With apologies to Rodgers & Hammerstein...

"June is bustin' out all over..."

the basso warble
of the sandhill crane
in its mating dance
[publ. Haiku Headlines]


cleaning the spare room
for an early-summer guest~
a still-hidden egg
[publ. Piedmont Literary Review]


the pond
hemmed in by foothills~
summer heat shimmers
[publ. Season's Greeting Letters,
and Poets' Roundtable of Arkansas
Anthology, 2007]


songbirds
and old men
on the Promenade
[publ. Hot Springs AR Sentinel Record's
mailaway edition]


cows in the pond
up to their bellies
one-hundred degrees
[publ. 37 Cents e-zine]


flag moving slightly
but the windchimes are mute
a cardinal's 'chit'
[publ. 37 Cents e-zine]


May your writing "bust out" all during June.

c 2012 by Pat Laster dba lovepat press

Birds and butterflies

by Pat Laster

5-2-12
a pair of bluebirds
the female bathing
in shallow water
~~~

5-4-12
Two crows
near the pecan
tree are divebombed and screamed
at by a mother mockingbird.
Even so,

they fly
up, disappear
into the tree. The bird
cries. I rush out and clap my hands.
They flee.
~~~

5-6-12
black butterfly
stopping at each lamb's ear bloom
then starting over
~~~

5-8-12
two brown thrashers
living up to their names
in the birdbath
~~~

5-12-12
mockingbird
lighting on the fallen
oak branch
~~~

5-18-12
Yellow
swallowtail sips
from the Easter lily
but goes back to the lamb's ear: bloom-
hopping!
~~~

The irony of senryu

Senryu, being of the same form as haiku, but about people and situations, has been a helpful vehicle for those items in the news--be it in the sports world, the political arena or in the realm of the personal--that catch my fancy. Below are a few.

World Peace, the athlete
beating up a fan he thought
threw a drink at him   
~~~(idea from Wally Hall, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 16, '12)


forced therapy
before she reads the paper
rankles the patient
~~~(personal conversation with B. F. about her mother, 5/16/12)

worst thing
to read in an obit:
"recently retired"
~~~(3/13/03)

moralizers
minding everyone's business
but their own
~~~(Bob Lancaster, Arkansas Times, 3/3/05)


after tornado
a piece of the obit page
fifty miles away
~~~(news article 3/31/98)


reading along
I come to a ladybug
is it reading, too?
~~~(while reading Gene Fowler's Skyline, 2/14/12)


I eye you
you eye him
none of us happy
~~~(picture: Putin's guards as he walks by: AP, 5/8/12)


Reminder: Nowadays neither haiku nor senryu must have 5-7-5 syllables unless a contest specifically calls for "traditional". 

JOIN MY CAMPAIGN: do away with contests that require traditional haiku.
poems c 2012 by Pat Laster dba lovepat press

Poems from the card file

the new computer
doesn't speak
to the older one
~~~

new Medicare card~
tryst with a long-admired
poet
~~~

inside, Finale
of 1812 Overture
outside, thunder
~~~

my $50
poetry prize signed over
grandson's birthday
~~~

one detention hall
during the entire 9th grade
--for no pencil
~~~

cat emerges
from under the sofa
when the storm passes
~~~

hole in the screen
a tiny black insect
crawls down my nightshirt
~~~

volunteer
sunflower
disappears--a squirrel?

c 2012 by Pat Laster dba lovepat press

Mother's Day poems

home for Mother's Day
three desserts at dinner . . .
each child's favorite
by Dorothy McLaughlin, published in Connecting Our Houses, co-written with Pat Laster, 1997, ISBN 0-9661791-0-2 by lovepat press
~~~

The following are by Pat Laster, with the collection title and date added.

rearranging
the refrigerator art
for Mother's Day
~~~ May Day ~ May Day ~ May Day, 2003

child's bright idea:
"Mommy, take the doll shopping
for my Mother's Day
~~~
florist son
too busy to call her
on Mother's Day
~~~ along the creek bank, 2005

two-thousand-six
first Mother's Day
without her
~~~
on the front porch
in my Mother's Day lawn chair
first rain in a month
~~~
a week late
the unsigned Mother's Day card
from my youngest child
~~~on the same page, 2006

two-thousand-seven
second Mother's Day
without her
~~~a bird calls at dusk, 2007

c 2012 by Pat Laster dba lovepat press