These poems were all written in February of 2011 for the inaugural National Haiku Writing Month, or NaHaiWriMo, which I created in October of 2010. The challenge is to write at least one haiku a day throughout the month of February—the year’s shortest month for the world’s shortest genre of poetry. For more information, please visit the NaHaiWriMo website and Facebook page. With the exception of the three previously unpublished neon buddha poems, all of the following poems were first published in Haijinx IV:1, March 2011.

                                       

a trace of snow—

the cat’s bell

reminds me of you

your hand in mine . . .

the sky so full

of stars

an urn in my lap—

the seaplane descends

from snow into rain

a delicate rain . . .

the photo of the body

passed from hand to hand

a little stone in my sole—

from which mountain trail

did it travel?

slanting rain—

the mall cellist

draws us in

a show of hands

in the jury room—

winter light

broken resolutions—

the snowman’s belly

drooping in the sun

dusty attic—

the old rocking horse

without any eyes

Valentine’s Day—

a cherry tomato

bursts in my mouth                       +

unfinished basement—

it was here where I finished

my childhood

skinned knee—

my daughter asks me

about God

the plums in front

of the Egyptian embassy

not yet in bloom

first snow—

a crow’s distant caw

carries me home