Seasons
An EFL Literary Journal

Aichi University
1 2020SpringSeasons
An EFL Literary Journal2© Aichi University 2020
This journal is published by the Institute of Language Education at Aichi
University Toyohashi Campus. All of the literary work in this journal waswritten by students who study English as a foreign language and all work
remains in the author’s ownership. If you have any questions, commentsor submissions, please feel free to contact us at anytime.
Seasons: An EFL Literary Journal
Aichi University
Toyohashi Campus
811 Kenkyuukan
1-1 Machihata
Toyohashi, Aichi 441-8522
kubokawateacher@gmail.com

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Language is a city, to the building of which every humanbeing has brought a stone.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

4Introduction
Hello and welcome to the very first edition of our new
literary journal. In these trying times, we are happy toprovide the gift of poetry. This little journal titled Seasons isa collection of poetry written by students studying English at
Aichi University in Japan. There are many haiku, a few
senryuu and a free verse poem.
Briefly, about the form of haiku—haiku is a short form ofJapanese nature poetry consisting of four main elements: 1)
the poem is divided into three lines which contains 2) aseason word (kigo), 3) a ‘cut’ or ‘turn’ (kireji) which provides
a juxtaposition of ideas or images often expressed as
punctuation (—, … or :) and 4) follows a 5-7-5 syllable format
within the three lines. These are the rules that govern‘traditional’ haiku.
Seasons also contains ‘new’ haiku or shin haiku which
follows the first three rules, but omits the 5-7-5 rule. Finally,
there are a few senryuu which are very similar to haiku butdo not have a season word, rather these poems tend to beabout human idiosyncrasies rather than nature.
As you read, you will see that the journal is divided into
four main sections that follow the four seasons as well assome senryuu and a free verse poem. Within each seasonal
section, the poems are then divided into two further sections:the first being shin haiku and the second being traditional
haiku.

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The group of writers that have created these poems arequite unique. A mix of university aged students, these haiku
were not written for a specific assignment but rather there
was a campus wide call for submissions. These brave souls
took up the challenge. We even had students submitting
right up until the midnight deadline. The students
themselves come from a mix of majors, not just the English
program, and I think you will find a great mix of styles andtopics because of this. Additionally, the writers nationalities
are quite different as we have poems coming from Korean,Chinese and of course Japanese students. But, what is truly
unique is that all of the poems are written in a secondlanguage. In other words, English is not the mother tongueof these writers, yet they persevered and have written someincredible poetry in the English language.
Writing in a second language is no small feat and I can
proudly say that these poems stand up to any haiku out
there. Ezra Pound once said, “poetry is news that stays
news,” which to me, means that poetry will stay relevant aslong as people continue to feel and think, to laugh and cry—in short, it is timeless. The poems in this book shine a bright
light into the endeavor that is the human condition. Onemust simply open their eyes and their heart to it. I hope you
enjoy our little collection. Be well and write on.
Jared Michael Kubokawa
April 1st, 20206

Spring!
The cherry blossoms in the park are in full bloom
The grass on the ground turns
People look happy~Kaho Nagai
Cherry blossoms—
ChildrenWith a new school bag~Mizuho Kobayashi
Flying Butterfly—
Chasing Children areGrowing with flowers~Akira Nimura
SpringNature is blooming…
I’m sneezing~Yuya Katsuyama
A dandelion
The flowers are brown
Spring has come~Yukino Kumagai

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The day we met
Like joy, like sorrow
A long day of heavy rain
~Jinwon Kim!
Graduation day
A photo with mom
Under the cherry blossoms~Wakana Harada
The cherry blossoms
Perspiration fostering
Falling in the wind
~Wang Gueng Ren
The blooms are freezing
Secret fragrance of snowflakes—
An ume flower~Wang Gueng Ren
I’m feeling warm wind
I see coming in flowers
It will start new days
~Fuka8Summer!
In the summer sky—
Fireworks go up
Nearby me~Mizuho Kobayashi
Summer storm
Blank paper on the desk
Jump out~Ayaka Tsuruta
Playing soccer—
Kick the ballAnd score a goal!
~Ryuta Nakamura!
Sunflower garden
I’m in the gold world
This is my summer~SatomiFireworks in the sky
Fade away and flutter down
Seems like sunflowers~Wakana Harada
9A watermelon
Wave a stick with an eye mask
The burning red sun~Wakana Harada
Summer festival
Together with grandmotherWe ate fried chicken~Yuki Shimizu

10Autumn!
Beautiful night
Look at the full moon...
Feeling a fall night~Kyuma Takeuchi
A fragrant olive
The flower’s smell comes down to us
Makes me have an autumn atmosphere~Tsubasa Suzuki
The days get shorter
The season changes into Autumn
The leaves turn yellow~Kichi Yasui
Maple tree leaves—
Fluttering like a butterfly
In the wind
~Wakana Harada
In the autumn breeze
Dance merrily
Autumn leaves~Dai Yakura11

fallen leaves
dance in the wind―fall sky~Kusuya Orii
Wind sound...
autumn leaves fall
The beginning of winter~Nonno Tanaka!
Halloween will comeWe will make jack-o-lanterns...
Inviting the ghosts~Wakana Harada
The silver grasses—
Gold waves dancing in the sky
Under a white moon~Fuka12Winter!
A shivery winter dayThick fog or breathing air...
Which is which?
~Norichika Achiha
I breathe in winterAre you smoking?
No! I’m breathing~Yuma Horiuchi
My body is heavy
I go to a hot spring…
My body is light~Yuma Horiuchi
In cold
People lose colors, too—
Only you have yours~Yuya Katsuyama
Tokyo—
Nine degrees
I’m alone~Yuya Katsuyama13

I shook with cold
My cell phone also did—
I got warmth~Yuya Katsuyama
Winter vacation
Fun things
There are many
~Taketo Nagata
At the ski resort
Making a snowmanwith family~Daiki Asai
Get up at 5 in the morning
The dawn in winter—
Legs and head, too~Shota Yagyu
It's snowing...
as if erasing
everything this year
~Takumi Kondo
Lots of brilliant snow—
Color and paint out on
Dark black asphalt roads.
~Kichi Yasui

People make requests
Reindeer are busy—
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Santa is lazy
~Kichi Yasui
Christmas day—Watching a lot of couples
Thinking about you~Miyu Kawai
Ding Ding Ding
All the children are waiting…
Grandpa is wearing red clothes~Mai Hirakawa
At night—
Big Christmas tree shining
In the center of town
~Mizuho Kobayashi!
In the lots of snow—
Kids are looking forward toSeeing Santa Claus~Akira Nimura
New Year’s is coming—
Eating a special dinner
Praying at a shrine~Mizuho Kobayashi

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Senryuu

I am hungry now
And I want to eat early—
Mother’s special food~Mizuho Kobayashi
In the quietness—
All the things that I could see clear
Just only your cheeks~Yuya Katsuyama
In vivid yellow
Always his deeply black eyes—
Stars in outer space~Yuya Katsuyama

16Freeform!
Do You Remember Toyohashi?
For Her~Jinwon Kim
You were friendly during this winter—
The white hands of the eyes caress our sleep
While we're spread like petals and roam in the warm earth
Spring has come and you have gone;
Lilac flowers bloom like ghosts,
You didn't laugh in the distance
Often your eyes crackled on the cellophane,Your voice pierced me like a steel skewer—
Yes, I was stabbed for a long time without a sound.
Even if I am crawling
Like an earthworm with a stabbed body—
I want to go where you are,Hide in your warm light;
With one last stab at the back of one
I want to die for a long time again.
And now, like a broken pair of shoes without an owner
When I wandered through an empty field—
Do you remember Toyohashi?
When the winter of centuries ago
floating in snow-covered dreams...
We're spread like petals.
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Seasons An: EFL Literary Journal
Aichi University

Submit your poems and stories to:Seasons​:
An EFL LiteraryJournal__________________________________________________________________________________

We accept any form, but if you need some inspiration lookhere. ​ ​→ ​ ​There is no theme, just express your feelings
and thoughts in a 3 line poem. For example:
An old leafy pond

A car door…

A frog jumping in--

The way the dog dances

The sound of water

Tells me it’s you------------------------------------------------------------Please send your​ poems​ and your ​name​ tokubokawateacher@gmail.com​. Send as many as you want!

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