Summer

The following “Haiku from Index Cards” celebrate the longest season. I have many dozens of poems that start with “summer,” and these are just selections. See also “Summer Rain,” “Summer’s End,” “Summer Solstice,” “Summer Stars,” “Summer Stillness,” and “Summer Sun” for additional summer poems.

summer afternoon—

the soda’s sound

changing as I drink

             (written 1994, published 2002)

summer afternoon—

the worm in the robin’s beak

still twisting

             (written 1995, published 1996)

summer again—

the broken spines

of all her travel books

             (written 2008, published 2017; see “From Here to There” rengay)

summer breeze . . .

a tin-can phone call

from treehouse to treehouse

             (written 1992, published 1996)

summer clouds—

a child scatters popcorn

on the fish pond

             (written 1994, published 2000)

summer clouds—

lights of a sailboat

bobbing in the bay

             (written 2011, published 2017)

summer dew—

a new phone book

on our cottage step

             (written 1997, published 2000)

summer drought—

a can of worms

left on the dock

             (written 2011, published 2015; see “From Shamrock Haiku Journal 2012–2018”)

summer ferry . . .

an osprey turns

above the orcas

             (written 2008, published 2016)

summer fog—

    ochre lichen

on the stone lantern

             (written 1992, published 1994)

summer garden—

dad’s old hoe

saved for kindling

             (written 2002, published 2017)

summer garden fritillary in the fuchsia

             (written 2013, published 2022)

summer heat . . .

the table wiped clean

at the morgue

             (written 2017, published 2017; see “From Jumble Box”)

summer lake—

my feet treading

at a colder depth

             (written 2011, published 2016)

summermaidance

             (written 1990, published 1991)

summer night—

I close Peggy’s book

to hear the rain

             (written 2020, published 2021; for Peggy Willis Lyles; see “Memorial Haiku”)

summer sky—

the car’s empty bike rack

at the park-and-ride

             (written 2015, published 2023)

summer storm—

traffic lights

blinking red

             (written 2022, published 2022; see “Are We There Yet?” rengay)

summer swelter—

a tattered jolly roger

on the Disney ride

             (written 2017, published 2018; see “Rainbow” rengay)

summer trip—

no scale

on the island map

             (written 2013, published 2016; see “Weighing In” rengay)

summer twilight . . .

after the campfire

star songs

             (written 1990, published 1991)

summer vacation—

our rhubarb stalks

tipped with sugar

             (written 1998, published 2001; see “For a Moment” and “Five Food Haiku”)

summer vacation—

the aquarium door handle

shaped like a seahorse

             (written 2020, published 2023; see “Against the Glass” rengay)

summer wind—

       the sparrow’s reflection

              flies from the well

             (written 1990, published 1990; see “After the Fall” sequence)