Collaborative Haiku Poem – 伐採士

after the storm 　
seen all over the town
tree cutters

(Yoko Kelley)
嵐去りいたる所に伐採士
あらし さり　いたるところ に　ばっさいし

Even one month is gone since a big storm passed this area early in July, yet the noise of electric saws and mulch trucks fills the town. As the storm passed during the night, everybody was surprised to see the after-storm wreckage when they awoke the next morning. Around my neighborhood, on the east side, a car parked outside was crushed—totaled—by a fallen tree. On the west side, a big tree fell over, atop the newly constructed detached work room. And the street was blocked by a fallen tree. While our house suffered only a power outage, it was apparent that the citizens of Omaha learned an important lesson: a big tree has to go. Thus, the noise of tree-cutting will continue for awhile.

　嵐に襲われたのは7月初めでしたが、ひと月たった今も、大木を倒す電気ノコギリや、木を切り刻んで小片（マルチ）にする機械の音が、町中に響いています。嵐がこの町を通り過ぎたのが夜中だった為、皆、目覚めて惨状にびっっくり。近所を見回してみると、東隣さんは大木が屋外に駐車の車の上に倒れ大破。西隣さんはこれも大木が新築の離れの上に横倒し、二三軒先では木が道を塞いでいる、といった状況。自宅は停電だけですみましたが、嵐が市民に教訓を与えたのは明らかで、嵐の後は庭の大木の伐採の注文が続出、ここしばらく伐採音が続きそうです。

Collaborative Haiku Poem
– Yoko Kelley
– Illustration by Norman Kelley
Omaha, Nebraska ネブラスカ州オマハ市