Magnapoets Japanese Form

gay wedding

his father gave him away

long ago

black night -

run of the wind

in the silent street

***

nuit noire -

la course du vent

dans la rue silencieuse

summer heat
pulled from the brick wall
after sunset,
surrounding my body,
taking your place

catfish

a child's eyes widen

at the word

previously published in haigaonline

blowing libeccio--
the bather on the beach
has disappeared

midsummer

the jazzman's trumpet

aims at the stars

(Shiki Kukai, May, 2008)

from the top of the pine

a thrush

till black night

***

du haut du pin

une grive musicienne

jusqu'à la nuit noire

one-way street

a mother and child

look both ways

(Published in Sketchbook)

our sidewalk art
back then—hopscotch squares,
no space
left unchalked
from her house to mine

     the short walk back
     from grade school,
     those wispy buttercups
     I'd bring home. . .my mother
     still warmed by spring flowers

flip-flops
slap the ground harder
after class—
just seven, but who else
had ever flunked "swimming"?

     the neighbor kids
     in a semicircle,
     waving farewells
     that day we drove off
     in our Chevy, for good

Simply Haiku, spring 2008