Tangerine

slowly peeling the

tangerine I watch

as you undress

Haiku 4

in the mirror

the shadow of branches

on the wall behind me

Haiku 3

Motorcycle accident -

an empty boot

on the road to Death Valley

Haiku 2

Sudden icy gust --

the maple tree pouring down

red letters of grief

Haiku 1

Quiet evening

just me and

the mosquito

Four Poets in Search of a Haiku

if this poem had been a haiku

there would have been a bullfrog,

a bullfrog sitting

up to his eyes in a pond

inhabiting one world

but seeing another

and when we step closer to look

a jump, a splash then ripples on the water

above the pond, a butterfly

clinging to a willow leaf

opens and closes her wings,

swaying back and forth

pushed by a gentle breeze

and when that breeze calms

the only thing that moves

on these snowy pages

is the eye of the black bird

I sigh ---

if this had been a haiku

it would have been finished

many syllables ago,

the ink would have dried,

the paper neatly folded

into the shape of a boat

and set on a slow moving stream

amongst scattered plum blossoms