First published in Gratitude in the Time of COVID-19: The Haiku Hecameron, edited by Scott Mason (Chappaqua, New York: Girasole Press, 2020), pages 180–181. Originally written in May of 2003.

“May I have a candy?” I ask my wife as I drive us to the coast on a warm early-summer morning.
 “Sure. Here’s a pink one. I don’t like the pink ones.”
“Why not give me one that I like?”
“Which ones do you like?” she asks.
I pop the candy in my mouth, savouring my answer.
“The pink ones,” I reply.

        kite weather—
        the wound-up string
        sparkling with sand