Whirling with Gary Soto
The first line of each haiku or senryu below is taken from “The Elements of San Joaquin” by California poet Gary Soto.
At a used-car lot
three naked boys are hiding
under a Kia.
~~ ~~ ~~
When the season ends,
spent root and leaf plowed under
replenish the earth.
~~ ~~ ~~
As the heat rises,
a vixen scurries homeward—
birth-time for her kits.
~~ ~~ ~~
On the river’s edge,
two women who lack nothing
hold hands, then plunge in.
~~ ~~ ~~
Little by little
the quivering candlelight
vanquishes darkness.
~~ ~~ ~~
on my wrists and palms
a dozen faces held fast
by tattooer’s ink
~~ ~~ ~~
I am becoming
an imaginary door
to another world.
© 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More The Poetry Pantry #138
More The Sunday Whirl, Wordle 96
More Postcards from Paradise at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Posted on February 17, 2013, in haiku, Postcards from Paradise, Recuerda Mi Corazon, senryu, The Poetry Pantry, The Sunday Whirl and tagged haiku, senryu. Bookmark the permalink. 31 Comments.
Magical Mystical Teacher 
Another great piece. My favorite is:
Little by little
the quivering candlelight
vanquishes darkness.
A lovely bunch. The last one makes me want to turn the handle!
Turn away, Viv, turn away—the handle, I mean! 🙂
All of these poem are powerful little things! Really enjoy your poetry.
Enjoyed all of these, but the last one is my favorite!
Can you get 3 whole boys under a Kia…?
Small boys! 🙂
really dig these gritty modern haiku
Lovely offering specially the last one ~
I adore that last one!
Each has a bit of an edge to it. The first especially intrigued me. The big question is “Why would they?”
Those tattoo hand faces are going to linger in my imaginary world too..if you don’t mind sharing.. jae 😉
So glad I could step into the other world through you door! x
I am becoming
an imaginary door
to another world
this is a perfect image of the contours of your haiku heart.
in one word?
spellbound!
**smiling** 🙂 🙂 🙂
Great pieces all 🙂
This is great.
Gary Soto is a favorite author in our elementary school library.
Love what you did.
spent root and leaf…yes.
Oh, that last one is the best thing I have read all day. WOW!
your writings remind me of an NPR story I just heard about the 3 minute fiction novel…bravo!
I’ve been tempted to enter that Three-Minute Fiction contest—thanks for the reminder!
I think most writers would like to be that last one where your readers are anxious to see where you will take them.
Enjoyed each one of these. Like oldegg, I would like to know where the other world is. And I would like to know more of the story of the women who jumped into the river! Nice work all around.
Even though your haiku are always satisfying, I persitently want to find a way to put them all together into one piece. I love what you do and how you do it,
Elizabeth
http://soulsmusic.wordpress.com/
I like the one with the season’s end. That’s my fav.
As always a lovely collection, mmt. A side note, I hope you do return to Puebla, I love this place. Do you know Cholula? We don’t live far from there. I have never lived in a nicer place than this, and I am from NYC. Go figure.
Pamela
I like especially the fourth and last one.
Oh gosh! The first one made me laugh. What a great image!! I’ll go read the rest now. Your work really hits on some beautiful sounds in the language this week. Excellent assonance, consonance, alliteration, etc. It is always a joy to read your work. thank you. I picture the Kia red.
Oh, yes, I’m SURE the Kia is red! 🙂
these feel really good to me. I like the images. The kids under the car, and the women jumping in the river.. it’s all really lovely. Thank you for thinking!
Clever idea. All wonderful. My fav…imaginary door.