Selected Tanka: Stargazing Tanka

stargazing
by the attic window
tonight . . .
what if I had
a child of my own

Kernels, 2, Summer 2013

Selected Tanka: Map Tanka

go back
where you came from...
the crackle
of unfolding a map
in winter twilight

Kernels, 2, Summer 2013

Selected Haiku: Ghost Month Haiku

end of Ghost Month
the moon and I make our way
through the night

Kernels, 2, Summer 2013

Selected Haiku: Compost Haiku

thoughts of home...
I rake last year's leaves
for compost

Kernels, 2, Summer 2013

Selected Haibun: A Midsummer Night's Dream

“Anyway, finally amid the pain, I felt something slipping out. This fiery hot mass like the sun. The moment the baby burst into…its first cry…” she wipes the tears from her eyes, “was the most painfully beautiful moment for me.”

“There is always something new under the sun,” says her youngest sister with an awkward smile while squeezing her 10-year-old daughter’s hand.

shooting stars...

if I had a child

of my own

Kernels,2, Summer 2014

Selected Tanka: Ink-Dark Sky Tanka

releasing
fireflies from the jar
of my words...
what do they look like
under her ink-dark sky?

Kernels, 1, Spring 2013

Selected Tanka: Drunk on Writing Tanka

drunk on writing ...
I compose one tanka
after another
until the swan sings
on the lake of my mind

Kernels, 1, Spring 2013

Stargazing Tanka

stargazing
by the attic window
tonight . . .
what if I had
a child of my own

Kernels, #2, Summer 2013

Old Map Tanka

go back
where you came from...
the crackle
of unfolding a map
in winter twilight

Kernels, #2, Summer 2013

Foreclosed House Haiku

an old dog barks
at the foreclosed house
winter solstice

Kernels, #2, Summer 2013

A Haiku about Last Year's Leaves

thoughts of home...
I rake last year's leaves
for compost

Kernels, #2, Summer 2013

A Haiku about Matsushima

Matsushima...
holding this moonlit night
under the pines

Kernels, #2, Summer 2013

 

 

Note: Below is a well-known apocryphal haiku often attributed to Matsuo Bashō  who, upon the sight of  Matsushima, was at a loss for words,

 

Matsushima ah!
A-ah, Matsushima, ah!
Matsushima, ah!

Here and Now, A Haibun

I awaken to watery sunlight filtering through the curtains. I had the same dream again.

 

A cave on the cliff of a high peak.  Above it, there is a rusty plaque on which “Barrier of Death” is inscribed. I walk inside the cave only to find a mossy statue: an old man, who looks like me, sits cross-legged.

 

Suddenly, a throaty voice, “bleached bones on my mind,” brings me back to daylight.

 

fruit trees blooming…

grain by grain, I eat

a bowl of rice

Kernels, #2, Summer 2013

Ghost Month haiku

end of Ghost Month
the moon and I make our way
through the night

Kernels, #2, Summer 2013

A Midsummer Night's Dream, A Haibun

“Anyway, finally amid the pain, I felt something slipping out. This fiery hot mass like the sun. The moment the baby burst into…its first cry…” she wipes the tears from her eyes, “was the most painfully beautiful moment for me.”

“There is always something new under the sun,” says her youngest sister with an awkward smile while squeezing her 10-year-old daughter’s hand.

shooting stars...
if I had a child
of my own

Kernels, #2, Summer 2013

Toothless Smile Senryu

on her cleavage
the grim reaper tattoo --
his toothless smile

Kernels, #1, Spring 2013

A Tanka about Writing

drunk on writing...
I compose one tanka
after another
until the swan sings
on the lake of my mind

Kernels, #1, Spring 2013

Ink-Dark Sky Tanka

releasing
fireflies from the jar
of my words...
what do they look like
under her ink-dark sky?

Kernels, #1, Spring 2013

Steamed Rice Haiku

winter wind
through cracks in a window
the smell of steamed rice

Kernels, #1, Spring 2013

Moon Viewing Haiku

moon viewing
I walk with my shadow
in the same river twice

Kernels, #1, Spring 2013