in the surroundings

100 one-line haiku links

marlene mountain (tennessee, usa), sheila windsor (worcestershire, uk), cindy tebo (missouri, usa), stephen addiss (virginia, usa), paul conneally (loughborough, uk) in that order throughout

 

a deer drinks in the surroundings then drinks in the pond

nights drawing in the lure of other people’s houses

coal train a lot of energy going somewhere else

the ferris wheel calling as the summer ends

the twist and turn of sycamore seeds thrown up into the air

laid-back until moths begin their flutter

river procession the carnival queen smiles our way

reflection of cattails with a pond deep beauty

strolling through the oaks with the mind somewhere else

all along this path blackberries have rotted on the brambles

i’ll miss summer once it’s finally run its peculiar course

nasturtiums run riot

haiku cops patrolling the seasons

much too early the first snow is embarrassed into melting

icicles but not like the ones i remember from my youth

more than meets the eye striped caterpillar

wash day a ‘painted’ lady wears pyjamas

“dances with lights” a low budget remake with moths

on the old black-and-white television John Wayne flickers

dockside the sound of a stallion from the back of a truck

a gift the yellowest of the butterflies on the pinkest of a thistle

on the tube an old woman applies lipstick without a mirror

window to window a ruby-throated hummer

maple leaves still clutching to the branches and twigs

the rookery visible again above and behind the farmhouse

just short of a long day rain changes its mind

‘i’m a celebrity get me out of here’

courtney love not much about the person in a name

changing the tune but staying in the same key

a robin and a wren both lay a claim to the back border

the plug pulled on ricci’s brain is elizabeth hidden deep within

down the drain clockwise or anti depends on your hemisphere

penpals one in spring one in autumn

getting out of bed and then getting right back in

nine/eleven where did the vice-president disappear to?

who has the nerve not to define haiku

no fly zone but will the blue green dragonfly be allowed

whooligans those owls are at it again

no deer to be seen but the daylilies are gone

weapons of mass destruction let’s bomb the fuck out of them

breeze in the hollow the kind a string of words might not catch

attic kite a bit grubby but the sky won’t mind

soaring highward the hawk over a circle of mountain

the scroll on the wall shivers in the entering breeze

pop idol the boy with a stammer hits number one again

a speech full of tricky stuff toward war stuff

‘pay the blood price’ sound bite tony where’ll you get the money?

west nile virus even mosquitoes are terrorists

sound bites even more dangerous

we all stare at hemingway’s cigar hung on the cafe wall

‘person of interest’ a compliment except from the improved fbi

‘helping police with their enquiries’ so many altruistic souls inside

street corner cameras everyone’s a suspect

be a mouse and say cheese

the smile in the photograph not matching the one in the mirror

in the kitchen and the heat martha stewart

stratford at the mary arden inn we order green thai curry

route 66 cabin stars through a gap in the roof

no time to kick at an imaginary fate

que sera sera dad’s doris day records in the attic

a few rooms cleaned to where others would begin

nature gallery spider’s webs hung with raindrops

artful dodger the salamander blending into glade

no sign of dusk but suddenly the branches are invisible

it’s hot! it’s hot! a shirtless man in the frozen-food aisle

ready to call it a night tho the stars are in

i follow a pair of embroidered flares out of miss selfridge

mom’s needle routine each day starts with a shot of insulin

no longer making her own dresses

little miss muffet goes down the half-pipe with her best boys

to start life over with everything done right well 35% might do

do larvae ever dream that they will mirror sky i wonder

before a live audience the courtship of prairie chickens

corn in the supermarket less and less fresh

comedy club swear words and laughter above my head

a teaser the windows rolled up for nothing

though the lions have gone the clown’s smile never slips

ring of raindrops a long time since the last performance

just getting through the mornings but the nights are fine

a hot toddy of diazepam and whiskey and hot milk

hey kid let’s see your strong muscles sweet heart smart brains

in the net she arranges to meet a forty year old teenager

my son’s valentine not from the girl he was expecting

the broken bicycle still sitting there a month later

the jack in the boot rusted stuck to the spare wheel

a good idea straight from the ground

shelling peas before the smell or the taste the green

plans for a garden that didn’t foresee rabbits and deer

rub-marks on the trees two feet off the ground

priest hole so many child-porn films that he got blisters

rescued from the blacktop a turtle’s feet on bottomland for now

wild geese each time the pull of your leaving

teenage catalpa this year with more leaves to lose

seldom if ever he explains but then it happens

a pair of new football boots placed in his school locker

the mailbox waits my out-of-date walk

retirement homes footprints in the snow along almost every path

one-lane bridge we take turns crossing

solitary strolls sometimes less solitary

climbing the walls honeysuckle and poison ivy entwined