Haiku 1

The Original Sin: Rhyming Haiku! Haiku should never rhyme: it’s a crime! -Michael R. Burch The herons stand, sentry-like, at attention ... rigid observers of some unknown command. -Michael R. Burch Late fall; all the golden leaves turn black underfoot: soot -Michael R. Burch Dry leaf flung awry: bright butterfly, goodbye! -Michael R. Burch A snake in the grass lies, hissing "Trespass!" -Michael R. Burch Honeysuckle blesses my knuckle with affectionate dew -Michael R. Burch My nose nuzzles honeysuckle’s sweet nothings -Michael R. Burch The day’s eyes were blue until you appeared and they wept at your beauty. -Michael R. Burch The moon in decline like my lover’s heart lies far beyond mine -Michael R. Burch My mother’s eyes acknowledging my imperfection: dejection -Michael R. Burch The sun sets the moon fails to rise we avoid each other’s eyes -Michael R. Burch brief leaf flung awry ~ bright butterfly, goodbye! -Michael R. Burch leaf flutters in flight ~ bright, O and endeavoring butterfly, goodbye! -Michael R. Burch The girl with the pallid lips lipsticks into something more comfortable -Michael R. Burch I am a traveler going nowhere, but my how the gawking bystanders stare! -Michael R. Burch Lift up your head dandelion, hear spring roar! How will you tidy your hair this near summer? Leave to each still night your lightest affliction, dandruff. Soon you will free yourself: one shake of your white mane. Now there are worlds into which you appear and disappear seemingly at will but invariably blown wildly, then still. Gasp at the bright chill glower of winter. Icicles splinter; sleep still an hour, till, resurrected in power, you lift up your head, dandelion. Hear spring roar! -Michael R. Burch Unrhymed Original Haiku and Tanka by Michael R. Burch Dark-bosomed clouds pregnant with heavy thunder ... the water breaks -Michael R. Burch one pillow ... our dreams merge -Michael R. Burch iffy coronavirus haiku #1 by Michael R. Burch plagued by the Plague i plague the goldfish with my verse iffy coronavirus haiku #2 by Michael R. Burch sunflowers hang their heads embarrassed by their coronas I wrote this poem after having a sunflower arrangement delivered to my mother, who is in an assisted living center and can’t have visitors due to the coronavirus pandemic. Homework (iffy coronavirus haiku #3) by Michael R. Burch Dim bulb overhead, my silent companion: still imitating the noonday sun? New World Order (last in a series and perhaps a species) by Michael R. Burch The days of the dandelions dawn ... soon man will be gone: fertilizer. Variations on Fall Farewells like falling leaves, so many sad goodbyes. -Michael R. Burch Falling leaves brittle hearts whisper farewells -Michael R. Burch Autumn leaves soft farewells falling ... falling ... falling ... -Michael R. Burch Autumn leaves Fall’s farewells Whispered goodbyes -Michael R. Burch Variations on the Seasons by Michael R. Burch Mother earth prepares her nurseries: spring greening The trees become modest, coy behind fans * Wobbly fawns have become the fleetest athletes: summer * Dry leaves scuttle like crabs: autumn * The sky shivers: snowfall each translucent flake lighter than eiderdown the entire town entombed but not in gloom, bedazzled. Variations on Night Night, ice and darkness conspire against human warmth -Michael R. Burch Night and the Stars conspire against me: Immensity -Michael R. Burch in the ice-cold cathedral prayer candles ablaze flicker warmthlessly -Michael R. Burch Variations on the Arts by Michael R. Burch Paint peeling: the novel's novelty wears off ... The autumn marigold's former glory: allegory. Human arias? The nightingale frowns, perplexed. Tone deaf! Where do cynics finally retire? Satire. All the world’s a stage unless it’s a cage. To write an epigram, cram. If you lack wit, scram. Haiku should never rhyme: it’s a crime! Video dumped the boob tube for YouTube. Anyone can rap: just write rhythmic crap! Variations on Lingerie by Michael R. Burch Were you just a delusion? The black negligee you left now merest illusion. The clothesline quivers, ripe with unmentionables. The clothesline quivers: wind, or ghosts? Variations on Love and Wisdom by Michael R. Burch Wise old owls stare myopically at the moon, hooting as the hart escapes. Myopic moon-hooting owls hoot as the hart escapes The myopic owl, moon-intent, scowls; my rabbit heart thunders ... Peace, wise fowl! Tanka All the wild energies of electric youth captured in the monochromes of an ancient photobooth like zigzagging lightning. -Michael R. Burch The plums were sweet, icy and delicious. To eat them all was perhaps malicious. But I vastly prefer your kisses! -Michael R. Burch A child waving ... The train groans slowly away ... Loneliness ... Somewhere in the distance gusts scatter the stray unharvested hay ... -Michael R. Burch How vaguely I knew you however I held you close ... your heart’s muffled thunder, your breath the wind? rising and dying. -Michael R. Burch Miscellanea Childless by Michael R. Burch How can she bear her grief? Mightier than Atlas, she shoulders the weight of one fallen star. sheer green stockings ***** green beer St. Patrick's Day! -Michael R. Burch cicadas chirping everywhere singing to beat the band? surround sound -Michael R. Burch Regal, upright, clad in royal purple: Zinnia -Michael R. Burch Love is a surreal sweetness in a world where trampled grapes become wine. -Michael R. Burch although meant for market a pail full of strawberries invites indulgence -Michael R. Burch late November; skeptics scoff but the geese no longer migrate -Michael R. Burch as the butterfly hunts nectar the generous iris continues to bloom -Michael R. Burch Keywords/Tags: Haiku, Tanka, coronavirus, nature, love, heart, family, mother, son, seasons, spring, summer, fall, winter, rhyme, rhymed, uplifting