On packed ice 
         some fresh snow -
         Cool March

one day
after vernal equinox -
joyful spring

melting spring
inside my shoes -
vernal equinox

during last night
one broken icicle -
a roofquake

Finnish variation is found here:
http://juhanitikkanen.blogspot.com/2011/03/piharakennuksen-katolle-syntyi-kevaan.html

reflected
radiation from our old
waxing moon

I visited Helsinki 15th March. It was a bright sunny day. Listened from radio about Fukushima Nr1, Nr2, Nr3, and now also Nr4.

bright sunrays -
we should stay
indoors

Camera, my old Canon Pocket,
Data for this:
Shooting Date/Time: 15.3.2011 16:17:23
Shooting Mode Auto
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/1600
Av( Aperture Value ) 5.6
ISO Speed: Auto

seaquakes
moved Japan
two meters westwards

(Some sources said four meters.)

Picture copyrighted by U.S. Geological Survey March 13.2011

After this "seaquake" also Fukushima's nuclear Power Station is "out of order".

Fukushima I one of the 25 largest nuclear power stations in the world.

Fukushima reactors for units 1, 2, and 6 were supplied by General Electric.

Tsunami -
radioactivated
spring breeze

global warming
+9 meter sea level -
Japan's tsunami +10 meter


There is said that if, or when, all the antarctic ices melt the sea level will rise plus nine meters? (abt 30 feet.)

       resting 
       a while - 
       safe parking

chilly morning
a frozen sky
not breathing

Very cold nights here in Turku. - 20 - 24 Celcius. Traveling today by train to Jyväskylä; being 45 minutes late due to some problems. I'm not in a hurry, going to visit the cafe soon!

     Lost spring --
     some of the snowy trees 
     waiting the sun

1. Day

though
a sunny day
an old icicle
not going to melt
yet


2. Night

midwinter --
on the white snow
a frozen star


p.s.
15th morning a record temperature here in Turku during this winter: - 24 Celcius.
Outside. Inside + 20 C.

3. bonus

A cold night --
whose turn to make tea
this morning?

1.

snowy road
dim sunlight
overspeeding


2.

on snowy treetop
neither of the magpies
says anything

passing rapidly
our window -
snowflakes

midwinter -
on the icy road
a starving snowflake

February - 
on the snowy road 
sky's shadowing

Finnish roads got many internet-cameras. I check from those how the world looks like. Online here.

Main page: http://alk.tiehallinto.fi/alk/frames/kelikamerat-frame.html

    sooner or later 
    the spring is coming -- 
       is it?

Today we had a short walk by the Turku Art Museum. There is a small V. I. Lenin's statue. He is heading his eyes eastwards, down to the market place and over the River Aura. It is about seven hours trip by train from Turku to St. Petersburg, ex. Leningrad.

       Comrades ! 
       Let's all head 
       eastwards!

See also my Finnish blog:

http://juhanitikkanen.blogspot.com/2011/01/kaytiin-paivakavelylla-taidemuseon-maen.html
Three liner in my Finnish blog is something like this:

   from pure white snow 
   rising 
   Lenin's bare head

    old steamer -- 
    snowgulls 
    still overwintering?

Sleepy snowy winds

Yesterday I visited Helsinki again, this time by an Express Bus. Two hours sitting. Tried to read some haiku; slightly the misty morning woke up into a dim light. Mist. Soft.

        misty morning -- 
        snowy winds 
        still sleeping



   sleepy wind --
   slightly warmer day 
   for the forest

I visited Helsinki and returned yesterday. The train arrived as planned by the Time Table. This time. Turku is westwards from Helsinki.

     To the west!
     Red light 
     disagrees

parking lot
filled with
snow-capped cars

(Published today in Taro Kunugi's Facebook as my comment.)

This weekend we have got some rain. Plain water. +2 Celcius. This winter's beginning so early (in November already!)was one of the coldest I do remember. And usually winter begins here in January, (as today), and February is the usually the coldest month. (In March the sun is getting higher and is able to warm during lenghtenig daytime.) Let's see what is going on in near future.

Here is my own car:

    A happy car 
    sheltered by soft snow --
    peaceful January!

smoke from chimneys --
global warming theories
cancelled?

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