Tsurukame Cup Haiku: 5 Selected Poems

I will present my 5 favorite poems in numerical order.
As with the tanka I have already written about, there are, of course, many more works that I love. However, my indecisiveness kicked in, and I realized that if I included this one, I would have to include that one too... and I truly couldn't stop, so I tearfully narrowed it down to 5.💦

I want you to tell me where to stand, Japanese iris

I like flowers in general, but I especially love Japanese irises. The way they look as if they are blooming alone even when they are in a cluster. If it were a Japanese iris, I feel it would tell me, an indecisive person, the answer to how I should speak or behave in such a situation. It would make a decision quickly without hesitation... This poem was chosen because of my longing for such a woman.

A crack runs through the rock wall, a mountain centipede

While climbing an impregnable mountain, I reached for a crack in the rock wall and a giant mountain centipede appeared. I almost lost my footing, but if I fell, that would be the end of me... This is a tense poem that captures a split-second moment. This poem, which has a rough texture like a Kamakura-period Buddha statue, is my favorite of all the poems. (I was torn between this and the same author's 'The waterfall at the end of the mountain range's flow')

Summer grasses, my uncle decided to let the family line end

Living in the countryside, I can understand this to some extent, but the obsession that elderly people in the countryside have with their 'family line' is tremendous. This is limited to my local area, but those who are forced to end their family line due to various circumstances are treated like 'undutiful children' or 'those who bring shame to their ancestors' (laughs). I don't know the details of this uncle's situation, but I was drawn to the poem because I could sense that he must have had a significant amount of resolve.

Sunset, the sound of a guitar as a turtle dozes

A turtle... dozing... to the sound of a guitar...? It's such a mysterious poem, and I love mysterious things. Since a turtle that always seems to be sleeping is dozing off, it must be a very pleasant tone. When I read the article, I learned that the beloved turtle is named Chili-chan. A gentle time where Chili-chan and the author's husband, who plays the guitar, melt into the sunset.

Putting on my hearing aid, the cicada chorus blows away

The volume of the hearing aid must have made the cicada chorus sound like an explosion. The word 'blows away' is filled with a sense of reality, and the shock the author felt is conveyed. The sound of cicadas these days is tremendous. As the author says in the article, 'That elegant cicada chorus,' I feel that the beautiful term 'cicada chorus' is now only applicable in the morning and evening...

I found myself thinking 'I see' or making new discoveries through the interpretations of others. Not only the works themselves, but as always, I was overwhelmed by the skill of everyone's critiques.
To all the Tsurukame Cup organizers and all the writers who composed such wonderful works, thank you for all the fun times.✨✨✨