Traces of Snow
These poems were all written in February of 2011 for the inaugural National Haiku Writing Month, or NaHaiWriMo, which I created in October of 2010. The challenge is to write at least one haiku a day throughout the month of February—the year’s shortest month for the world’s shortest genre of poetry. For more information, please visit the NaHaiWriMo website and Facebook page. With the exception of the three previously unpublished neon buddha poems, all of the following poems were first published in Haijinx IV:1, March 2011.
a trace of snow—
the cat’s bell
reminds me of you
your hand in mine . . .
the sky so full
of stars
an urn in my lap—
the seaplane descends
from snow into rain
a delicate rain . . .
the photo of the body
passed from hand to hand
a little stone in my sole—
from which mountain trail
did it travel?
slanting rain—
the mall cellist
draws us in
a show of hands
in the jury room—
winter light
broken resolutions—
the snowman’s belly
drooping in the sun
dusty attic—
the old rocking horse
without any eyes
Valentine’s Day—
a cherry tomato
bursts in my mouth +
unfinished basement—
it was here where I finished
my childhood
skinned knee—
my daughter asks me
about God
the plums in front
of the Egyptian embassy
not yet in bloom
first snow—
a crow’s distant caw
carries me home
the neon buddha
keeps hearing
the call of the mild
the neon buddha
wants to hold
a guilty party
the neon buddha
hopes his last resort
is Club Med
