Lasting

last day of the year—

rain overflows

the clogged eavestrough

             (written 1995, published 1999)

last day of vacation—

mailing a postcard

to myself

             (written 1996, published 1998; see “Tanned and Healthy” tan-renga collection)

last mow of the season . . .

my son no longer watches

from the bay window

             (written 2014, published 2023)

last of the sunset . . .

fewer scratches

in the chicken yard

             (written 2018, published 2018; for Marian Olson; see “Memorial Haiku”)

last out

of the little league game

separation

             (written 2011, published 2017; see “Separation” sequence)

last out—

my candy bar wrapper

falls under the seat

             (written 1998, published 1998; see “Pop Fly” sequence)

last tour of the day—

the guide’s shoelaces, and mine,

untied

             (written 2008, published 2008; see “Security” haibun)

late-autumn snow

melting in the shape

of the bell tower’s shadow

             (written 1991, published 1992)

late blossoms . . .

the aftershock

shakes them down

             (written 2011, published 2011)

late-evening sun—

the honeysuckle blossom

finds a hummingbird

             (written 1992, published 2019)

late for the bus—

petals swirl

in a hearse’s wake

             (written 2011, published 2017; see “My Poems in Haiku Society of America Anthologies” and “Typos Happen!”)

late for work—

a sundog

haloes the steeple

             (written 2008, published 2010; see “Gold Leaf” renku)

late frost—

the Catholic priest

having his puppy neutered

             (written 1994, published 2016)

late mourners—

the rabbi switches

from Hebrew to English

             (written 2002, published 2008; written at the funeral for Bernard Porad, husband of haiku poet Francine Porad)

late-night walk—

a cone of rain

under the streetlight

             (written 1993, published 2007)

late-<season> wind—

a <bird species> flicking <choose: water, seeds, rhinos>

from the <choose; birdbath, birdfeeder, refrigerator>

             (written 2015, published 2021)

late show on TV—

I finish cleaning up

for the cleaning lady

             (written 2002, published 2016)

late-summer morning

      the toilet’s

            cool seat

             (date written unrecorded, but no later than 1989, published 1990)