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Haiku in English by Hungarian Poets

Haiku Poetry in Hungary by Judit Vihar

Focus on Hungary. Haiku by Szilvia Auth, Károlyiné Baka Gyöngyi, Ferenc Bakos, József Balogh, Zoltán Csíkzsögödi Szabó, János Csokits, Marcell Domonkos, Csaba Fecske, Miklós Fucskó, Katalin Harcos, Ödön Horváth, Béla Jánky, János Kurszán Kántor, János Karsai, András Ferenc Kovács, Vincze Lucskai, Hajnalka Sánta, László Sárközi, Klára Siklósi Horváth, Sándor Szúnyogh, Attila Török, József Utassy, László Valyon, Judith Vihar , Sándor Weöres (all haiku in the selection translated by Anatoly Kudryavitsky); Haiku Poetry in Hungary by Judit Vihar > in: Shamrock - Haiku Journal of the Irish Haiku Society. No. 16. [2010]

Auth Szilvia (1979-)

motionlessness and
frozen twilight-shadows -
broken trees on knees

looking you in the
summer, our silent dreams
hyperventillation

 

Bakos Ferenc (1946-)
http://www.poetrylives.com/SimplyHaiku/SHv4n2/haibun/Ferenc.html
http://www.poetrylives.com/SimplyHaiku/SHv5n1/haibun/Bakos.html
http://www.thehaikufoundation.org/resources/poet-details/?IDclient=223
http://lishanu.com/02/haiku/bakos.htm

First skating -
the tranquillity
of a calligraphy

Desert wind -
looking at my boots
as human beings

letters came -
today I watch the sunset
through the shutters

Ancient tombs
in the desert -
scarabs everywhere
Included in Haiku World, by William J. Higginson, Kodansha, 1996

Our mother's catafalque-
May bright sunshine,
warbling of birds

Chestnut petals
on the windscreen - stowaway:
a ladybird

Oyster-field:
Michelangelo's David
selecting shells.

Amidst stronghold walls
a green foliage islet:
execution-yard

Evening watering -
its thousand tongues
boxwood clicking

Clouds of June:
isn't even the eagle's flying
boundless?

Evening swimming -
setting, rising
solar disc

Comet-viewing...
next time
in three thousand years

In autumn lake's mirror
two swimmers -
a light-year between them

Sailing boat
moored by a shining
gossamer thread
Kusamakura Contest, 2000, Honorable Mention

Somehow recall,
these tiny grains of kiwi,
my dead mother

Rising moon shadow -
heart-throb, hark!
of the scarecrow

Autumn fly:
easy to catch,
easy to let go.

Dusk, rain again -
a soaked urchin disappears
in the radish bed

Jewish cemetery -
motionless stones,
soundless birds

First autumn frost:
on my widower father's stair
a numb wasp

Heap of white
in lap of pine, gee!
snow-nest for snow-birds

Next door prayer -
I pause whilst
typing haiku

Christmas skating
till the sky lights up
with the first star

In the Old Year,
all New Year's Day, too:
snow-shovelling!

My pipe-smoke
with blue autumn haze
in contest

across the highway
"sleeping policeman" - of
acacia petals

expiatory mass
two altar-boys
two yawns

being lost
among cherry blossoms—
white butterfly

autumn dusk
in my boots' depths
a lone ladybug

old cherry tree:
knotty branches embrace
full-bosomed moon
Mainichi Haiku Contest, 2009, second prize

ginko walk
unworn shoes of my father
died a year ago
World Haiku Festival Pécs 2010, 2nd prize

by moonlight
perky mud stains
on a girl's cyclamen tights
Mainichi Haiku Contest 2010, Honorable Mention

 

Balás Márk (1978-)

Spring

March's chill
warming your hands
in my pocket

March snow
dove leaving behind
a line of footprints

Summer

summer moon
sweet softness on my lips:
kissing your chin

summer night
warmth of the day
on your skin

hills sinking
into darkness
summer dusk

after storm
torn clouds on the sky
a rainbow

Autumn

silky hair curling
among my fingers
fragrance of walnut

Gray light of the air
The heavyness of autumn
deepens and deepens

autumn wind playing
with sweet memories of you
sudden kiss of mist

pink sky
blue leaves of grape
glowing

sunset behind
darkening hills
autumn comes

blue sky
wet grass glitters
in brown patches

gray sky
small raindrops
of autumn

midnight fog
scent of burning wood
chill of October

pearls of dew
on the garden seat -
autumn morning

our last chance to talk:
leaves and horsechestnut cracking
under my shoes

scent of dry leaves
in the air
autumn evening

leaving the forest
fragrance of autumn
remains in my coat

Winter

Softness of first snow
sleeping with a toy bunny
many years ago

children laughing
among trees standing
in frozen ponds

above the garden
small piece of black sky
and the Orion

small lights blinking:
candles
of the cementery

red rays
through the web
of dry branches

everything white
but the magpie's wing
winter forest

winter sun
an icicle
dripping

all day - all night
in the morning
still snowing

blue sky
gentle sunbeams warming
my wintercoat

 

Bíró József (1951-)

On the ice of the lake … virgin - snow
… on the hole-wound - on the cat-ice … image …
: WINGFAILURE OF GULLS

"World Haiku 2010 No.6", p.12.

HERITAGE OF KOREA

shad' - grown - SOUTH ... weeps
... grieves the ... NORTH ... : tear' - ...
- dew' ... : lightening up

 

Fábián László (1940-)

Milton-haiku

to Canaan lead -
from shadowy types to truth -
to world's wilderness

Pound-haiku

as transient things:
let the gods speak - sunless cliffs -
in days hereafter

 

Feldmár András (Andrew Feldmar, 1940-)

evocation 23

Alchemist of colour:
Blue bird of Paradise,
gift of red to green.

Dark attraction,
virility set on fire -
to penetrate flesh?

Acrobatic splendour,
breathless balance poised:
all for one; one for all.

Bride of Spring,
birthing gift of exploding beauty:
end all confinements!

Will to live, feathers from earth:
wind's lover,
poised to multiply.

Peacock's tail to dazzle,
rainbow's display to attract:
sex is social.

Eros is glue:
every curlicue
is geared to increase connection.

Like potters repeat perfection,
ecstatic petals
form loving cups.

Without the sun's self-immolating
generosity -
no colour.

Engorged penis, throbbing labia
never lie:
orgasm is laughter.

Machines assemble from parts,
life grows from one cell:
illusions abound.

Risk immodesty
going all out, way beyond comfort:
ejaculate!

Wrinkles don't hurt:
gentle desiccation;
pleasure in aging, think thanks!

Lips of flowering earth
suck the dew off
cock's crow in the breeze: daybreak.

Lilac snakes, blind babes,
fireworks of glamour:
earth reaching out to air.

Lace of dew, dawning hope,
educating tender petals -
future bound.

Immigrants from the womb,
homesick for flesh:
solace is sexual bliss.

Capillaries pump nutrients
to keep alive the flame:
passing forms.

Altar for butterflies,
silent drop of water:
blue eternity.

We live expecting something
to happen: this bud is a
sweet promise.

Waiting for salvation,
faith in the elements;
nothing is certain.

Return to where I've
never been: a dream?
Unbridled art of nature.

Angels or demons, beast or beauty?
Domesticated eyes,
miss signs.

 

Fodor Ákos (1945-)

"Haiku turns two people poets, just like love makes two people lovers. The author is neither a shaman, nor a rhetor or a surgeon. Nor is the reader inferior, enduring or inert. Meeting in this focus, they loosen and get loosen up, heal and get healed, and, as long as they so desire, become something of a Third nature. It is an ascetic form, a protean genre, vivid mentality that creates rather than consumes time and space. Those who can rejoin and touch each other even for a single haiku moment are blissful." (Ákos Fodor)

"Das Haiku macht zwei Menschen zu Dichtern, so wie die Liebe zwei Menschen zu Geliebten macht. Jener, der sie niederschreibt, ist kein Schamane, kein Rhetor, kein Chirurg; jener, der sie liest, ist nicht unterworfen, nicht passiv, kein Duldender. Sich in diesem Fokus treffend, schmelzen sie dahin, heilen und werden geheilt, und werden, so lange sie es auf sich nehmen, zu etwas Drittem. Eine asketische Form, proteisches Genre, lebendige Mentalität; schafft eher Zeit und Raum, als daß es sie wegnimmt. Glücklich sind die, die sich - wenn auch nur in einem einzigen Punkt des Haiku - treffen und berühren können." (Ákos Fodor)

 

WORKSHOP HAIKU
translated by Éva Antal

Perhaps do not even touch it.
Just look at it, look at it,
until it becomes beautiful.

 

TEST QUESTION FOR EVERY DAY
translated by Éva Antal

Do you still see
what you look at, or you only
know: "there" "it" "is"?

 

FROM THE BEST OF INTENTIONS
translated by Gábor G. Gyukics and Michael Castro

fall asleep;
die the same way a child
bites into an apple.

 

MEETING
translated by Gábor G. Gyukics and Michael Castro

I plan it as a farewell

 

THE HAIKU
translated by Tamás Révbíró

in front of my feet
a bird sat, and then took flight.
Now I'm heavier.

 

AXIOM
translated by Tamás Révbíró

You should try and help
everything to be the way
it is anyway.

 

ECHO ON EPICTETUS
translated by Tamás Révbíró

Don't say, "I lost it",
about anything. Rather
say, "I gave it back".

 

AXIOM
translated by Tamás Révbíró

Parents and killers:
almost-innocent servants.
They just execute.

 

ZENsation
translated by Tamás Révbíró

Look, the snow gives body to the wind!

 

DISILLUSIONIST
translated by Tamás Révbíró

Why should I travel
when I can be a stranger
right here, standing still?

Futár Iván (1951-)

Vallejo

Painted dragonfly -
shadow of greymorning sky.
Fireless dragon.

 

Gergely László (1940-2010)

the spider in my bathtub doesn't want to take a shower…

doors and windows securely shut - now I am utterly free…

a fly strolls about on my screen - I don't dare to slap…

after many a days the problem came to light: a hair in my nose

taking a rest I cry out my favourite blaa-blaa-text

Wednesday comes upon Wednesday - how so shrinks a week so fast

spring flood story: a man catches fishes at the central square of the village

prayers in May: send oh God some rain - please stop it

two old glasses of mine on my nose - everything looks pretty good

translating haiku - swinging on word-lianes in the web-jungle

a few departing
yellow leaves hide some
tiny bunch of grapes

table-cloth of leaves
around the trees - winter comes
to clear the table

swirling vapor
from a sigh
it's not spring yet

the frostwork on my window
melts when you come
but runs cold if you go

warmth in November
a band of tom-tits
invades my willow

not the clouds
darken my shadow -
it is the evening

chicken liver explodes
in the micro
taste of chink orts

luminous lantern
over the silent graveyard -
glowing full moon

 

Gyukics Gábor (1958-)

Budapest in Three Sentences

Restructured bridges
Arch over mighty Danube
It doesnt resist.

West mingles with East
Most women have no bra on
Men eyes go goggle.

Posters flood the walls
The natives aren't amazed
The buildings don't mind.

St. Louis in Three Sentences

Wide avenues rumble
Empty cross streets bow slightly
I walk upon them.

Big river borders
Ghosts haunt downtown with ease
The Arch shines above.

Jazz trumpet plays tunes
From North to East and around
Makes it worth living.

San Francisco in Three Sentences

Mexicans sunbathe
Whites and blacks care for nothing
Asians prevail.

Hills create waves
The climates do not argue
They maintain the pace.

The beats are long gone
Attitude replaced the groove
Memory remains.

Brooklyn in Three Sentences

Latino heaven
Polish butcher stores avail
Russians run the joints.

Brownstones have a price
Yuppie tenants on the rise
Leaves cover the ground

Boardwalk leads the way
All who enter the city
Find a wrought village.

Some Haiku

Ants on sunflowers
Crawl to gather gray striped
Seeds for the winter

---

Trees of fallen leaves
Diligently fight against
Our human tempest

---

Beautiful embrace
Whispers angel-lip music
Wild tear drops smile

---

On rusty branches
As I watch them from your room
Woodpeckers knocking

---

Poisonous beauty
Drags the season of dreams that
Hasn't arrived yet

---

Rain

Evening breeze vibrates
Rusty autumn eyelashes
Shy tear drops gather

El Nino

The hiding tempest
Reveals her spitting power
Waters a flower

Blue Chaos

It is not, not us
The blue moon bravely shining
Tangled up chaos

 

Hetesi Péter Pál (1963-)
(Pseudonyms: Swami Tuaredo; hepepe)

Cybersutra Suite

At the 7th Stone

One Sip of Skylence:
Now I got to create my
own Reality.

Six Feet under the
Horizon the Way crosses
Prospero's Stairways.

In the Focuse of
equilateral Triangle
the Doors are open…

 

Broken Soundz of Nite

Monsters & Demons
were stormin' in the Basement
of your Universe.

Broken Soundz of Nite.
Anger. Mortal Fear. Depression.
Manuscript of Storm.

Cosmic Accidents.
Let off your bad Tunes and Waves.
It's all over now.

 

Knowhereland

Knowhereland. Forest.
The Blue turns moss - green. How can
I learn to fly now?

Our Rainbow Palais
recovers in Labyrinth
of Crystal Fire…

Mistake your Past for
Future like anybody
else. Shine your Palette.

 

Haiku Tripthichon I.

Moonbeam splashes down.
Irregular Vibrations
elf the scraped Sky.

Weaponless Wedding.
Pearls are liyn' low. The Paths
never fade away.

Flush Years are troopin':
Manouevre of Ants. Hide me
Hole of Emptiness…

 

Haiku Triptichon II.

Light Coke. Cigarettes.
Deatbeat Drum and Bass Nite. Too
wide, too deep, to dark.

Techno from Moscow.
Freeform free Drumz of Freedom.
Cybersutra suite.

Error in Mirror.
Terror Diffusion. I'd like
2 remix my Life…

 

Haiku Triptichon III.

The Monk went back home.
FairyTales navigate him
'cross the Universe!

Marilyn Monroe
is on the Road again. I'm
waitin' 4 my Sun.

Holy Emptiness.
Jesus is sleepin' in the
Shadow of Buddha...

 

Prima Materia
(deutscheundschuld)

Gape! Bum! Be boob!
Forget everything what you
Can. You never die…

Saraswati dances
with my dragons & dolphins.
on Diamond - Raibow...

Moon over the Sea.
Silver Symbol flickers on Waves.
Atlantis awake!

Cyberpest - 2005.08.01. 14:52

Horváth Márton (1941-)

Nine haiku

Migrating swallows.
My shiny pebbles also
scatter.

Distant train whistle
grass grows between my teeth
my face a wild goose.

Ah, fox girls
Jasmine scented icon
fallen from a book.

Like pebbles in the mouth,
my heart slowly melts.
Poppies blooming.

Lily-of-the-valley,
Green deep secret, lust white
a row of teeth opening.

Resting - snow and silence
white-glowing solitude
green mistletoe on the tree.

Hedge rose flower,
a slight wind can blow away
your light colours.

Pale sunshine.
Raven sits on a pole,
your eyes are turning green.

Few leaves at the top
my love bleeds on
my faded cloak.

Káliz Endre (1954-)

slow breeze
bristles my green tea on a stone
butterfly-death

at the old duck's bay
in the pagoda of pain
poet sings for his nymphe

stone-buddha singing
dancing in the lukewarm rain
dog-latin of mine

crescent kills desert
sad sand kills wind and mummies
slave-girl is kissing

river pays short waves
violoncello by my side
no-one on the earth

flute swimming at night
souls discovering bodies
the paradise lost

soft breeze is boring
listening to fidelio
nouns in the basket

in thy orisons
repeat my name milady
snows of yester-year

wavering donna
mitigates my solitude
oh blood sweat and tears

the moon drinks cruel time
they are loving me again
your smiling bosoms

two ducks on the shore
your small jade-clit is gazing
kind crystal gazing

on the long silk road
fire and water sleeping deep
kiss the monk, camel

fly do fly away
my small sweet sandesha-swan
is she still living?

two soft pears lie
lucky liars are never blue
and me. the sad poet?

a rolling stone sings
the ever laziest flies fly
money on the road

mute jazz is drinking
at the dark corner two men
me and ganesha

8 Haikus
(ZEITUNG DER OBDACHLOSEN "FEDÉL NÉLKÜL" (OHNE DACH) 2005.)

1.
herbstliche liebe
mit der wind gegangene
so bald wird beschneit...

2.
blaues himmelchen
ißt kleine weiße wolke
dort spaziert der wind

3.
gelbe straßenbahn
fährt doch nicht zur traumfrau
so weit als sklavin...

4.
käse und rotwein
warten auf dem tisch auf uns
wo bleibst du, engel...

5.
die sonne schwimmt auf
und so sprach zarathustra
lieb dieses mädchen...

6.
wann dein kitzler oh
meine zunge küßt, geniß'
ich den himmel still...

7.
stiller mondschein lacht
runder po süßer abend
küßt seele zärtlich...

8.
der schöner wiesel
wartet auf grüner wiesel
auf dich mein schätzchen...

Kántor János Kurszán (1941-)
English versions by Ferenc Bakos

Custody-secret:
though the cage is open
yet she keeps flying back.

Groveland scene:
a footpath sign for
stray butterflies.

Under your mask
bygone carnivals examine
grief and pleasure.

Shivery spiders
in a desolate field shelter -
sex is over.

Four Profane Pieces

dewy rose
in glare of the sun
losing virginity

on my begonia's
snow-white petal -
an ugly blowfly!

pouring rain -
peeping from under
my sweetheart's skirt

kissing my bottom
without any shame:
a lurking flea

English version by Anatoly Kudryavitsky

an arrow in the grove
showing the direction
to butterflies

 

Mándy Gábor (1945-)
http://www.geocities.com/mandygabor/english.htm

Haiku exercises

1.
Standing by a creek,
I'm watching a little bird,
thirsty for a kiss.

2.
Nothing is moving.
The bird and I are silent --
tamed by each other.

3.
Your clothing all dropped.
The flames of your body burn.
Tears in my eyes.

4.
The bird is now gone.
Her song is here for a while,
but fading away.

5.
The wind is chilly.
The sky is crowded with stars.
Of them you are one.

6.
The snow is falling,
there are sparkles in the ice
on my frozen heart.

7.
The rose in the field.
Trotten down so many times!
It's growing downwards.

Have Haiku

Been robbed, gotten sick,
grown old and lost everything:
these are all I have.

 

Molcer Mátyás (1935-)

Mathias Molcer: Aufgebrochene Flöte, Übertragung von Dr. Marthe Pfeiffer, Subotica, 2009 (Der Originaltitel: Tört fuvolára. Illustration: Mathias Molcer)

Oravecz Imre (1943-)

SIX HAIKUS
FROM A TRAVELOG

on Midwest

they are making pigs
out of corn, freedom, history
out there in Iowa

on a direction

travelling day and night,
seeking the western way lost
both inside, outside

on a stop

coyote's body
run over on 80 West,
the view undamaged

on Nevada

sagebrush, sand and sign,
buckaroo's trail continues
in deserted minds

on California

captain Sutter still
trying to prevent some people
from making gold rush

on a late night show

John Wayne on tv
accidentally involved
in a commercial

Egy földterület növénytakarójának változása,
Magvetõ Könyvkiadó, Budapest, 1979, 66-67. oldal

Pachnik Zoltán (1958-)

Christmas Eve -
lonely granny at the station:
shelter till midnight mass.

Tandori Dezsõ (1938-)

KONTINUITÄT

Kontinuität:
was du warst, war immer "zu":
viel, wenig, früh, spät.

 

Kavafis-haiku

Already half past two!
How quickly a year has passed.

 

Koan 1

Further from you?
Closer to you?
Neither from you nor to you.
Neither near or far.

Alan E. Williams. Dezsõ Tandori Set to Music

Tarnoc, Jon (Tarnóc János, 1964-)

Terebess Gábor (1944-)
.....Haiku in the Luggage
.....Translated from the Hungarian by Jon Tarnoc
.....Published by artORIENT Press, 2006, 208 pp.

Török Attila (1967-)

HAIKU

fall, and I'm watching
the leaves of an old maple
as they fall
....................in
..............................love

(Practical English Teaching, June 1991)

 

freight train chugs along
its sight muffled by the fog
but oh, not the sound

(October 22, 2004)

 

scanning old loose-leaf
manuscripts with a tea bag
soaking in my cup

(October 22, 2004)

Vihar Béla (1908-1978)

we are two at the birth
we are two in love, lonely
at the time of death

 

Vihar Judit (1944-)

birds singing,
the pear-tree flowering:
gulash soup on the simmer
(English version by Anatoly Kudryavitsky)

Let thousand ikebana
decorate your grave
and a haiku-string.
(In Memoriam Erika Schwalm, 17 December 2005)

At early morning
we are in bed comfortably -
bomb outrage
(English version by the author)

Behind an old hut
I drink from the well of
the Past.
(English version by the author)

 

Vörös István (1964-)

1

JANUARY

New Year, new morning.
The palms of our hands fill up
with last year's racket.

EXAMINATION

He doesn't yet know
what to think of you. Time was,
he was an angel.

2

FEBRUARY

The armed knight of the
shortest month is on his guard.
If he's scared, snow falls.

MAKING THE POINT

On his neck, three points.
In the middle of his brown
eye, see black and white.

3

MARCH

What is holy? Don't
even think about this, the
snowdrop bloom told me.

THE PICTURE LOOKER

Her smile regards us,
but her regard is a smile.
Loneliness in spring.

4

APRIL

The self-confident
clown surveys us through his mask.
We sit near a chair.

JOKE

Laughing man pulls out
the air from underneath us.
He's concerned for it.

5

MAY

Unsuspecting bloom.
Round this time, resurrection
is compulsory.

OUR OBLIGATIONS

If resurrection's
compulsory, was living?
And was sleeping, too?

6

JUNE

Cart-driver, skipper,
do you cruise seas, or set sail
for a poppy field?

LOOKING

He feeds a donkey
of his own imagining.
His look heals angels.

7

JULY

Pirate of summer
Takes down the sun from the top
of God's lofty head.

SEEING

He sees back to front.
The past's a secret to him,
the future - boring.

8

AUGUST

Love is not a game.
The deer sees the snake in the
base of the haystack.

CLOUDLESS NIGHT

She see that which is
not. She smiles because it is.
What will be will be.

9

SEPTEMBER

Stripes on his forehead:
three colors. On his hand: one.
A single ripe grape.

WEARING GLASSES IN THE DARK

What lies behind the
spectacle? Muddy fruit skin
collects by the well.

10

OCTOBER

Frost on the forest.
Oh, where did the present go?
When will the past come?

KNOW IT ALL

Knowing how to laugh
means you know it all. If you
know it all, why ask?

11

NOVEMBER

Light of late autumn.
You wake to the mist of dreams.
Just a mouth is red.

IN HORIZONTAL LIGHT

She knows something. Don't
ask, for she'll answer. She'll take
it into her head.

12

DECEMBER

White Christmas. The sun
goes down over snowy coal.
And it isn't cold.

NEW YEAR'S FIREWHEEL

The earth-ghost in front
of a black wall of water.
Mountain air blows by.

13

THE 13TH MONTH

This cold winter burns.
It's not easy to be good.
Even gloves don't help.

THE GHOST OF THE 13TH MONTH

You have no time left.
You can only pay up once.
Money is not time.