Early Frost

Here’s the first poem from my index card boxes for poems that start with the letter E:

early frost—

the junkyard padlock

tapping in the wind

I wrote this poem on 18 January 2012, in Redmond, Washington. I tried submitting it to Modern Haiku, Frogpond, the Haiku Society of America members’ anthology, and the Haiku North America conference anthology (I was one of the editors), but it wasn’t selected. I then tried Under the Bashō, which published the poem online in 2013. I hope the poem gives readers a feeling of coldness, made even colder by the relentless tapping sound. But maybe “tapping” is too gentle a word. No wonder a note on the card proposes “clacking,” but it was never published that way. Its K sounds would work well with junk and lock, though. So, here’s my official revision, in 2025, which I hope feels even colder:

early frost—

the junkyard padlock

clacking in the wind

—19 May 2025 (previously unpublished)