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Picnic
Yuma Pioneer Cemetery, Yuma, Arizona.
Party-crashing ants
help themselves to chips and cake
at our picnic lunch.
~~ ~~ ~~
We fixed ourselves a picnic, we munched among the dead,
For it was in the graveyard that our feast was spread.
The ants came uninvited and helped themselves to cake;
Now we see that picnicking was a huge mistake!
Poems and photo © by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Picnic”
Jump-Rope Rhymes
Whether you divide or add,
Snow’s not green, you silly dad.
Breeze beneath the bright blue sky,
Teach me how to multiply.
Poppies then and poppies now,
Poppies for my uncle’s cow.
If an orange could subtract,
We’d be doomed—now, that’s a fact!
Couplets © 2018 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Sunday’s Whirligig #181
More Poetry Pantry #422 at Poets United
Birdsong
Palo verde tree, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
winter afternoon—
a nearly empty sky fills
with sudden birdsong
Haiku and photo © 2018 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Painted Sky
Detail from a mural in Artists Alley, Ajo, Arizona
In the painted sky
three notes from coyote’s mouth
linger until dawn.
Haiku and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Blue Monday
Lockett Meadow Campground, Coconino National Forest near Flagstaff, Arizona, autumn 2016
reaching for blue sky—
a stand of golden aspens
near the mountaintop
Haiku and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
Hummingbird Country
We live in hummingbird country.
We know how to survive.
Like tiny creatures
flitting here and sipping there,
we scan the sky.
Storm clouds hang heavy in the west,
where thunder is heard.
Can anything good come from thunder
or the burden that both of us bear?
You compare your pain to mine
to see whose is greater.
You say that the doctor’s poking
and prodding was not proper,
because it stirred up something inside you—
a storm that may destroy you.
But aren’t we stronger than storms?
We live in hummingbird country.
We know how to survive.
More Macro Monday 2
More Sunday’s Whirligig #97
More Poetry Pantry #339 at Poets United
Sky
Through the leafless branches of an Indigo Bush, the Sonoran Desert sky in southern Arizona shows traces of deep blue.
first week of the year—
a glimpse through barren branches
of a fertile sky
Haiku and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Vision”
Cooling
Autumn starts to show some color, even as a storm is brewing, Coconino County, Arizona
autumn afternoon—
the cooling conversation
between earth and sky
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Conversation”
Songs
A dry wash in Apache County, Arizona
“I hear America singing,” Walt Whitman wrote, “the varied carols I hear.”
I too hear singing, but instead of songs coming from throats of carpenters, masons or boatmen, I hear the songs of sky and star and stone. The songs of weeds and wind and wild things. The songs of crow and cricket and cottonwood. All these songs come from the high desert, and like the Siren songs that seduced Odysseus and his companions, I cannot ignore them.
I hear them as I help a student proofread her essay. I hear them while I confer with a parent about his son’s behavior. I hear them while I am grading papers.
At day’s end, I slip into comfortable clothing and walk into the nearby wilderness. The stones and weeds and dust greet me with rejoicing. They knew I would come.
three stones confer with the wind—
my house is too small
Revised haibun © 2016 and photo © 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Poetry Pantry #323 at Poets United
Backyard
San Juan County, New Mexico
in my friend’s backyard
no purple blooms or gold ones
reaching toward the sky
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Blooms”
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