Haiku by Takano Mutsuo (高野ムツオ)

plum flowers
every single one
radioactive

梅一輪一輪ずつの放射能

I wish I had
a telescope that could see
the autumn wind

秋風の見える望遠鏡が欲し

Tanka by Okada Miyuki (岡田美幸)

They ran away
from a tower
called school
Shortcut
Rapunzels

学校という名の塔から逃げ出したショートカットのラプンツェルたち

Wanting to be a genius
the science kid
built a robot
and named it
after his mother

天才になりたい理系の少年がロボット作り母の名つけた

Melon bread
does not contain
melon juice
Reading a novel
I can’t shed tears

メロンパンメロン果汁は含まない小説読んで涙できない

NOTE: These poems originally appeared in the Japanese literary anthology Musica, vol. 2 (2015).

living together
with a single goldfish
raining in Ginza

いっぴきの金魚と暮らす銀座に雨

old scarecrow
crying out something
in the wind

案山子翁何か叫びぬ風の中

NOTE: Haiku taken from the Gendai Haiku Association Database (http://www.haiku-data.jp/).