18 Haiku

A train scrapes its rails—

No! A distant siren wails…

Then pre-dawn birdsong

Strong, unblinking sun

and trees full of hummingbirds—

Spring comes when it comes

A catwhisker moon

gleaming in the morning dusk—

crack in the ceiling

*

Curtain of blue sky,

swirling silvery note-bursts—

black bird on a wire

I’ve got sunglasses,

an open book on my lap,

and arms sleek with sweat

Airplanes like fireflies

in the slow-moving night sky—

sleep creeps up on me

*

Sharing the blue sky,

coasting gull and pale half moon—

twins for an instant

Our pains different

from one another’s—it seems

we are both lucky!

Dried food on my thumb,

I flip poetry pages

and feel embarrassed

*

Hearing it blowing,

watching wind through the window

waving all the trees

Seeing the sun set

through a window, thinking of

beachside wine with friends

Universe pouring

in between slats of the blinds—

I am part of this

*

Through the train window

I watch lush green hills while she

stacks her dirty bags

Like a burnt finger

on the greasy grey pavement—

tossed cigarette butt

The houses on fire

with fierce flashes of red light—

neighborhood police

*

A curtain of clouds

sliding over the city—

Spring birds keep singing

She would rather run

on a sidewalk with stop signs

than an ocean path

Pigeon on a ledge

of a peeling old beach house,

ducking in the wind

.