™Ryo Suzuki -3™
When I was a child, more Japanese children wrote haiku than today. There must
be various reasons for that. One reason is that most children today have to
study hard even after school, so they seldom have opportunities to observe
nature.

However, it is my pleasure to find that still quite a few children are encour-
aged to write haiku in many places in Japan. One of them was asked by a radio
announcer,"When can you write haiku?" The elementary school girl answered,
"When my heart is open."

Her answer seems to involve something very essential for haiku writing. You
may often find your open heart when you are looking at nature taking your time.
You can have this kind of open heart when you try to write haiku.

Those who have these open hearts will believe that human beings have to keep
friendly not only with each other but also with other living things in nature. At
the same time they will also believe that everybody should keep our environment
clean.

greenness
on the wet pavement
a fallen plum
to "on the hilltop" by Ryo Suzuki
to Home Page