One-twelfth of the new year gone already

sweeping the rug
one long cat whisker
and then another
~~

before tonight's freeze
plucking four inch-high buds
of daffodils
~~

graveside service
momentarily halted
two geese fly over
~~

TANKA

5 degrees outside
55 inside, with ice
on the thin windows
   layered and lap-robed
   I watch birds out in the sun
~~

blackbirds in the yard
pecking among the crisp leaves
robins on the roof
~~

cat wiggling
through the barely-open door--
below freezing
~~

c 2014, PL lovepat press

soughing of the wind

hard rain
on the chimney cap--
the wind chime
~~

windstorm
rattling this old house--
my shallow breaths
~~

soughing of the wind
silenced . . . the rising roar
of the plane's passing
~~

up and down,
cats in, cats out--
I bang my heel
~~

no ice cream--
I try meditating
on haiku
[after Santoka Taneda, from Haiku Mind, by P. Donegan]

~~~~~~
c 2014, lovepat press, PL

unheated attic --
window lace frosted inside,
     icicle bars outdoors
--Dorothy McLaughlin, from
Connecting Our Houses, 1997
~~

mid-January
receiving the November-
December issue
~~

trapped
inside
her Ford Escape
~~

the clap of thunder--
a flock of starlings
where the robins were
~~

in a swollen river
a freighter and a pickup
which doesn't belong?
~~

winter sky
on the end of the high branch
a clump of leaves
~~

c 2014, lovepat press

New Year's goals, resolutions. . . (breaking)

FOLLY

Most new year's resolutions fade,
for we will trade
most anything
keep a-wing
of long-held habits--dark, entrenched--
although to quench
them, we apply
the old standby:
our annual resolutions ploy--
a mere decoy.
We'll never change,
just rearrange.

from variations, 1994, PL
~~

in the silence
hearing resolutions
breaking

from New Year's Project, 2006, PL
~~

a five-year plan
that changed
every day

from  the late  Dion O'Donnol's
day to day:a haiku year, 2002
~~

A GOOD NEW YEAR TO YOU

mailboxes
barely clear of holiday cards--
IRS greetings
~~

New Year's week
pink top of hyacinth
emerges from the leaves
~~

lighting a candle--
kitchen match burns on and on
into blackness
~~

child at the window
the sun's strange effect
on icicles
~~

the cardinal
among the gray birds
on the snow
~~

trip from Florida
his Honda hits an ice patch
goodbye, car
~~
c lovepat press 2014