Body haiku

flip-flops in October —

the sparkle of

her toenails

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Published in Brass Bell: A Haiku Journal (http://brassbellhaiku.blogspot.com/2021/11/body-haiku.html), 11/1/21.

Haiku about numbers

6 p.m.

this morning’s tea

cold in the cup

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Published in Brass Bell: A Haiku Journal (http://brassbellhaiku.blogspot.com/2021/10/numbers.html), 10/1/21.

New haiku

watermelon sunset . . .

I spit a seed

into the sky

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Published in Brass Bell: A Haiku Journal (http://brassbellhaiku.blogspot.com/2021/09/new-haiku.html), 9/1/21.

Seedy dandelion

cracked curb

seedy dandelion

standing tall

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Published in Bottle Rockets, August 2021.

Haiku about family and friends

clutching the letter —

her dad lifts her up

to the mail slot

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Published in Brass Bell: A Haiku Journal (http://brassbellhaiku.blogspot.com/2021/08/family-friends.html), 7/1/21.

Haiku about childhood memories

Planters Peanuts

and motorized rolling chairs . . .

boardwalk memories

arts & crafts

with mom . . .

making memories

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Published in Brass Bell: A Haiku Journal (http://brassbellhaiku.blogspot.com/2021/07/childhood-memories.html), 7/1/21.

New scrolls in the fairy houses

Last year, the mother / daughter duo Maternal Mitochondria created an installation of up-cycled metal fairy houses at the Santa Fe Skies RV Park. Inside each miniature dwelling was a little fairy poem on a beautifully wrought scroll that visitors could take out and read.

The installation was a success! In fact, people liked interacting with it so much that they left little tokens of their own: pebbles, pennies, painted rocks, and bits of their own art projects.

This year I was invited to provide the poems for the scrolls — an opportunity for which I’m very grateful, both as a poet and an advocate for poetry in public places.

The Cantina, day and night. Photo courtesy of Maternal Mitochondria.

Cantina poems on suminagashi paper.
Photo courtesy of Maternal Mitochondria.

The Mushroom, day and night. Photo courtesy of Maternal Mitochondria.

Mushroom poems on suminagashi paper.
Photo courtesy of Maternal Mitochondria.

The Cabin.
Photo courtesy of Maternal Mitochondria.

Cabin poems on suminagashi paper.
Photo courtesy of Maternal Mitochondria.

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For information on the creative duo Maternal Mitochondria: maternalmitochondria.com/about/.

For information about Santa Fe Skies RV Park: santafeskiesrvpark.com/about/.

For information on the art of suminagashi: maternalmitochondria.com/2018/09/26/what-is-suminagashi/.

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Juneteenth

Juneteenth . . .

I free myself

from illusions

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Haiku about sounds or silences

and then the sound

of an ice cream truck—

I pat my pockets

low battery —

trying to silence

the wrong smoke alarm

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Published in Brass Bell: A Haiku Journal (https://brassbellhaiku.blogspot.com/2021/06/sound-no-sound.html), 6/1/21.

Edible haiku

summer woods . . .

beneath the leaf mold

mushrooms

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wabi? sabi?

I scratch my head

and eat some wasabi

Wabi and sabi — the bittersweet beauties of imperfection and impermanence — are fundamental Japanese aesthetics that figure prominently in haiku. I can never remember which is which, though, so I’m forever looking them up. LOL!

(For a more nuanced look at wabi and sabi — because it’s more subtle and complex than the simplistic definition I offer above — see my post The Wabi-Sabi Aesthetic.  ;- )

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Published in Brass Bell: A Haiku Journal (http://brassbellhaiku.blogspot.com/2021/05/edible-haiku.html), 5/1/21.

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