A Miscellany

The following miscellaneous “Haiku from Index Cards” all start with the letter A.

a bitter loss—

college football players

without any necks

             (written 2002, published 2007)

a boat in the bay

slipped from its mooring—

endless rain

             (written 2014, published 2021)

a borrowed phone book—

fast-food burger joint

out of high chairs

             (written 1993, published 2017)

a cappella hymn—

a few snowflakes fall

into dad’s grave

             (written 2014, published 2021)

a carpenter ant

struggling in its frass—

dappled sunlight

             (written 2011, published 2013)

a country song booming

from the ice-rink rafters—

church elders holding hands

             (written 1996, published 2008)

a deer

            stiffens

                          hikers

             (written 1990, published 1993)

a delicate rain—

the photo of the body

passed from hand to hand

             (written 2011, published 2011)

a fall of autumn leaves—

the record skips

the record skips

             (written 1991, published 1994)

after hopscotch—

“hey, let’s go home

and watch the war”

             (written 1991, published 1991)

after the movie,

the dry patches

in the parking lot

             (written 1991, published 1995)

ammuammuammunition

             (written 1995, published 2022)

an ant in the shadow of the pebble I kicked

             (written 1995, published 2007)

an old fiddle case

takes my coins

and the rain

             (written 1992, published 1994)

antique shop—

my child asks about

the two Germanies

             (written 2012, published 2013)

an urn in my lap—

the seaplane descends

from snow into rain

             (written 2011, published 2011)

a perfect snowflake

for a moment

on your tongue

             (written 1992, published 1993)

a postcard from afar—

peach cobbler

fresh from the oven

             (written 2014, published 2024)

a ring of snow

on the flowerpot—

divorce pending

             (written 2014, published 2023)

a robin’s song     the next hospital bed now empty

             (written 1995, published 1998)

a stack of wood

by the fire circle—

moonlight in each ring

             (written 1993, published 1998)

a stranger’s smile

follows me all the way

down the dark street

             (written 2010, published 2017)

at my poetry reading

my wife claps

a little too long

             (written 2014, published 2020)

at the dock’s end

the green water takes the tricycle

and the toddler

             (written 1992/1993, published 1995)

automated sales call

on hold

              at both ends

             (written 1990, published 1991)

autumn drizzle—

     a stack

of old business cards

             (written 2014, published 2024)

autumn stillness—

the shadow of the chimney’s heat

on the neighbour’s roof

             (written 1996, published 1998)

awaiting the test results—

rings on the pond

from falling leaves

             (written 2001, published 2004)