Bird skirmishing

 

robin tweets his warning cry

fiery fierce

from his honeysuckle bush

none shall enter

this private tangle

 

egrets in the meadow

pause in their insect search

then resume unconcerned

the bullets

were for someone else

 

crows mob the buzzard

black voices hoarse with hatred

but when the red kites arrive

slow in tight formation

no one moves

 

Haiku challenge: Haze & Sand

For Ronovan’s weekly challenge.

 

mist creeps now

not summer haze

and sand

is what slipped

through our fingers

Squirrel gogyohka

For Frank Tassone’s haikai challenge on the theme of giving thanks.

 

winter cold comes

red squirrel scrabbles among fallen leaves

finds a cache of acorns

thanks the forest

plants a few more trees

Puddle moon

 

in the lane

after the rain

a puddle

in the puddle

the moon

Night owls and cold moon

Kerfe’s owl again.

night is cold

full of stars and owls

hard brilliance

feather softness

bound in streamers of moonlight

 

night is cold

windows run wet

breath steams and streams

while the owl mocks

our shivering

 

owl song trembles

tremolo among the dark trees

warm notes

winged grace quavering

in the chill of starlight

 

moon round and pale

baleful silver

silent as owl-flight

casts a chill eye

for the night is cold

Carborundum

Sometimes I get a word stuck in my head.

carborundum

a word that bounces

a lexical gift

to the plummeting

meteorite stone

gogyohka for a scarecrow

A gogyohka sequence for Frank Tassone’s weekly challenge

in the field

a tattered man

of sticks and rags

silent stands beneath a sky

heavy with crows

 

heavy clay the orange earth

and sky grey

slicked with orange light

furrowed field full of crows

no bundle of sticks will scare

 

I watch you

with your helpless hands

and sightless face

that feels neither sun nor rain

scorned even by the birds