Into a Roiling Sea
These funeral haiku were first published, in parts, in Modern Haiku and in the book Haiku Friends, Volume 3 (Osaka, Japan: Print 819, 2009), edited by Masaharu Hirata. See complete publication details at the end. See also “Haiku Friends, Volume 2” and “Haiku Friends, Volume 3.” See also “Buried.”
a long stop light—
the air so clear
the day of the funeral
harpsichord music—
my awkward smile on meeting
a distant cousin
at the singing
of the Lord’s Prayer,
her shoulders shudder
during the eulogy,
something I never knew
about great-grandmother
receiving line—
when I greet the widower
my voice cracks
leaving the room:
the casket to be opened
for the granddaughter
falling rose petals . . .
the tattoo
on the pallbearer’s arm
the car ahead
in the funeral procession,
an Acura Vigor
spring sun—
a pallbearer stops
to tie his shoe
pallbearers pause dust motes slowly falling
open grave—
the minister’s polished shoes
sinking into dark earth
at the graveside
the moment uncle hesitates
with his rose
after the burial
thud of an acorn
on the limo roof
sheer sky—
the sun sets
into a roiling sea
All poems written in St. Helena, Novato, and Benecia, California, after a funeral for a relative on 2 November 1994, except “spring sun” (6 June 1994, Foster City, California), “pallbearers / dust motes” (27 January 1990, Foster City, California), “open grave” (21 May 1994, Foster City, California), and “after the burial” (24 February 1995, St. Helena, California). “spring sun,” “falling rose petals,” and “open grave” all appeared in Modern Haiku XXX:1, Winter–Spring 1999. Except for the three poems published in Modern Haiku, this sequence also appeared in Haiku Friends 3 (Osaka, Japan: Print 819, 2009), edited by Masuharu Hirata.