Poet Profile

Ferenc Bakos

I’m an electrical engineer by profession (I have visited four deserts) and collaterally a man of letters (writing short story, novel and essay). Nowadays, sometimes I call myself a Hungarian haijin, not merely for the sake of alliteration: I have been writing and translating haiku for thirty years. My first piece in English was selected by the late haiku-phenomenon Kazuo Sato. Our three adult children have flown off from the nest – so I’m living with my loving wife Margo at the lake Balaton (alias “Hungarian Sea”).

Awards and Other Honors: In the years of 2010-2013, he was named as one of "the 100 most creative haiku poets in Europe". In addition, some of his awards include Honorable Mention, The 20th Ito En “New Haiku” Contest (2009); Second Prize, The 13th Mainichi Haiku Contest (2009). One of his haiku (from the Haiku International Anthology 2000) was cited by President Kogure Gohei in his welcome speech for the audience at the 10th anniversary HIA Congress in Tokyo, November 19, 2000 [HI Magazine 43 (2001)].

Books Published: Three booklets edited, duplicated, stitched and “hammered”by the author: Haiku Conquest (haiku and haibun in Hungarian, 2000); The Centuries of Haiku (classical and contemporary Japanese haiku translated into Hungarian, 2000); and Rising Moon Shadow (haiku triplets in English and Hungarian with Japanese transcriptions; haibun in English, 2000). Booklet edited by the author: New Millennium (haiku and senryu in Hungarian, 2006). Sivatagi szél / Desert Wind [haiku, senryu and haibun in Hungarian] (Ad Librum Press, 2010); desert wind [bilingual haiku/haibun book in English and Hungarian] (Red Moon Press, 2015).

rising moon shadow
heart-throb, hark!
of the scarecrow

expiatory mass—
two altar-boys
two yawns

ancient tombs
in the desert—
scarabs everywhere

autumn fly:
easy to catch
easy to let go

sailing boat
moored by a shining
gossamer thread

being lost
among cherry blossoms—
white butterfly

Credits: “rising moon shadow” – Mainichi Daily News (August 13, 1989) and Weekly Magazine (Japanese translation and postscript by Sato Kazuo, ’89.11.12.) ; “ancient tombs” – William J. Higginson, Haiku World (Kodansha International, 1996); “sailing boat” – Honorable Mention, Kusamakura International Haiku Contest (2000); “expiatory mass” – HI Magazine 26 (1997) and Simply Haiku 5:2 (2007); “autumn fly” – HI Magazine 36 (1999); "being lost" - Honourable Mention, Haiku Invitational, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival (2007).