Sound – Page 15 – Iron Haiku

a bottlebrush tail
the cat readies to pounce on
the bat by my door
–
cans clatter-
small marauders
stalk the alleyway

under the night sky
conversation and laughter
as the fire dies down
–
starlight-
good friends and
wine loosened tongues

a cutting garden-
in the shade of a straw hat
she tends the flowers
–
up with the sun-
bent double
pulling weeds

my blood in the sink-
I should be panicking but
I can’t feel the pain
–
tendrils of fog-
undisturbed by the hooves
of a pale horse

among the rushes
herons stand in the salt marsh
waiting for the tide
–
auburn sunrise-
dawn breezes stir
fields of cattails

a forest of ghosts-
cadavers stand sentinel
bleaching in the sun
–
echoes –
sunlight on
the forest floor

passing rain showers-
steam rises from the asphalt
in the summer sun
–
soft patter-
august leaves
talk to the rain

awake in the dark
so transfixed by the vision
I can’t make a sound
–
the crickets silenced-
a specter looms
o’er my footboard

a smiling buddha
round belly worn smooth by
hands of thousands
–
pagoda doors-
stone steps cut
in the hillside

a rain-soaked highway-
the skeletal hand of fate
cuts another thread
–
trapped in amber-
mountains are as
grains of sand