my wife the word "menopause" as a kigo, - An autumn, September, perhaps October, she said.
- And the males got also those, she said.

I looked my bicycle; waiting for me in slight drizzle.

     mayday!
     

Original Ezra Pound's 1913 poem "In a Station of the Metro":

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

     a departing ship 
     joining with the sky 
     and the sea

waxing moon
sailing in the sky --
sleepless night

     sunshine 
     from the left -- 
     paved history 

              not allowed 
              to take off just now --
              closed air space

Volcanic eruption in Iceland

Finland's airspace, as widely in Europe, is today closed due to volcanic ash-clouds drifting all over. That ash is dangerous for jet motors...

a silent sky --
a dim view of the sun 
through the ashy clouds

Camera Model Name: PENTAX Optio 33WR
Shooting Date/Time: 16.4.2010 13:40
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/1250
Av( Aperture Value ): 6.9

       Found an airworthy 
       nesting place,
       this hurly mergenser?

(The bird: Mergus mergenser)

   Snow spider 
   on winter's last day
   resting a while

We found this spider yesterday on the snow. My wife said she will save this spider and was intended to do it (?!). (She is fond of spiders.) But this spider continued his trip. (Or her.) Where to; no idea. Still snow all over. But melting, as you can see. Snow-spiders nesting somewhere?

One spider from Issa, year 1805

mai-mai ya asu naki haru wo kao wo somete

       water spider
       on spring's last day
       blushing

Translated by David G. Lanoue

also
those clouds
heading northwards

vernal equinox --
South African nights
lengthening a bit

true spring - series #2 - 3

true spring - series # 2

  melting snow --
  wet puddles 
  behind the gate 

true spring - series # 3

  a chilly night -- 
  all the puddles 
  icemirrored 

true spring - series # 1

  some snow, then sleet, 
  melting, freezes again --
  a true spring

When returned from Tampere I saw a snowblower cleaning a snowy road in the countryside.

   a snowblower 
   spreading snowseeds
   on the old snowbank

sorry being busy

Sorry not being active here.
Visited Helsinki, today at Tampere, tomorrow I'll take a ferry to Stockholm. But next week?

     resting awhile -- 
     the deepest quiddity 
     of the snow