welcome to the haikutimes
Issue #87, Anne U. White Trail, Boulder, Colorado, May 9, 2004 Breaking news from mother's day. Haiku poets Patrick Lynn, Susan Peterson, Krista Morien, Robert Power and Jonathan Machen walk at least 50 yards up the trail before settling by the stream. To visit the two other haikutimes issues celebrating this very same trail, go to Anne U. White April 3, 2005 or Anne U. White March 10, 2002.
reclining in the grass
she holds up one hand
counting syllables
gratified after
an hour spent labeling creek rocks
with water-soluble ink
kept out of the creek
by the friction of bare skin
spread over granite
one optimistic strand
of spider silk stretched taut
across the creek
just about knocked off
of my perch by the erratic
flight of the butterfly
drawn by spring runoff
to laze by the creek's
prodigious tranquility
mother's day
a smooth-stone-in-your-pocket
sort of day
dog chases poop-ku
instead of pee-ku
right there on the trail
walking with crutches
up anne u white trail in may
hawks of war distant
everybody waves,
mother's day in the forest:
kids want to dwaddle
friends coming to perch
at the haiku roost of spring
drinking from cold stream
not straying too far
poets keep to the stream side
ignoring the trail
babble of creek
drowns out babble of kids
may day in boulder
it's been a busy week
everyone says they're busy
ignoring politics abroad
celebrating at home
crowding the mental space
like the wafting aroma
of linoleum glue,
patrick calling me
at precisely the same moment
that someone else calls,
sanjay mentioning film clip
seconds before film clip
flashes on screen,
robert moving his office,
susan returning from washington,
i fix my shed one moment
the swamp cooler the next,
the details of my marriage
in two months coinciding
with political deadlines
yet there is no end
or beginning to events
process runs through it all
media is controlled
and it is not controlled
first blossoms and bees -
i too celebrate spring arriving
by watching them
the stream doesn't stop
unlike my mind before haiku
its sound is peaceful
while perched on a rock
i listen to the stream 'walk'
over other rocks
from such busy-ness
even writing haiku
is still too busy
i appreciate
this time to settle into
still space
against the blue sky
two moths dance frenetically
i lay still and watch
earth dance
clouds move west to east
grounded trees circle in place
river reflects sky
green furry algae
feels exactly like the hair
on patrick's round head
a delicate leaf
lacy as a handkerchief
pressed between pages
a dry grass stalk arched
by the weight of a single
butterfly
pine cone moves oh so
slowly down the path - motored
by caterpillar
i could stay here all day
catching and releasing poems
along this spring stream
to be a haiku
poet is to be a child
at the riverbank
watching waterbugs
and noticing spider webs
toes in cool water
busy spiders
fly fishing on the river
their web stretched across
uh oh - the first
yellow wild peas open
spring slips away
in a split second
i saw this green world unfold
from the rushing stream
one by one, my friends
magnetized to this lovely spring
each on their own rock
the stream is everywhere!
emerald green mosses,
willow trees, and sky
the same stream - gently
bubbling over those rocks,
rushing over those
lovely spring morning
the stream permeates the air
cool music on my skin
not yet summer
when people rush into the stream
it comes to greet us
after awhile
hard to keep walking by this stream
legs becoming liquid
the softness of new
raspberry branches, before
summer's prickles
ignoring the pace
of the stream, powerwalking
powertalking -
the voice of the stream
just seems to make some people
talk louder and faster
western chokecherry padus virginiana melanocrpa
wild prairie rose rosa arkansana
golden banner thermopsis divaricarpa
early larkspur delphinium nuttallianum
cutleaf daisy erigeron compositus
western wallflower eysimum asperum
reclining in the grass
she holds up one hand
counting syllables
gratified after
an hour spent labeling creek rocks
with water-soluble ink
kept out of the creek
by the friction of bare skin
spread over granite
one optimistic strand
of spider silk stretched taut
across the creek
just about knocked off
of my perch by the erratic
flight of the butterfly
drawn by spring runoff
to laze by the creek's
prodigious tranquility
mother's day
a smooth-stone-in-your-pocket
sort of day
dog chases poop-ku
instead of pee-ku
right there on the trail
walking with crutches
up anne u white trail in may
hawks of war distant
everybody waves,
mother's day in the forest:
kids want to dwaddle
friends coming to perch
at the haiku roost of spring
drinking from cold stream
not straying too far
poets keep to the stream side
ignoring the trail
babble of creek
drowns out babble of kids
may day in boulder
it's been a busy week
everyone says they're busy
ignoring politics abroad
celebrating at home
crowding the mental space
like the wafting aroma
of linoleum glue,
patrick calling me
at precisely the same moment
that someone else calls,
sanjay mentioning film clip
seconds before film clip
flashes on screen,
robert moving his office,
susan returning from washington,
i fix my shed one moment
the swamp cooler the next,
the details of my marriage
in two months coinciding
with political deadlines
yet there is no end
or beginning to events
process runs through it all
media is controlled
and it is not controlled
first blossoms and bees -
i too celebrate spring arriving
by watching them
the stream doesn't stop
unlike my mind before haiku
its sound is peaceful
while perched on a rock
i listen to the stream 'walk'
over other rocks
from such busy-ness
even writing haiku
is still too busy
i appreciate
this time to settle into
still space
against the blue sky
two moths dance frenetically
i lay still and watch
earth dance
clouds move west to east
grounded trees circle in place
river reflects sky
green furry algae
feels exactly like the hair
on patrick's round head
a delicate leaf
lacy as a handkerchief
pressed between pages
a dry grass stalk arched
by the weight of a single
butterfly
pine cone moves oh so
slowly down the path - motored
by caterpillar
i could stay here all day
catching and releasing poems
along this spring stream
to be a haiku
poet is to be a child
at the riverbank
watching waterbugs
and noticing spider webs
toes in cool water
busy spiders
fly fishing on the river
their web stretched across
uh oh - the first
yellow wild peas open
spring slips away
in a split second
i saw this green world unfold
from the rushing stream
one by one, my friends
magnetized to this lovely spring
each on their own rock
the stream is everywhere!
emerald green mosses,
willow trees, and sky
the same stream - gently
bubbling over those rocks,
rushing over those
lovely spring morning
the stream permeates the air
cool music on my skin
not yet summer
when people rush into the stream
it comes to greet us
after awhile
hard to keep walking by this stream
legs becoming liquid
the softness of new
raspberry branches, before
summer's prickles
ignoring the pace
of the stream, powerwalking
powertalking -
the voice of the stream
just seems to make some people
talk louder and faster
western chokecherry padus virginiana melanocrpa
wild prairie rose rosa arkansana
golden banner thermopsis divaricarpa
early larkspur delphinium nuttallianum
cutleaf daisy erigeron compositus
western wallflower eysimum asperum
solo/group kukai
drawing/writing/photography
jonathan machen
drawing/writing/photography
jonathan machen