Amid the human cacophony, the need for stillness - POEMS

Photo by C. Hoggard

just before sunrise

a flock of birds

breaking the stillness

~~

waking

to the stillness of a phone

that doesn't ring

~~

still summer morning

whirr of a hummingbird

purr of the cat

~~

the stillness

of the morning

and then the bluejay

~~

~~

These are my poems included in Season's Greeting Letters - 2017, a world-wide publication of only haiku and tanka, collected and published by Mohammed H. Siddiqui, Baltimore. Each year, he mandates a theme, and poets can submit as many poems as they wish, before June 30 each year. If interested, contact me for further details. 

Photo by N. Ziegler, Oak Ridge. A garden in memory of his wife and my aunt, Arlene

A medley of forms -- poems

FOUR TANKA

school shootings
nothing new--
a century ago
   two boys

   in an outhouse
[OTHER DAYS, Western Grove, AR]
~~
western sun
breaks through
ominous cloud cover
   like a flashlight--
   just for a second
~~
even after lunch
I continue to read from
the loaned haiku book
   stopping now and then
   to write one of my own
~~

one more time:
washing the quilt I made
looking for whole blocks
   nothing worth keeping
   except memories
~~

THREE HAIKU

fresh sweet water
from a stream
that runs to the lake
~~
judges deconstruct
the best poems
to determine rank
~~
my state the first
to nominate a phone booth
to the Register
{Prairie Grove AR]
~~

TWO CINQUAINS

I would
collapse, too, if
I heard from the judge that
my bail was set at twenty-five
million!
~~
Thank you,
Mr. Biker,
for the quiet hum your
machine makes as it passes by
my street.
~~
~~
c PL, dba lovepat press

Haiku for Autumn - traditional and modern

brown thrasher's
daily bath
my daily treat
~~
squirrel finally finds
the fake corn I provide
leaves birdseed alone
~~
two new maroon blooms
on the first-year clematis
early fall's cool snap
~~
windfall pear--
the bottom half
rotting
~~
too cool
for the AC
too quiet
~~
the vet
remembers
my other name
but not me
~~
58 degrees--
me with a jacket
the worker shirtless
~~
sunshine
through the sprinkler
a rainbow
~~
reading
Upstate Dim Sum
such spare haiku
~~~~~
~~~~
c  2016, PL dba lovepat press, Benton AR USA