Kite

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