Haiku for National Haiku Writing Month – February 2024 Second Half

National Haiku Writing Month has been founded by the well known haiku poet Michael Dylan Welch. The goal is to write at least one haiku a day. National Haiku Writing Month is in its 14th year. [1] I enjoy writing to the prompts on Facebook. Here are some interesting links: [2]. The prompter for Febuary 2024 is Michael Dylan Welch (founder of NaHaiWriMo) himself, who has provided prompts every February since the first month was held in 2011.

細草微風岸，危檣獨夜舟。
星垂平野闊，月湧大江流。
旅夜書懷。
杜甫。
The wind brushes the grass on the bank,
The mast of the boat rises into the night.
The stars hang down far into the plain,
The moon sways in the rushing river.
On board at night and reading
Du Fu [3]

decelerating
with every leap year
just a little bit
~ leap year

not the plaster
on the scraped knee
mother's words heal
~ empathy

echoes of silence
rolling off the walls
grateful to hear them
~ gratitude

ukubhala mayelana
ukubhala nokuhumushela esizulu
ingabe i-haiku?
~ Zulu [4]

writing about
writing and translating into zulu
is it a haiku?
~ Zulu

erasing
yankee go home
please go to vote
~ Yankee

she's strolling
along the boardwalk
with her X-Ray
~ X-Ray

clouds drifting east
whiskey in the jar
cat around my leg
~ Whiskey

the victor's wreath
is green or golden
but death is black
~ Victor

blue irises
standing in uniform
save a white one
~ Uniform

helsinki
and buenos aires
dancing tango
~ Tango

without gold
across the Sierra Madre
but much happier
~ Sierra

two crocuses
blooming united
on Verona's soil
~ Romeo

two crocuses
united in love
Verona
~ Romeo

two crocuses
united in love
my garden - Verona
~ Romeo

polar bears
aren't fond of jacuzzis –
and global warming
~ Quebec

reminiscing
dad as a rolling stone
now gathering moss
~ Papa

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://www.facebook.com/NaHaiWriMo National Haiku Writing Month
[2] „To help with haiku fundamentals, please have a look at "Becoming a Haiku Poet" at https://www.graceguts.com/essays/becoming-a-haiku-poet. And please review the "Haiku Checklist" at https://www.graceguts.comessays/haiku-checklist.
[3] Du Fu (杜甫) lived from 712-770 and is one of the greatest poets of the Tang period [along with Li Bo (李白)]. 39 of his poems have been included in the anthology 300 Poems of the Tang Period (唐詩三百首). 18 volumes of his poems have been preserved in the compilation Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty (全唐詩). The poem (here the first half of it) dates from the year 765. Du Fu has already been in poor health (including malaria) and traveled on a boat with his family from Chengdu (成都) to the Yangtze River (correct: Chang Jiang 長江/长江) downwards.
[4] The haiku is in Zulu (automatic translation).

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