< Any Subject Will Do for Haiku >

Let's now get back to our subject of haiku. Haiku helped me observe affairs in my life objectively including my involvement in fugu poison.
Anything can be a good subject for haiku. This is what I learned through years of haiku practice. I want you, mY readers to be always alert for little things around you and appreciate them. I may dare say that haiku poems are not haiku in the true sense of the world which you cannot make unless you visit some scenic spots.

Some fifteen to sixteen years ago a little girl named Michiru Yonekura published a small book that stored her haiku poems she made since she was seven years old. Today she is a mother of two children and continues to make haiku in her busy life. Let me introduce some haiku poems from her publication:

tanzen no uekara tataku chichi no kata<	over padded kimono fists patting father's shoulders
suisen ni ottemo iika to kiite miru	daffodils ottemo iika to to break its stem
sanuku nari ume no mamagoto sinai keri	getting cold plums playlhouse kit put away
hakoniwa no go-jyu no to e michi ga nai	miniature garden five-story pagoda path missing
spittu wa suika no tame mo minna tabe	my spitz water melon and seeds ate them all
kiku ningyo- warumono mo mina hana o tsuke	chrysanthemum dolls bad people even flower decorated

　　　　　(source="Haiku Collection of Michiru, Elementary School Child")

The honest and tender feelings that appear in these haiku may not necessarily be altogether due to youth of seven to ten years of age:
she may owe the sensitivity to her genius. But I dare say that every one of us is gifted with more or less sensitivity.

Haiku practice helps discover and grow your sensitiveness which, in turn, enriches your heart and enlightens your observation.
Every one of these haiku picks up a routine Scene in life, Many of us simply overlook or ignore it as something insignificant.

We all live a busy life in a busy world, but haste is not all there is to it. From time to tine we need to stop and look about us. That gives us a moment of quietude of mind, when a haiku is born.