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In This Sizzling Heat: A Haibun
In this sizzling heat we feel as though we’re descending into hell. The river has shrunk into a thin sliver thread. Our grapes are turning brown. They need water. I cannot tell you how eagerly we look for a cloud—one cloud!—to bear even a few drops of rain to the grapes. The neighbor boy flies his kite. It casts a shadow over the dying grapes. But I’ve had enough of watching for clouds that never come. I dig out our passports. “Come on,” I say to my beloved, “we’re going to Norway where it’s cool and it rains. Oh, wait! Americans aren’t welcome in Europe these days. What a clusterf*ck!”
I can’t remember
the last time I quenched my thirst
from a mountain stream.
More The Whirligig #274
More Writers’ Pantry #28 at Poets and Storytellers United
How
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Southern California.
How many mountains
does it take to keep a cloud
from falling to earth?
Haiku and photo © 2018 by Magical Mystical Teacher
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More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Curse
A few scattered clouds at daybreak, Riverside County, California
Crow from the mountain,
have you nothing else to do
but curse at the clouds?
Haiku and photo © 2018 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Let Us Praise
Let us praise the raven and the rain.
Let us praise the singer and the song.
Let us praise the Cloud Spirit,
leading us to other roads
when our path is hedged and blocked
by creatures sinister and sleek.
Let us praise the river stones
whose dignity remains intact,
despite the ravages of floods and drought.
Let us praise all things great and small,
for the hundred-thousand ways
our days are measured out.
More Sunday’s Whirligig #159
More Poetry Pantry #401 at Poets United
Cover
On the shore of Upper Lake Mary, Coconino National Forest, Arizona
autumn cloud cover—
ten thousand hidden creatures
cower in the woods
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
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More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Invisibility”
Pilgrims Awhirl
~~ 1 ~~
her knitting needles
ticking out a little tune
on the sweater neck
~~ 2 ~~
a small hymn of praise
too small for mice to measure
except crumb by crumb
~~ 3 ~~
crimson kimono
worn by her erstwhile patron
now a tattered rag
~~ 4 ~~
even in the heat
the urge to spend consumes her
emptying her purse
~~ 5 ~~
inns along the road
tables spread with bread and wine
hungry pilgrims, come
~~ 6 ~~
the path before her
uncertainty and raven
her sole companions
~~ 7 ~~
the arduous trek
a cloud guiding her footsteps
to her journey’s end
~~ 8 ~~
setting out alone
in a tattered state of grace
for her odyssey
~~ 9 ~~
prowling holy ground
looking for the host to come
with some bread and wine
~~ 10 ~~
a sacred story
told by day and dreamed by night—
the pilgrims’ footsteps
~~ 11 ~~
fifth year on the road
still hoping for a rescue
from the stones and snares
~~ 12 ~~
votive offering
a race to see who gives it
to the holy one
© 2015 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Poetry Pantry #237
More The Sunday Whirl, Wordle 197
Stitching
Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
in big sky country
hidden saguaro tailors
stitching light to air
~~ ~~ ~~
In big cloud country I diminish.
Text and photo © 2014 by Magical Mystical Teacher
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More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
More Carpe Diem: “Words by Francis of Assisi”
Bones
Agave past bloom, turning brittle in the sun, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Southern California
Tell me, Grandmother,
why the old agave’s bones
pierce each passing cloud.
Text and photo © 2014 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Haiku Horizons: “Bones”
Sweetness
Ancient ruins, Pecos National Historical Park, northern New Mexico
an ancient sweetness—
essences of cloud and stone
mingling on my tongue
Text and photo © 2014 by Magical Mystical Teacher
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More Carpe Diem: “Sweetness”
Dreadful
Hardened lava flow, Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, Northern Arizona
dancing and praying
dark and dreadful shadows kiss
creature, cloud and stone
Text and photo © 2014 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Blue Monday
More Poetry Pantry #206
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
More The Sunday Whirl, Wordle 166: “Dark, Praying, Dancing, Creature, Dreadful, Kiss “
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