Haiku fra parker

Af Niels Kjær

I begyndelsen af oktober 2014 udgav jeg sammen med amerikaneren Mark Schorr på forlaget Bookmark Press en digtsamling med titlen The Park. Mark Schorr vil være kendt af mange af haikugruppens medlemmer, idet han – skønt han bor i Boston – to gange har deltaget i haikugruppens oplæsninger på Store Bogdag på Hald, ligesom han i december 2013 holdt foredrag for os i Forfatterforeningens lokaler om den amerikanske haiku-tradition.

The Park indeholder, som titlen antyder, digte, der alle på den ene eller anden måde har ”parken” som emne. Der er både meget korte og meget lange digte i bogen, og nogle af dem kan læses i dansk oversættelse på sitet www.digtenu.dk . The Park kan i øvrigt ses på sitet www.lulu.com under følgende link http://www.lulu.com/shop/mark-schorr-and-niels-kj%C3%A6r/the-park/paperback/product-21842212.html .

Her følger Niels Kjærs tre park-haiku

Born in a park
cast away on an island                                                                                                                                                
brought safely ashore

Like an Oriental Emerald                                                                                                                                                    
my park is hidden                                                                                                                                                             
at the end of the world

In the center of the city                                                                                                                                                        
the greens are served                                                                                                                                                          
for beast and birds

Og dernæst tre haiku af Mark Schorr. De indgår i en serie på syv haiku tilegnet den store landskabsarkitekt Frederick Law Olmsted (ham med bl.a. Central Park i New York):

A hill he can’t name                                                                                                                                                        
recedes into a blue haze –                                                                                                                                        
then it is Fairsted!

Let the drainage ditch                                                                                                                                                             
they say is needed right away                                                                                                                                   
be Muddy River

Two kinds of every tree                                                                                                                                                       
become an Arboretum –                                                                                                                                         
Garden of Eden