Lately

The following “Haiku from Index Cards” all start with the word “last.”

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)