double espresso
fighting with the wine
for the upper hand

Moonset October 2009
editor's choice for featured senryu

Haiga

Autumn Ritual

It's apple picking time. On a weekday morning we drive north, passing through quiet small towns. Kids are in school, and their parents at work. Ours is the only car on the road. Between the towns are woods and fields, not yet sold to a developer.

following our noses
to the apple orchard–
fresh cider at the mill

We take a half-bushel basket at the stand and trek up a hill picking and tasting as we go.

the bargain apples
hiding on the ground
under poison ivy

On top of the hill, a picnic.

after lunch,
watching the yellow jackets
lazy in the sun
Stylus Poetry Journal, November 2002

Haiga

autumn twilight
clouds glowing orange
behind dark pines

decayed leaves
on the forest floor
new ferns
Ambrosia , July 2009

a wetland trail
we follow the whisper
of marsh grasses
Ambrosia, July 2009

late evening-
the shadows unite
into full darkness
Stylus Poetry Journal, July 2009

SUMMER HAIKU

at the lawn concert
lighting one spot at at time-
fireflies
Fireflies Anthology, Bottle Rockets Press, Summer 2007

cricket in the house-
if only we shared
the same bedtime
Stylus Poetry Journal, January 2003

a cool summer rain
impatiens perk up
before I do
Outlaw Poets, June 2004

SUMMER NIGHTS

Families on their front porches. Grandma with a paper fan. Grandpa and Dad with cold beers. Mom with hot coffee, regardless of the heat. My sister and I–cream soda, out of the bottle. Wet and slippery in our grimy hands. Sweet and bubbly and cool. One gulp. Then another. Then settling into a slow sipping, making it last until bedtime.

circling moths
under a street lamp
the last game of jacks
Bottle Rockets, Summer 2009