Spring Cleaning

The following “Haiku from Index Cards” welcome the spring-cleaning ritual.

spring cleaning—

dirt in the grooves

of the five-iron

             (written 2000, published 2004; see “From The Gifts of Bashō”)

spring cleaning—

dust in the shape

of unanswered mail

             (written 1993, published 1994; see “For a Moment,” in which this poem also appeared in 2009)

spring cleaning—

my belt now

a notch tighter

             (written 2013, published 2016, with a German translation)

spring cleaning—

that speeding ticket

I’ve still not paid

             (written 1992, published 2016)

spring cleaning—

tossing out a box

of old business cards

             (written 2013, published 2016; see “From Off the Beaten Track: A Year in Haiku”)