From Haiku Friends, Volume 2

The following are my poems and a short prose contribution first published in Haiku Friends, Volume 2, edited by Masaharu Hirata, Osaka, Japan: Umeda Printing Factory, 2007, pages 117 to 122. See also “Haiku Friends, Volume 3.” I was not included in the first volume.       +

morning sunlight—

I find a cool spot

on the pillow

                cabbage butterflies

                fluttering

                through morning traffic

bright sun—

the Christmas-tree lot

choked by weeds

                morning mist

                glides over the beach—

                a jogger’s deep tracks

summer sun

the shape of the wake

behind the rowboat

                a screeching starling—

                hailstones afloat

                in the birdbath

late-night walk—

a cone of rain

under the streetlight

                heart-shaped stones

                arranged on the mantel . . .

                our cups of steaming cocoa

seed in the feeder—

a camellia blossom

in her cupped hand

                rippling aspen leaves—

                a small boy

                stops to watch

between the pages

of the Audubon book,

someone’s forget-me-nots

It’s a privilege to write and share haiku. Not only can we feel what the poet felt through his or her poems, we can develop friendships through our poetry. This is one of the finest serendipities that haiku affords. I began writing haiku in 1976 and started publishing them around 1988. By sharing haiku publicly, I’ve met hundreds of warm and talented people. These poet friends demonstrate a close attention to detail, and an endless curiosity and capacity for wonder. Thank you to all my haiku friends for sharing these traits and their talents through their friendship and poetry.