The first six months

I'm going to shoot ahead now. I've written posts about my first two haiku, but at that rate it will take me forever. What I'll do is to post the next 35 in one fell swoop. They make up a set in the sense that I wrote them during the six-month period leading up to my employment in Japan.

I wrote haiku slowly at the beginning (and at the end - but that's the topic of a future post) at a rate of about half a dozen per month. From September 1993 until March 1994, a period of seven months, I wrote just 37 haiku.

I observe that they arrived in twos and threes mainly, as far as their nature or structure is concerned. I don't know - perhaps this reflects the 'setting' that my brain was in at any particular time. Read the following, then, seeking the pattern . . .


shibui!
they all cry
shibui! shibui!

satori?
a single cherry blossom
counts for naught

***

running
against the wind
I dodge a bee

the clouds burst thrice
in the course of my circuit
I crack the hour though

***

in a meat suit
one fumbles
for buttons

such thumping about!
an elephant would
make less noise

***

caught off-guard
such images worthy of
genuflection

twenty years a beard
clean-shaven now
such lines! such skin!

***

overseas
the sun and sky
remain the same

magpies dream
of streams and
ten-speed touring

***

a cloud a hill a tree a pane
this ray explodes
these eyes

degrees
measured in tenths!
symptomatic surely

sunglasses?
shingles!
though you used
to port people
yourself
once

***

I might, might not . . .
make pretty poor company
after

forgive life
the way you do
your clumsy dad

***

a night spent
sitting, writing, walking
dreaming

every man feels
his voice is worth
singing

if the best
does not remain
was it ever?

***

humid evening
inhale a damp towel
instant tropics

despite the dirt
& chocolate smears
baby smells of sunshine

***

betrayed
by my own tongue I
mumble and splutter

each haiku
thwacks!
to halt my nodding

***

three
words
speak

some sort of bird
some sort of tree
does its name
concern either?

***

wrenching my guts
on another's behalf
how stupid!

a cold shower
or a decent crap
any comparison?

cramming one's headful
results in
just what?

***

exercise over
I strut
cushioned soles

on grass
the morning rain
I take a leak

***

we sense
the back beyond the blue
the stars?
give us a chance

give up!
you've almost
conquered

***

bird poop!
from a clear blue sky
release

in a word
this seasoning's not
for general consumption

the Bird lifts
up its wings and wheels
smiles and tears