Life Told in Haiku Verses

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1. The man with red meat

Shrieks at the boy who broke

The tip of the blade.

2. The blonde boy wails

His red snowsuit frosted white

The mother waves goodbye.

3. Morning after morning

Gun metal skies depress me

The city of white hills.

4. O Oneonta

Perpetual pewter skies

Frozen white landscape.

5. Sometimes in summer

Hot green hills shimmer sunlight

Distant from the deck.

6. The bog bounces back

Rich black earth filtering clear

Deep springs of water.

7. Around the ranch house

Suburban children chase and break

Bones falling over walls.

8. Here, downtown stores sell

All-season clothes like tires

Tread fit for traction.

9. Rain drills the highway

Toads lurch the slick grey ribbon

To the other side.

10. The house cat hides, I

Leave the sparkling party

Soundless like the cat.

11. The sunny bedroom

Where bedded in a red robe

She died of heartbreak.

12. Grey seas under blue

Are like self-imposed hunger

Yearning congruence.

13. Pizza lush red white

Crusty light olive oil

With chunks of egg plant.

14. Winter leafless tree

Branches dipped in morning gold

Like upside down roots.

15. Opposites prove true

When the black dog demon slinks

Through the Catskill peaks.

16. Piece of yellow house

As a man in yellow sweater

Descends the staircase.

17. Loss is an object

Predator of grey matter

Shed at the airport.

18. Haiku and Basho

Rules of seasonal beauty

Structure of instinct.

19. Haiku blooms beyond

The bud of a plant’s potential

To unseen flowers.

20. Deep rolling landscape

We see but cannot dive

Life turned inside out.

21. Sea floor depressions

Deep as dry landscapes, mountains,

Sea troughs or landslides.

22. Fallopian fronds

Swish like winded flowers, moods

Spill seeds and chaos.

23. A deep sigh accompanies

Relief from pain more pleasurable

Than sunlit wheat fields.

24. Nighttime feels unsafe

Light dips low on the buildings

On so many dark rooms.

25. Parallel universe

Death is feeling the slippage

Suddenly or slowly.

26. Truth is the mathematical

Sum of objects, cats or gold

That must equalize.

27. The snow on the lawn

Is pristine, said the father

You must not frolic.

28. She buys juice and fish

But she lacks enough money

Counting on strangers.

29. Snow reflected sun

Tempting but blinding, cold kill

Painful just to walk.

30. Winter can make one

Want to commit suicide

In ice cold beauty.

31. Rescue ships sailed

Came back from the North Pole

Without Sir Franklin.

32. High white waterfalls

The water in the jungle

Like mountain snow slides.

33. See patterns emerge

From a parallel universe

Float intaglio.