The following are thirty-one senryu from Fig Newtons: Senryu to Go (Foster City, California: Press Here, 1993), which I edited and published with my press. The book won an honorable mention in the 1994 Merit Book Awards sponsored by the Haiku Society of America (for books published in 1993). You can also read the book’s introduction.       +       +

 

 

at his favourite deli

the bald man finds a hair

in his soup                                       +

 

 

after the verdict

the arsonist

lights up

 

 

mexican cantina—

the waiter says

bon appetite

 

 

bags

under his eyes—

traveling salesman

 

 

bending for a dime

two businessmen

bump heads

 

 

traveling circus—

the contortionist

orders a pretzel

 

 

behind bars

     bartenders

          drunk with laughter

 

 

first day of summer

a postman delivers mail

in a safari hat

 

 

beside the pizza man

     the bus boy

          spins a washcloth

 

 

hazy summer afternoon—

the smog-check mechanic

puffs a cigar

 

 

her swollen head . . .

the astrologer

seeing stars

 

 

billboard lady

in a bikini—

three-car pileup

 

 

first confession

his parking meter

expired

 

 

one shopping day before Christmas . . .

     a squirrel runs

          from tree to tree

 

 

grocery shopping—

pushing my cart faster

through feminine protection

 

 

express checkout

     the fat woman counts

          the thin man’s items

 

 

visiting mother—

again she finds

my first grey hair

 

 

the understudy

steps out from rehearsal

to view the eclipse

 

 

my face dripping . . .

the floppy-foot clown’s

plastic flower

 

 

golden gate park

teen with a boom box—

mime covers his ears

 

 

making a wish

on a falling star

no—a satellite

 

 

afternoon mail—

the stamp from Australia

upside-down

 

 

kindergarten Christmas pageant—

     a wise man

          loses his beard

 

 

spring afternoon—

the twelve-year-old slam-dunks

from a ladder

 

 

after divorce

the plant she left

grows on me

 

 

nursing-home bingo—

the husband and wife

with matching mustaches

 

 

skinny-dipping,

     the newlywed’s

          two dogs

 

 

moonless night—

her guard dog barks

at the new husband

 

 

first haiku

on my new computer—

qwertyuiop

 

 

 

jaywalkingthedog

 

 

 

under the umbrella

        stormy face