a turkey vulture
wings buffeted by strong winds
hangs stationary

So if your strife strikes
at your sleep remember that
Spring swaps snow for leaves

-Mumford and Sons, "Winter Winds"

Loading lane pigeons
Wings percussive on impact
Full 180 swing

Half-soft bananas
Some fruits just don't travel well
Cabin pressure browns

Soft at first, then wet
My body heat melts nature's
Cold wintry kisses

On black midnight roads
Snow eddies flow meringue-like
Whisk to smooth stiff peaks

The ground is frozen
Grass blades sharp as damask steel
Cats tread carefully

Sleepy eaters packed
Unceremoniously
Trudging slowly home

For some, Thanksgiving
Is all about family;
I come for the pie.

One by one they hum
The bagpipe drone of autumn
Leaf blowers cometh

Tightly wrapped, she sways
Hips moving this way and that
Don't look at her butt

The season changes
Wet fall leaves slip underfoot
The trees are barren

Fog clouds my senses
Simple math equations are
Unexpected deer
Homeworking sleepless is like
Driving with one headlight out

Rusk and russet trees
Aflame with autumn glory
Crackle in the wind

Dear Massachusetts:
Decide what season it is.
Thanks. Sincerely, Me

Swathes of warm sunshine
Glaze the far-off mountaintops
I am home at last

Shades of apple blush
Color coordinated
Grace my long drive home

Arching white vellum
dimples in the autumn rain
Now wet, shall we dance?

Box cutter and pen
Chipboard and clear mind
The long night begins

With ruler in hand,
Site leaps from waiting paper
To fill the white void

Arching white vellum
Narrated by quick short strokes
Tamed slightly, lightly,
The tip-of-tongue recorded
Voluptuously

Caress each angle
Your work becomes your lover
Alone in the night

on midnight baking:
with wabi-sabi cupcakes,
the night is endless.

Cherry blossom tree
Fleeting beauty camouflaged
3/4 of the year

Pelted with wet leaves
I'm nature's papier mâché
Autumn's creation

We cannot see love
Nor pain nor joy nor sorrow
We cannot pinpoint
Jealousy or rage; instead
We are left only
To wonder at faint flickerings
Of tongue or cheek.
Emotions are so
Elegantly elusive
Intently we peer
Through eyes, through veils, seeing
Only through a glass, darkly

Why is it that art
And academia are
Not the best of friends?
They both make a lot of sense
And inform one another
But some people just
Can't use both sides of their brains
That sounds quite condescending
What I really mean
Is that between books and bolts,
Brushes and blueprints, only
Corpus callosum
Comes between the bankers,
The painters,
And me.

蟻

Six-legged neighbors
Arrive at night silently
Through the front window
Defying gravity they
Traverse the ceiling
To admire my cooking

Fresh crumbs left behind
A tribute for my neighbors
Appreciative
They'll bring their friends tomorrow

A rare yellow leaf:
In the land of summer rain
Nothing ever dies
Flowers are always in bloom


[5/18/10]

I signed a letter
And had my photo taken
To support the rights
Of students in Iran.
Why was it so hard
For everyone else to sign?
Will you always let your pride
Your fear of nothing
Come between you and doing
What you know might just be right?


[5/18/10]

ハンバーガー

 o

Savoring first bite
Lips slick with slippery oil
I dive down for more
But wait! there's something missing
Ah; they forgot the relish.

I set out driving
Early morning late July
Wind whips at my hair
Buffeted by a cool breeze
The slightest hint
of Autumn hangs in the air

One haiku a day
It doesn't have to be good
It just has to be

四

Sulphured haze descends
The aftermath of magic,
Barbecue and beer

蟻

-
Ants: unaffected
By the housing crisis yet
So ruined by rain

When will they wise up
To the inefficiency
Of building with sand?

It's been a while.
Between school and the weather,
Summer is busy.

Math is everywhere
On-ramps are asymptotic
If you do it right

From pools on my skin
Drosphilia drink deeply
Sated in the heat

Clouds roll and rumble
Bright blue gives way to warm grey
Zeus prepares his bolts
What seems ominous to us
Is great for the plants and ducks

Wipe slice slice slice turn
Slice slice slice, inhale, exhale
Shhhhuk, crunch mmmm... The Zen
Of Slicing Watermelon

蚤

They seek your warm spots
Leave kiss marks for you to find
Make you itch for more.
Silently they come and go,
Unfaithful lovers;
Nuzzle close, nibble gently,
Then leave you for another.

They mate in the air
Serene, then suddenly: SPLAT!
Ah, lovebug season.

The air is so still
No sound except the plip plop
Of sweat from my nose

Eating and driving
Easy unless it is fruit
Plum juice everywhere

Now I remember
My reason for fleeing North:
Humidity sucks.

鳳梨

Fresh diced pineapple
Canned shipped juiced sent overseas
So simple and sweet
Bright labels hide the sharp cut
Edges of can and
Edges of plow the salty
Sweat that drips runs pours
Edges of borders
That keep you in working for
My simple and sweet
How many plants does it take
To fill your one day
And my one can is the taste
Enough to make this
Worth the sweat to bring one can
To one mouth am I
Worth the sweat to keep making
That fruit your whole life
I taste your sweat in this piece
Still seems so simple and sweet

果物

º
Firm flesh yields to my
Sinking teeth, tongue lapping up
The red running juice
I smack my lips for more
Ah, the sweet taste of summer.


With a knife I strip
Your spiny scales to reveal
The ripe flesh within
If it weren't for your core,
I would eat your body whole.


Exotic brown skin
So petite and firm, easy
To hold in my hand
Will you be angry at me
If I pucker at your flesh?


Exotic brown skin
So petite and firm, easy
To hold in my hand,
Your soft fur stands between us.
Here, let me help you
Shed your tropical sable;
Now naked, a bite?
Just one tiny nibble?  Oh!
You sting, I pucker.

白

The blossoms which fall
Look today like white ashes
Beautiful remnants
Of a soon past disaster
From what volcano came Spring?

Before it's over
Will you share a dance with me?
Our shadows are one

In the setting sun
Even pebbles have shadows
As the light recedes
The smallest become giants
If only in reflections

You give me a kiss
But will not bring me flowers
What am I to you?

花が降る　　　　　　  hana ga furu
天気は涼しい　　　　tenki wa suzushii
意味は何だ?　　　　 imi wa nan da?

Commercialism
Meets activism: FREE TIBET
WITH EVERY ORDER

moment of crisis:
crap. "this is not your H Drive"
that paper is gone.

if i was alone
would i be more care free care
less of a person?

Hum low and hold me
Disregarding consequence
Throw it to the wind

What we do not see
She lies alone, stroking her
Black and tangled hair

The shuddering bus
Delineates safe passage
From point A to B

Florida's unique
Car alarm mockingbirds: HONK
WeeAANH brrrBEEP!

Open to the world
I sway, interpretive dance
At the wind's mercy

On the wind's whims
Leaves dance, birds scatter; as the
Leaves dance, so do I

I slowly wander
To where the wind's whims
Whisper I should go

To contemplate Spring
Is to free yourself from all
Other mental cloys.

When she sees chocolate
She starts to feel better
Pavlovian girl

Hadley in the spring:
Pretty cherry blossoms and
The smell of bison

Spring is restoring
My faith in humanity
One breeze at a time

For if we are but
Children of mother nature
We too can revive

Oh how I've waited
To feel grass between my toes
It is spring indeed!

ありがとう                 arigatou
金は幸せ                     kane wa shiawase
に成ります                 ni narimasu

花

Blossoms fall like rain
Belying the end of a
Beautiful season


花が降る　　　　　　hana ga furu
きれいな季節は　　　kirei na kisetsu wa
終わります　　　　　owarimasu

春の香りと音

The smell of new mulch
Chopped old trees feeding new ones
Cannibalistic

The smell of new mulch
Birds singing in the trees, dew
Glistens on new grass


Yep, that cinches it
I've seen my first robin; Spring
Is finally here!

Woodpecker だか?
DrrrRAH drrrRAH! Trees echo
The sharp sounds of Spring

春の天気

Though cool this morning,
It will be humid later.
Off with the jacket.
 
The weather dictates
I act like a banana
Peel and discard

霧

In fog, it's easy
To walk with feet on the ground
And head in the clouds

Dense fog settles in
What we cannot see through: is
This where angels live?

Cool cumulus clouds
Occlude the morning sunrise
Descending slowly

Descending slowly
Cool cumulus moulds around
My feet, making waves

Cool cumulus moulds
Around my feet, flowers bathed
In heavenly sea

The cool morning fog:
In heaven's perspiration,
Flowers are bathing.

等

THONK CHUNT WHACK KERSPLAT
Not all haiku are about
nature and love. See?

酔

easter keg hunt plus
asian men always equals
kung fu, without fail.

夏

Ah, lazy summer
Winter's pallor forgotten,
Languish in the sun.

The rocks are dripping
My sticky skin is as well
Summer is coming

I feel much better
For the sun and warm breezes
Have woken me up

春

In springtime of life
Your tulips are blossoming
May I be the first?

Wide hats, FiveFingers
Strange gear first seen this season
Springtime must be here!

Oh how I've waited
To feel grass between my toes
It is spring indeed!

On-the-go Collected

Ah, lazy summer
Winter's pallor forgotten,
Languish in the sun.

The rocks are dripping
My sticky skin is as well
Summer is coming

I feel much better
For the sun and warm breezes
Have woken me up


In springtime of life
Your tulips are blossoming
May I be the first?


Wide hats, FiveFingers
Strange gear first seen this season
Springtime must be here!


いっしょうに, we
dance and sway, 音楽 to
feeling the music


A chance to meter
My thoughts: I take advantage
Of every haiku.


almost impending
end of semester is near
savor the crazy


peruse: ampersand
swift lines and smooth connections
all in one small "and"


Oh how I've waited
To feel grass between my toes
It is spring indeed!


ありがとう
金は幸せ
になります

In-flight haiku practice

The turtledoves sing
to let us know what's up:
The world is in love.

Brown ducks in winter
sit calmly on frozen ponds.
Their butts must be cold.


30,000 feet.
Pretty high up, don't you think?
I prefer the ground.

If people could fly,
Would they? Or would they be
frightened of falling?


These shoes are so cute.
They make my legs look gorgeous
but they hurt like hell.


What's down underneath?
Your soul? Mine? Purgatory?
A leather sofa?


I pity people
who have to learn English.
It makes no effing sense.

Japanese makes sense.
I guess that's what happens when
a country's that old.


I forgot my socks.
Packed them in my checked luggage.
My feet are frozen.


It is difficult
to not read these until I've
finished all of them.

A revelation!
White space: not as frightening
as it was before.


There's room for one more
Better make it a good one
Concatenation

An aggregation
Plenipotentiary
O! graduation...