mountain haiku

descending, Taos Mountain in winter, Taos, New Mexico, C-41 color film print, January 2003, photo © 2003-2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.

Taos Mountain sunset
holds a fading memory
yellow snaps of sage

-posted on red Ravine, Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

-related to post: haiku (one-a-day)

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halloween haiku

Boo!,  All Hallow’s Eve by the fire, one year ago, Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 2006, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.

 

North

pumpkin-faced Milk Duds
Willy Wonka candy corn
12 tricks for a treat?

South

Dead flash toothless smiles
2 Grandmothers walk the earth
Spirits dance on fire

East

gloved hands wipe chafed lips
crooked teeth eat twisted stems
shadows swim through oaks

West

hollow frosted rose
Hunter’s Moon drops the sky
veils the Evening Star

-posted on red Ravine, Tuesday, October 30th, 2007

-related to posts: WRITING TOPIC – HAUNTED, The Great Pumpkin Catapult

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Halloween Tea Rose

Halloween Tea Rose, out in the front garden, Minneapolis, Minnesota, October 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.

We worked on last minute details in the yard today. It was cool, cloudy, sunny. Bending over the 7 transplanted tea roses with the green water bucket, I noticed a distinct peripheral rush of red. A confused October tea rose was sporting a new summer bud.

We hauled wet, decaying bags of leaves to the city’s yard waste site, nabbed a geocache near an empty ball diamond, and drove home on winding country roads. An ordinary Fall Saturday. I didn’t notice the strings of cobweb until I took a closer look. It’s always good to take a closer look.

Traditionally, October is the month I feel the happiest. Something shifted this year. But tonight I count my blessings. It’s the little things. Maybe the budding Halloween tea rose with the silver thin cobwebs is not confused at all. Maybe it’s me.

-posted on red Ravine, Saturday, October 27th, 2007

-related to post, PRACTICE – Fish Out Of Water – 15min

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Taos Mountain Haiku

 

Taos Mountain In Summer, July 2007, behind Mabel Dodge Luhan House, Taos, New Mexico, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.

Taos Mountain summer
wraps hard rain around soft bows
I’m drenched to the bone

black clouds in blue sky
slatted swing over the ditch
creaks slowly, I write

rain crawls through roof cracks
gusts blow open my notebook
words scatter to wind

cottonwood splashes
through the lens, afternoon rain
breaks open the sky

end of a long day
in the middle of summer
I start to wake up

green sky through laced glass
and a mourning dove’s red eye
swallows the noon sun

walking the back path
Mabel smiles from the window
I wink and then nod

black spider shimmers
cottonwood squeezes soft wind
through a glistening web

sweat drips from my arm
I don’t sit like the mountain
the sun sits on me

Lawrence and Brett stroke
painted windows in the light
camel hair bristles

the Pink House once held
summer rain, live wires that dodge
breakfast at Mabel’s

fancy dancers run
lightning drips through the pow wow
under Taos Mountain

Monday, July 16th, 2007

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Holding My Breath – Wind

 –Holding My Breath – Wind, Mabel Dodge Luhan House, Taos, New Mexico, February 2007, from the Holding My Breath series, photo by QuoinMonkey, all rights reserved

– PRACTICE – Holding My Breath – 10min

Friday, May 4th, 2007

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labyrinth haiku

i come here often
to ponder higher learning
ice like busted glass

crinkly brown leaves glow
first bare feet of the season
away from center

cool black mud follows
the ripple of blowing hair
under secret feet

out of season wind
shadowboxing the bare elm
blending crabapple

winding in and out
green spouts under black pant cuff
gnat, a rising star

twisted shadow branch
you can walk any season
while going nowhere

juicy green center
the perimeter is dry
sweat between my legs

grubby spring tadpole
dark undertones on the lake
snap to attention

winter is over
from crumbling insanity
springs eternal life

humbled by the saints
who walked tight curves before me
moon high in the sky

talking to Louis
in lotus blossom petals
Chartres calls me home

sun hot on white face
naked feet to unthawed ground
mosquito flits by

near the end of March
how bad i need a haircut
stepping in the door

wavy grass petals
undefined by crooked lines
spikes from a spiral

tennis ball popping
off a catgut racket head
damp earth underfoot

rings of blanket ice
i miss the snowy season
the itch in my nose

lone fly buzzes by
a leaf between pasty toes
yells, “March 25th!”

I stopped at Porky’s
remembered the fire pig year
grass grows as I walk

on the edge again
a stubborn leaf pricked my sole
out came a reindeer

a woman walks near
fire red pants & orange striped top
she wants what i have

drive peace & spread love
dare it to follow you here
chasing a faux tale

part of my practice
mixes raw heat with cold fire
a mother’s last wish

-haiku from labyrinth walk, March 26th, 2007

-related to post, Spring Walk and Labyrinth Walker

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