Category Archives: haiku
Briefly
Colorful autumn leaves in California’s Inyo National Forest will soon be dashed to the ground by snow.
clear blue autumn sky—
great joy, albeit briefly,
before the first snow
Haiku and photo © by Magical Mystical Teacher
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Where and Why
The Pacific Ocean reaches shore yards away from the U.S.-Mexico Border at Border Field State Park, California.
Where are the children?
Why does the sea seem to weep
as autumn draws near?
Haiku and photo © by Magical Mystical Teacher
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Haibun: Lessons
Two of the lessons that my fifth-grade teacher taught me I’ve never forgotten. That’s because Mrs. Pearl Shirley liked to speak in aphorisms, which, as far as I know, she made up herself, and which she drummed into my brain by quoting them in her classroom several times a day.
“You’d better get on the stick before the stick gets on you,” Mrs. Shirley said to students who were dawdling or off task. She meant that there would be consequences for inaction.
That aphorism came to mind a few years ago when I was planning where to travel. I found airfare to Copenhagen for the bargain price of $678 in March, while airfare at that time to most other European capitals was running $800-$900. But I didn’t get on the stick, and by the time I had finally decided to purchase the tickets, they were no longer available.
“You’d better use your head for something besides a hat rack,” Mrs. Shirley said to students who shrugged their shoulders and said, “I don’t know,” when she asked them a question about the lesson. Mrs. Shirley meant that one’s head is more than a decorative appendage; it’s to be used for a high and noble purpose—thinking. A mind, some wise person said, is a terrible thing to waste.
From the ripened plum,
from the raven’s tailfeather,
let there be stories!
Consolation
Bougainvillea blossoms brighten a house wall in Wellton, Arizona.
my consolation
in times of desolation—
bountiful blossoms
Haiku and photo © by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Six Shorts
midafternoon snack
of juicy watermelon
ripe and red and sweet
stepping back quickly—
a rattler ready to strike
warns me just in time
a change in her luck
after the sunflowers bloom—
retreating cancer
adjusting the light
while using the cutting board
for chopping veggies
Something in the room,
perhaps dust in the closet,
seems to call my name.
geranium pots
arrayed on a stepladder—
summer afternoon
Haiku © 2020 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More The Whirligig #282
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Suns
Delicate shadows brush two marigolds in the Robert J. Moody Demonstration Garden, Yuma, Arizona.
Melancholy day—
marigolds, these shining suns,
melt my icy heart.
Haiku and photo © by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Four Haiku
at the water’s edge
the saved wait to be baptized—
old-time religion
shadows by the bridge
sculpted from hollowed-out light—
great blue heron’s cry
feet follow cinders
leading to the temple gate
a place of great grace
fingers framed by light
clutching an old rosary
carved of human bone
Haiku © 2020 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More The Whirligig #281
More Writers’ Pantry #35 at Poets and Storytellers United
Fence
Evening shadows begin to wrap themselves around a fence post in northern New Mexico.
my burning desire
to reach the distant mountains—
a fence bars my way
Haiku and photo © by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Drifts
A woman heads for home after her morning shopping in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
Midsummer journey—
a woman among shadows
drifts toward morning light.
Haiku and photo © by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Pond
An apartment building overlooks a tranquil pond at the Japanese Friendship Garden, Phoenix, Arizona.
What if I should see
my reflection in the pond?
Would I know myself?
Haiku and photo © by Magical Mystical Teacher
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