5 & 7 & 5

by Anselm Hollo

follow that airplane

of course I’m high this is

an emergency

§

giant Scots terrier

I thought I saw was known as

Taxicab Mountain

§

brown photo legend

“serene enjoyment” they suck

pipes bones crumbled back

§

night train whistles stars

over a nation under

mad temporal czars

§

round lumps of cells grow

up to love porridge later

become The Supremes

§

lady I lost my

subway token we must part

it’s faster by air

§

“but it’s our world”

tiny blue hands and green arms

your thought in my room

§

sweet bouzouki sound

another syntax for heads

up to the aether

§

in you the in moon

its rays entwined in my mind’s

hair hangs down right in

§

viewing the dragon

there they ride slim through my dream

Carpaccio’s pair

§

slow bloom inside you

the mnemonics of loving

incessant chatter

§

far shore Ferris wheel

turning glowing humming love

in our lit-up heads

§

switch them to sleep now

the flying foxes swarm out

great it’s flurry time

§

wind rain you and me

went looking for a new house

o the grass grows loud

From Notes on the Possibilities and Attractions of Existence, Coffee House Press, Minneapolis, 2001. Originally from his book Haiku, published in 1968.