From Fig Newtons: Senryu to Go
The following are my 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. See also the Press Here page for this book. + +
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
