A Collection of Haiku
Her ears are eager
She seems to know what I think
Her tail says it all
It will go away
When it has finished its work
The moral of pain
First greeting of spring
Most completely indigo
The glad hyacinth
Most of what I’ve known
Wasn’t thinking after all
Thoughts that were not made
Powered by the reef
The wave gathers its body
Then destroys itself
There is still much left
Of stories hardly begun
And of love unspent
the oppressors know
the power of ignorance
make america dim
The orange tree trembles
The temptation of fragrance
A feast for the bees
To reckon of me
I will share stories with you
Come sit by my side
The miles and the time
Form stories ever changing
The same neverless
He has been unmoored
Carried by silent currents
No wind in his sail
Rich do what they want
Then the achingly sad part
Poor do what they must
Still wet from the night
The poppies unfold slowly
Sunny reverence
This contagious day
I am infected with spring
A plague of beauty
Starlings doves and quail
Set asunder for cover
When the hawk soars by
Beyond the heartache
He lives alone by the sea
Tides for company
I must leave this road
And ramble the timbered hills
Where whippoorwills call
Quail drop from their roost
The hummingbird resumes its bliss
All morning could be
Dappled in summer
Adaptable ptarmigan
Snow pure in winter
Entertain them with awful
Thinking optional
Impetuous spring
Unfurls a brilliant tribute
Winter rewarded
a lad of talent
bearing with such cleverness
the fair crown of youth
Then tulips up reach
Goblets of lustrous wonder
Filling with sunlight
The fields are trampled
Handbills scatter in the wind
After the circus
when all is springtime
blessed ribbons from the sky
wonderful puddles
Tireless artisans
Bees expect no gratitude
Their work is their thanks
Heavens in a breath
The muchness of the moment
Oceans in a drop
don't be complainin'
if you don't like potatoes
don't dig in my yard
Dry desperation
The roots are the last to die
And first to repay
The faithful black dog
Spends the morning on the porch
Waiting for the truck
Morning with a breeze
Sun shinin’ in the back door
The cat’s out to hunt
Alfred E Neuman
Distilled a sea of twaddle
To “What, me worry?”
Forgotten letters
Brittle but unabated
Wait in the attic
The last time I checked
I'm still lookin' like myself
Nice consolation
All are made of one
The greatest common factor
No life is trifling
Your laws and libel
Who do you think you’re fooling
Reckonings will come
Like Ouroboros
Absurdity of vengeance
Will consume itself
The swollen orange buds
What sound unloosed when they burst?
Only the bees know
Breaking the quiet
A buck through the underbrush
His nostrils steaming
have the roots lost hope?
when the tortoise emerges
will it know the world?
Patiently crocheted
A tablecloth stained with love
By generations
This morning feels fine
Peaceful as a sleeping dog
Soaking in sunlight
The widow entreats
Come under my veil with me
Know how cold my heart
Sacrificial fruit
Briefly ripened - soon withered
Will render the seeds
A stirring surmise
Made dim in the daylight
Burning while I sleep
By intuition
Nature is truth - as it is
Gods in the smallest
Lyrics in water
Composed by what lies beneath
The hindered flow sings
One who lives with poise
Whose lot flows with the current
Loos’d of all desire
There shall be no thrones
No nobles or attendants
Bread for everyone
Ponder this mankind
What if hope is a woman
Would that explain it
The increase of night
A cold carriage approaches
Its footman beckons
The length of my life
Is not as important as
The length of my health
True without a proof
There are stars we’ll never see
Heavens past heavens
Before in darkness
Only the sun and a fire
Could foretell shadows
The swirling patterns
A sable cloud of starlings
Random or given?
Vainly deluded
Humanity’s whole extent
Is barely a blink
is this our someday?
to be plodding sequiturs?
shadows that follow?
An indigo night
Moonless waves fall gracefully
Edged with gauzy foam
Trapped in the chapel
Thrashing against the stained glass
A desperate dove
When we were savage
Perfectly unenlightened
Before there was why
In the pathless woods
The ravenous elk bugles
"Come for me!" he calls
A barnacled hull
I trim my sheets to the squall
Wild gusts of my life!
Let’s go cross country
Until we come to the cliffs
Where the condors soar
It’s too late to die
(where is my generation)
Before I get old
If I had my way
After all is said and done
I’d leave ‘em laughing
honorable lives
that they may serve as water
to quench and quicken
While innocence hopes
Ambition forgives cruelty
Somewhere there is war
The man to the boy
What was the best thing today?
Right now is, Father
panoply of clouds
a mystic combination
of water and air
i offer this thread
a frayed end of silken thoughts
pull and i'm unstitched
Billboards are blaring
With faces of the lawyers
Land of grievances
When it all had worth
They expected the rag man
His bundles in tow
The old county road
A dog chased the rusty truck
Both faded with dust
The First
They followed the tracks
Mammoths on the horizon
To un-peopled lands
When you have questions
But don’t need to have answers
Come see about me
Singin' in the car
Don’t care what time I get there
I love this next song
A gray brittle twig
Depleted - almost hopeless
Too far from the roots
The message she wrote
Has never faded away
What's done is not done
Without a good-bye
She got off near Santa Fe
Dissolved into dawn
A faint morning moon
She wrote something on his palm
And pressed it to hers
When he asked her name
She placed her hand on his lips
Listen for the moon
The train turned a bend
Her head fell to his shoulder
They dreamed without sleep
They talked in darkness
Without ending a story
Or starting the next
As the night rolled on
She said that love and passion
Do not need to rhyme
She told of the South
Of hands bleeding from the fields
Of faith and aching
Her dark eyes spoke out
A daring invitation
You can come closer
Though they'd never met
Her look said that she knew him
Before we they born
When he noticed her
She was immersed in the land
Her eyes rimmed with tears
This haiku and the twelve that follow comprise an accidental story of sorts.
He lost his ticket
Not sure where the train headed
Just feeling the ride
Ironically
It's hard to spot a leopard
Or even see one
My Dad used to say
I feel more like I do now
Than a while ago
2025
This is how the year begins
With doubt and a sigh
Though still and pallid
Winter's no infirmity
Spring will blush again
I can remember
(this happened before i died)
The slow forgetting
With sun they start work
There’s no finer certainty
The bees of July
When he is missing
What matters and gives him peace
Someplace warm to sleep
Too long without rain
The desert lives on remains
Nothing dares to breathe
The recondite cat
Being charming but aloof
Comes comfortably
My father taught me
Of responsibility
My mother - to fly
Make evergreen wreaths
Adorn them with love and cheer
Decorate this day!
Children everywhere
Put your excitement abed
Dream of tomorrow
I am suns and moons
The seasons each to other
Cylces in circuits
The favorite trail
Is now longer and steeper
My bootsoles wear thin
Surf assaults the shore
A lighthouse burns through the fog
Helmsmen sail on faith
why not consider?
content instead of happy?
which a better peace?
My faith comes to this
I will tend to my garden
And it will tend me
A dog to itself
Making humans feel better
Is tail-heavy work
Devout and time-worn
The oak tree preaches wisdom
Doves stop to worship
Pausing to relax
On the enduring passage
Water forms a pond
I’m a scavenger
Searching through thoughts left behind
Gathering potsherds
Dactylonomy
Certainly comes in handy
When writing haiku
The river's water
Is anonymous again
As it joins the sea
Privilege of dogs
To sleep wherever they want
I am envious
She can barely breathe
The tears tremble down her face
This is how love costs
i accept this now
to sit quietly alone
and hear myself breathe
Freedom for women
Suppressed throughout the ages
By the church and state
He was up all night
Not believing in the dawn
While fear fed on him
These tracks are southbound
They run to Mississippi
Where blues plays all night
To my excitement
Erumpent gladiolas
Send up their first spears
What time is it now?
A question once never asked
Before there was next
Appreciate life
Even pond scum has purpose
There is blue in green
When stories dissolve
When there's no truth or fiction
What will bind us then
Invisible wall
Like roots in a tree
There is more of you and I
Than what can be seen
This our family
Of humor, talent, and grace
Self-emptying love
Kindness for others
May this be our thanksgiving
Nothing more or less
Neglected bouquet
Rose petals fall from the vase
Sere but still fragrant
Careful as you step
There is more than one reason
That they’re called flip flops
Shoulder their worries
They are young and will repay
It is worth the weight
A point of order
Who said this guy named Robert
Gets to make the rules?
Can they remember?
Entwined - tumid and gleaming
The fierce smell of love?
We all live on island earth
Afloat together
Of someone's nature
That which speaks eloquently
Where they find beauty
To sleep - I must sleep
These dreams derange the darkness
If I could just sleep
When I am hiking
I feel closer to the earth
Peaceful humility
Let us be advised
If you can’t be wise - be kind
Others will give thanks
With no place in mind
Daydreaming amid the pines
Wondering nothing
In the remainder
Let me ramble like the wolf
Following a scent
Which is more dreadful
Fear of something or nothing
The known or unknown
Elixir of thanks
Even offered for the least
Is balm for the heart
It pleases my soul
To put my hand on your back
And know you’re near me
Sometimes in the wild
I enjoy hearing one thing
Faintly my footsteps
There’s more to be found
Elder folk should still explore
Always being born
Foretelling the storm
The wind's sure sililoquy
Speaks where no one hears
An old dusty dog
As dependable as tides
Waits for his next meal
It must be dauntless
When art becomes civilized
It turns to culture
Woman of color
Prices, immigrants, and wars
They fall for the fraud
The grace of the whale
Northbound from Baja's warm gulf
A calf by her side
If we are so great
Why can’t the popular vote
Elect the POTUS?
They know of water
And the approach of winter
Plants have agency
Walk in the woodlands
There are tidings in the trees
Messages of sap
The burden of fear
Worry feels better than naught
When faced with unknown
The will-o-the-wisp
Rises in gold - sets in blood
Shroud of ghostly light
He wandered away
As though he was attracted
To some dark allure
Faint calliope
There's a trail of dust out west
The circus draws near
Play mariachis!
Cry the song of love’s lament
What a joyful pain
A cheerful drifter
Spins a hurdy gurdy tune
Children twirl with glee
There is a fable
The raven who ate the sun
Calls but cannot sing
Cold fog on the lake
The ospreys have quit their nest
Geese are on the wing
When I am joyful
And quiet and satisfied
I stop making sense
The storyteller
Waits in her candle-lit tent
Your life for a dime
Ghosts of volcanoes
Haunt Coconino's plateau
Does lava still lurk?
When written at last
My story will fill the page
No room for margins
Autumn is paisley
Layers of twisting patterns
Colors intertwined
The moon longs for light
Like a suitor suspended
Fain to glow again
What sore secret broods
What revenant visits her
That she wakes weeping
Once in the springtime
The remontant dianthus
Gives again in fall
my autumnal friends
changing lives - stories falling
expecting winter
Clement October
A good day for a tootle
With nothing in mind
Something beyond us
Where the compass will not point
Without reference
reliably kind
when the days increase with warm
spring forgives winter
Encouraged by the rain
The Ponderosas respire
A vanilla balm
I am primitive
A glad and natural beast
More ape than angel
We are taking more
Than the earth has to render
Nature's depletion
In spite of ourselves
There’s fortune on the table
We just have to choose
Before he looked out
He knew the snow had fallen
First of the winter
Deprived of the sun
Leaves beautifully dying
Latent hues revealed
Winter is sabbath
Time for rest and reflection
Covenant renewed
I would have few doubts
About what I think I know
Were it not for dreams
Prints of beginning
Early thoughts of a young man
Letters to myself
The charm of autumn
Never is a conclusion
As bright and graceful
may there never be
something lost for what you need
enough for enough
Pulled weeds this morning
My fingers still smell like dirt
It’s been a good day
O the refeshment!
A blue jay in the puddle
Flitter - flutter - splash!
Neither when nor was
Every time that I wake up
It is still today
No delight compares
Surrounded by sensation
A dog in the woods
Listen carefully
Can you hear beyond the words?
The most is unsaid
There's much to be gained
From an aimless meander
Each stride adventure
Just the hawk and I
Drifting in the equinox
Warming air lifts us
what his eyes revealed
never so secret again
love changed forever
Fully propounded
The moon hangs like a question
A bright cloudless night
There should be a group
Where they share stories of loss
Socks Without Partners
Cleaned out the garage
Found letters from my young loves
Some still make me cry
He would be a fool
To not know that he's a fool
Certainly likewise
The way that you think
Bears more import than the what
But less than you feel
Suspended in dawn
Ghost of a summer's flower
Gauzy perfection
here's the gist of it
i've lived with me long enough
to know i'll be fine
Heavens to Betsy!
My mother used to exclaim
I still don't get it
Donald and JD
Stay away from dogs and cats
They can smell a fraud
In the dry lake bed
The elk assemble to graze
Before heading south
See their hollow eyes
Who is want will seek for some
Hunger breeds the thieves
When the data thinks
The union of opposites
Leaves one dimension
What is it of grass
That reaches into our hearts
Cool blades of calm
our new intellect
choices but few alternatives
a spare amplitude
Summer paseo
Cicadas sing in the gloam
Neighbors on the porch
When you need a friend
To bring gladness and respite
Call one with four legs
Summer afternoon
Just one rule for kids at play
Be home by supper
How sweet September
The last breath of the summer
Still green and mellow
Appreciation
My dog's chin rests on my lap
He thanks more than I
The twilight holds fast
To the last reserves of day
As night advances
What now hereafter
What will I write when I'm gone
Not of things to come
The promise of fall
All that is of seasons born
Eventual green
When I consider
How do I know what I know
By reason of what
from its many buds
i was expecting more fruit
than the year would yield
Made by caring hands
With sinew, reeds, and willow
Baby's cradle board
He has beads to sell
Sitting on a curb - pale-eyed
He pleads “por favor”
When I was a youth
Willing to starve for a rhyme
Craving little else
She is a prismThrough which the white light of dayBends into colors
She is a prism
Through which the white light of day
Bends into colors
Bare-limbed oaks of fall
Stronger from what they have lost
Nourishing themselves
Cones are almost ripe
As calls imbue the morning
Pinion jays rejoice
We have primal choice
A scropulous criminal
Or woman of grace
Why It Is Fall
Blooms release their seeds
Ponderosas quit their cones
All things back to earth
a shadow of its shadow
leans but does not fall
when it is winter
the seeds wait under the cold
but do not forget
first to the peanut
a parsimonious crow
departs with its prize
while in the washer
my clothes get so excited
they turn inside out
from the essence
the eternal feminine
lures to fruition
the fox is startled
its face stained with rabbit blood
it crouches - then darts
in a cadent gait
baggy suit - green fedora
he whistles Blue Moon
A charming blossom
Belies her struggle beneath
Potted and root-bound
scrupulous spider
waits on its gossamer net
a gnat flies headlong
Wherefor, I surmise
There are no secrets in art
It's meant be known
whatever the point
waste no time in its proving
time will forget it
The random bubble
Floating in perfect tension
Bursting with colors
Humiliation
Shares the same space as triumph
Lonely places both
No guise or design
Explains the storm’s confusion
The night is fractured
It rises for air
(a sudden splash of wonder)
Spouting sea skyward
spinning seeds of ash
the twilight shroud of summer
green lanterns floating
A turbulent ride
Aboard the covidcoaster
Not thrilled - but consumed
At Ketchikan Creek
The salmon will soon swim home
Odyssey of life
My fashion standards
To wear no tie - tuck no shirt
To not be the worst
My purple-veined babe
Peach-fleshed and staring at me
Corn silk for your hair
Momentary lapse
Two monsters have locked their horns
The stink of skid marks
the peach - now full - drops
an avid squirrel finds it
eats all but the pit
All dressed in colors
July comes like a maiden
Tumid and fruitful
When it all depends
On weight of a circumstance
Why bother with fear
Is it possible
True interconnectedness
Indivisible?
Summer’s endowments
Shirtless lads and lightning flies
Corn and carnivals
I have reached my time
When questions turn to wonder
Where sense means marvel
A small piebald dog
Who has never seen itself
Thinks nothing of pride
There should be more days
In which nothing is required
Days of happy chance
one sudden moment
glows in the measureless span
a star in itself
colors are no accident
with a clear purpose for each
prismatic wonder
how withered the lives
that have found nothing to share
how sole and arid
A thunderous sky
Birds seek shelter in the pines
The forest trembles
Will life assemble
To a predestined center
Where it all makes sense
as the day retires
the last candles are blown out
thin smoke from their wicks
A pale glimpse of dawn
I’ve known too much of the night
It’s too late to sleep
Morning seatherny
Their chorus fills the garden
My heart glad with them
Rolling in my sleep
Waves of dreams wash over me
Restless day ahead
These long green days
Times of common paradise
When summer repays
When they had little
But their love and innocence
When they were once rich
Crow to another
Have you found something to eat?
Enough to partake?
I-40 at dusk
Headed west outside Flagstaff
Peaks against pale skies
They all make good sense
The arguments and reasons
Yet, of course, unless
They are no less wed
Two hundred seasons have passed
Love still binds their lives
Uninvited guest
While I was hiking in peace
A bug up my nose!
On a southbound train
Shantytowns along the tracks
Dirty children wave
Shindy of finches
Taking turns at the feeder
Blithely aflutter
I will rest my head
On the pillow of summer
And enjoy bright dreams