Haiku

                                                  rain and snow
                                                  another closet
                                                  cleaned today

                             skeletal trees in deep snow shadow patterns

                                                  snowbound
                                                  all the bushes
                                                  shorter

Bottle Rockets
A Hundred Gourds
South x Southeast

Haibun

 

                                              SINGING CHRISTMAS MASS  

 

The first Mass on Christmas at St. Anthony’s Church is at 6:00 a.m.  I am 13 years old and sing in the choir.  It is still dark when I arrive, and the church is not fully lighted, just the vestibule and the choir loft where we gather for a brief practice.  This first Mass and the last at noon will be high Masses.

 Lights come on in the sanctuary, candles are lighted, the heat is turned on.  At such an early hour the church is only half filled.   Stained glass windows, dark when Mass begins, gradually brighten as the sun rises, and beams of color travel over pillars and pews.  The organ swells; our voices blend harmoniously; the fragrance of pine boughs, candles and incense float up to the choir loft as our voices float out over the congregation.

                                                      the sun in my eyes

                                                      singing “Gloria”

                                                      from memory

Contemporary Haibun On-line, Sept. 2011

 

Haiku

 

 

                                                    today's wind
                                                    stripping autumn
                                                    to the bone

                                                    masons at work
                                                    creeping along the stone wall
                                                    afternoon fog

                                                    heavy fog
                                                    the changing shape
                                                    of this day

Heron's Nest
Shamrock
Chrysanthemun