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Haiku by Sayumi Kamakura

For the ancient stone Queen  
in the distance--  
a crown of roses Even at night
  the waterwheel working--
  someone I’m eager to see
Most treasured is  
its thin darkness:  
the precious box Summer is over--
  white clouds kept
  in a drawer
Hoisting a sunflower  
the blue sky ceaselessly  
wanders Being immature
  raindrops crouching
  on the ground
For the galaxy  
deep in your eyes--  
this unrequited love My temples
  flooded in loneliness:
  O kiss them, please
For whom the spring?  
a vast arch  
forms We shall cross water
  we shall pass mountains
  before reaching “hope”

 

Sayumi Kamakura was born in Kochi Prefecture, Japan, in 1953. She began composing haiku while a student at Saitama University and studied haiku under the guidance of Toshiro Nomura and Sho Hayashi.

In 1983, she won the Oki Sango Prize. The lyrical style of her haiku drew the attention of Toru Haga and Tohta Kaneko. In 1998 she established the international haiku quarterly Ginyu (Troubadour) with Ban'ya Natsuishi, and has been its Editor since that time.

She is also a member of the Modern Haiku Association. She has been expressing a woman's view, captured with fine sensitivity, in her haiku. In 2001, she won the Modern Haiku Association Prize.

Her published haiku collections include: Jun (Moisture, 1984), Mizu no Jujika (Water Cross, 1987), Tenmado Kara (From the Skylight, 1992), Kamakura Sayumi Kushu (Haiku of Sayumi Kamakura, 1998), Hashireba Haru (Running, It's Spring, 2001). She co-authored Gengai Haiku Panorama (1994), Gendai Haiku Handbook (1995), Gendai Haiku Shusei Zen 1 Kan (Contemporary Haiku Anthology in One Volume, 1996), etc. She also published, in both Japanese and English, A Singing Blue: 50 Selected Haiku (2000).


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