We are close to the end of April, and in the hokku calendar, that means the ending of spring. By that old calendar summer begins on May Day — May 1st.
This is probably a good time to let readers here know that the discussion of hokku and its English-language categories of daoku (objective hokku), shinku (hokku with a bit of “thinking” added) and soku (hokku with too much “thinking” or imagination) will now take place mostly on another site. That site is:
http://www.hokkuforest.wordpress.com
Over time, it appears that the topic of hokku has rather gotten lost in the discussion of other kinds of poetry and other subjects — which will continue here on the hokku.wordpress.com site. But those who are particularly interested in hokku will now no longer have to sift through those other postings to find information specifically on that topic, because discussion of hokku will be concentrated on the hokkuforest.wordpress.com site.
We are presently living through strange and troubling times, though of course past generations had to endure much worse. We have been rather spoiled by decades of relative ease and calm. A large number of Americans were far too foolish in electing a President who, it should have been obvious at the outset, was not in any way fitted for the office. Now we are all suffering the consequences of that serious absence of good judgment. The result has been very damaging and destructive for the United States and for the planet. I can only hope that this damage will be at least begin to be partially remedied by Americans coming to their senses and voting out as many Republicans as possible in the next election — including above all the astoundingly incompetent U.S. President and his sycophantic cronies who have kept him in office long after he should have been legally removed for the public good.
I hope that as spring departs, we may look forward to gradually getting things back on track — paying attention to scientists rather than deceptive, foolish, or self-serving politicians, and focusing once again on trying to lessen the pace of climate change and the loss of species. In short, we all need to remember that we are a part of — not apart from — Nature, and that when Nature suffers, so do we.
David
HOKKU 
I agree with your comments especially the remarks about our being part of nature. I posted a blog entry on that very topic on my blog “Back in the Bucket” on Blogger. I will seek out the new Hokku site. Thanks for you dedication to the form and your insights. Very valuable>