Haiku

Apple blossoms rain
Around the lonely pastor
Heaven befriends her

The Big Dipper shines
Above the parting rain clouds
I gasp in wonder

Pine needles quiver
Caught in afternoon sunlight
Beauty shimmers within

On a redeye flight
Meteors scratch the black sky
Dawn paints the horizon

Snowflakes tumble down
Swinging beneath the streetlight
Acrobats at play

Watching my mother sleep
Her face is so white and grave
Her chest rises, then falls

On Ash Wednesday
I wait for tomorrow’s storm
To cover the sooty snow

The stumps of oak trees
The barren fields behind them—
Autumn takes hold of me

Email unanswered
Inbox, empty of his name
Sent, full of regret

Napkin in the chapel
On a pew, wet and wadded
Anonymous grief

The full moon rising
Behind mist-shrouded branches
As the village sleeps

The juijitsu guys
Grappling on the sweaty mat—
Two chimps, contending

Pine cones on brown grass
Piled around the evergreens—
Baby trees, waiting

Stars on frosted grass
Stars dim through veils of cirrus
Between worlds the moon

Mired in lake ice
The frozen elm limb
Struggles to free itself

White-tailed deer
Leaping through winter woods
Snow on the move

Two clouds in the sky
Two oak leaves spiralling down
Two thoughts tumbling

At the Corn Festival
Recalling her family's goats
Her hands, milking them


—Eric Nelson