Layoff Notice Tanka

oh! sunset glow …

I drift, drifting through

a swirl of leaves

as the wind tears loose

my layoff notice

Take 5ive, 2026

Stratus Clouds Haiku

stratus clouds ...

leaf after leaf drifts into

the sound of gray

Trash Panda, 10, 2025

Farmers' Market Haiku

farmers' market

pyramid after pyramid 

of pumpkins

Wales Haiku Journal, Autumn 2025

Autumn Fog Haiku

layers of autumn fog...

trying to live this midlife

without answers

Asahi Haikuist Network, September 5 2025

Gembun

this season of my wounded heart

sunset glow

   red leaf

zig

     zagging

into my

      loneliness

NeverEnding Story, October 17 2025

FYI: This gembun is written in response to Virginia Woolf 's remark on autumn:

Autumn is my season, dear. It is, after all, the season of the soul.

(From a letter to Violet Dickinson, c. July 1907)

And for more details about gembun, see To the Lighthouse: Gembun, Untitled Minimalist Haibun

Immigrant Past Tanka

to forget

or not to forget

my immigrant past ...

in the autumn wind

even clouds touch and part

Time Haiku, 61, 2025

Indian Summer Haiku

this muscle memory

of my son flying high

Indian summer

Selected Haiku, Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum English Haiku Contest 

Smell of Sunshine Haiku

fall garden

the smell of sunshine rises

with robinsong

Enchanted Garden, 10, 2024

Romanian Translation by Editor Steliana Cristina Voicu

grădină de toamnă

mirosul soarelui ridică

un cântec de prihor

Ex Mayor's Billboard

a crow on top 

of the ex mayor's billboard

autumn deepens 

haikuNetra, 1:2, October 2023

A Crow and the Ex Mayor Haiku

a crow on top 

of the ex mayor's billboard

autumn deepens 

haikuNetra, 1:2, 2023

War after War News Haiku

war after war news ...

yellow leaves whirling into

the sound of darkness

Revision Haikuniverse, October 14 2023

Migrant Haiku

dew drips drips ...

this autumn world

of a migrant

Cattails, April 2023

Black Widow Tanka

a black widow

weaving autumn moonlight

through the net

an unknown bird settles

on the foreclosure sign

Take 5ive, 4, 2022

Dance of Life and Death Tanka

Tandava,

this dance of life and death ...

alone 

I'm bathed in autumn sunset

as leaves swirl in circles

Pages Literary Journal, Oct. 23, 2022

Cacophony Haiku

deep autumn ...

the cacophony

of leaf blowers

Brass Bell, June 2021

Autumn Stroll Haiku

autumn stroll

the moonlight in my wife's hair

touched with gray

The Cicada's Cry, Autumn 2020

Window Display and Masked Face Haiku

window display

the blush of autumn sunset

on her masked face

Chinese Translation

櫥窗陳列

在她戴面罩的臉上

秋天的夕陽紅

Autumn Moon Haiku Journal, 4:1, Fall/Winter 2020-2021

Browning Edges Haiku

browning edges
of my poetry manuscript
autumn deepens 

NeverEnding Story, November 6, 2019

Train Tracks Haiku

deep autumn
train tracks curve
into sunset

NeverEnding Story, October 20, 2019

Gray-Haired Years Tanka

autumn deepens
with a wisp of snow
on the window . . .
these gray-haired years I wake
alone with my dog

Atlas Poetica, 36, 2019