Spring Equinox Haiku

spring equinox

half asleep, half awake

to twilit skies

Asahi Haikuist Network, March 20, 2026

Spring Thaw Haiku

the shadow

of a viagra billboard

spring thaw

hedgerow, 151, 2026

Trump News on Mute Tanka

Trump news on mute ...

I look out the window

at the moths

flying around the porch light

in this false spring

Shot Glass Journal, 47 September 2025

Faint Birdsong Haiku

faint birdsong

the nurse opens the window

to let the spring in

Asahi Haikuist Network, May 2 2025

Why Zane Haiku

alone with birdsong

in the light of spring dawn

why zazen?

Sense & Sensibility, May, 2025

Something New for a Day Trip, and Yet ...

Trump Empire, Inc., VII

written in response to Time Magazine, March 11: U.S. Is Added to Human Rights Watchlist

It's Trump-Free Zone

not the 51st US state

from New York

my friend trumpets with her eyes closed

face skyward, hands outstretched ...

in Toronto sunshine

with the scent of early spring

and freedom

two Americans meet and part:

one draft dodger, one Trump evader

wave after wave

lapping against the lake shore ...

the blood moon

shapes and re-shapes

our dark reflections

NeverEnding Story, March 17 2025

Note: During the Vietnam War, American "draft dodgers," most of whom were anti-war activists, evaded military service through various means, with some seeking refuge in Canada. And the origin of the name "Toronto" comes from the Huron word toran-ten, which literally means meeting place.

And BuzzFeed, "Jan. 22": Americans Share Why They Chose Canada Over The US

Added: Trump Empire, Inc., VIII

patho-cracy ...

my ESL teacher whispers

then puts her finger 

to her mouth as USA! chants 

grow loud and darker outside

FYI: ESL stands for English as a Second Language. And a pathocracy is “a system of government created by a small pathological minority that takes control over a society" 

For more details, see The Tyee, March 18: Trump and the Politics of Pathology: The strongman catastrophist summons the worst in us. 

Trump is a catastrophist. He wrecks things and then feeds on the pieces. His enablers scavenge the perks and privileges that he dispenses. He is a misanthrope. The conflict and confusion that he creates are purposeful, not incidental. It is a calculated cruelty. And it takes the combination of grievance, vulnerability, and pervasive public ignorance that allows a strongman symbol like Trump to rise to the surface by channelling these feelings into rage and the lust for retribution. It’s not the price of eggs.

Added:

no eye contact ...

a teen up and out of their shopway

this snowy morning

Added:

the beep, beep

of life on the brink

waxing crescent

in the window

of this ICU room

Gardening Haiku

for Earth Day Reflections

gardening ...

breath after breath

of turned earth

Wales Haiku Journal, Winter 2023/2024

Spring Day Mural Haiku

No More Fairy Tales, XXVII

spring day mural:

green paint sprayed across the wall

behind leafless trees

NeverEnding Story, March 212024

FYI: A definition haiku or tanka, a subgenre of definition poetry, begins or ends with a short phrase or statement, followed or preceded by a description of the phrase or statement in concrete imagery. The visually and emotionally suggestive power of a definition haiku or tanka is NOT rooted in the explanatory relationship between its two parts, but in the "dialectical relationship" between them.

For more examples about "definition haiku," see To the Lighthouse: Definition Haiku and Tanka

Added:

mayor's office:

"Yes, We Can"  hangs in the frame 

above the desk

and reed orchids languish

in a dusty corner

Added: 

engineering 101:

not a tunnel 

of icy-dark equations 

but an AI-lit foundry

of 3-D ideas

Memorial Wall Tanka

Memorial Wall

in the spring sunshine  

I finger-walk

through these lives

engraved in bronze

Cattails, October 2023

Wedding Card Haiku

spring thaw

scent of the wedding card

from my ex

Narrow Road, 13, December 2022

Mountain Lake Haiku

dipping

in the mountain lake

me and spring moon

Ink Sweat & Tears , July 9, 2022

Feet and Laughter Haiku

squeaking swing

my daughter’s feet and laughter

reach the spring sky

The Zen Space, Spring 2022

Smell of Sunshine Haiku

green shoots

emerge from the stump

smell of sunshine

Translation by Hidenori Hiruta

緑の芽

切り株から出てくる

太陽の匂い

Akita International Haiku Network, World Haiku Series, May 2022

Green New Deal Tanka

Parliament Hill 

under the spring sky 

a ponytail girl 

holding a placard, 

Green New Deal

PoemHunter, May 6 2022

Fatigue Haiku

Three Hundred and Thirty-Fourth Entry,  Coronavirus Poetry Diary

spring snow-covered branches ...

on Zoom my doctor's words sag

with fatigue

NeverEnding Story, April 29 2022

Added: Three Hundred and Thirty-Fifth Entry

drifting mist ...

during the pandemic

Sunday just a day

FYI: "Not Just Nostalgia: Some Pandemic-Weary Souls Want To Make Sunday A Day Of Rest Again," Bobby Ross Jr., Religion Unplugged, Feb.11, 2022

In a hit song two decades ago, country music group Rascal Flatts offered banjo-tinged commentary on “the world spinning faster than it did in the old days.”

“Sunday was a day of rest,” the group proclaimed in its ode to a bygone era. “Now, it’s one more day for progress.”

Added: Three Hundred and Thirty-Sixth Entry

as if we were alright

with this pandemic life ...

flowers in a crack

Added: Three Hundred and Thirty-Seventh Entry

starlings shape-shift

in the darkening sky ...

more new variants

FYI: Deadline: May 1: New South African Covid Variants, Omicron BA.4 And BA.5, Found In U.S. For First Time; May Be More Transmissible Than BA.2 And The Week Magazine, April 30: Acceptable casualties

Virologists and epidemiologists warn that we are likely in another lull in the pandemic, not at the end. Studies clearly show that immunity from vaccines and prior infection wanes over time, so the shape-shifting virus may return to infect people again and again, unless we keep boosting. We have the weapons to keep this virus under control, but lack the social cohesion to follow a coherent national strategy. Freedom is just another word for "you're on your own."

Jogger's Forehead Senryu

spring sunshine

on a jogger’s forehead 
pigeon poop

Revision Failed Haiku, 7:73, January 2022

Rose-Fingered Dawn Tanka

rose-fingered dawn

slips through the skyline

of Toronto

a songbird and I 

bring news of spring

PoemHunter, March 31 2022

French-Kissing Tanka

alone for weeks

I open the cottage window
to spring sunshine
two teenagers French-kissing
with masks under their chins

Ribbons, 17:2, 2021

Sound of Spring Rain Haiku

sound of spring rain

two umbrellas move closer

to each other

Cold Moon Journal, October 2 2021

French Kiss Senryu

spring thaw

I melt into her

French kiss

Failed Haiku, 6:66,  June 2021