Escape

Cardinal flinging
Himself against closed windows
Finds an open door

Stitches

A small puncture wound
Afton's blood and tears, stitches
The quilt and her arm

Surrender

Surrender: spring breeze
Summons sakura petals
To swirling tango

Iris

Banks of white iris
Sway in the breeze, their beauty
Fleeting as my own

Chrysanthemum moon

Chrysanthemum moon
Flowers full in the night sky
I swoon like a bee

Concert

High school symphony
Straining to see my daughter
In forest of bows

Azure days

In azure days of
Burgeoning summer all the
World is my lover

In praise of shadows

Restful shade untouched
By glaring sun, yet it's light
That casts cool shadows

Lilies

Water nymphs, lilies
Float in Monet's pond adorned
In white seduction

Mystery II

Cast off illusion
Dwell in the house of doubt where
To know is to die

A journey inward

A journey inward
What wondrous terrain in dream
Hope, memory, self

Mystery

Free of certainty
No comforting answers find
Peace in mystery

Clematis

Purple clematis
Twines the mailbox trellis to
Brighten bill-getting

Earth perfume

A revelation
Carried on the breeze, perfume
Of fresh-plowed humus

Weaving

In the warp and weft
Of life's loom is the thread of
Love interwoven

Patina of time

Patina of time
Washes the painted desert
To purple essence

Stars above, below

At nightfall fireflies
Glow with the phosphorus spark
Of faraway stars

On earth day

Earth, contemplating
Its place in the universe
Like me, fertile seed

Cherry blossom spring

Cherry blossom spring
Anoints lovers below with
Pink-petal'd kisses

Church bells

Church bells' somber chime
An enumeration of
Error and regret

New life

Within your embrace
A new creature I quiver
Like a fresh-furled leaf

Datura

Whirling dervishes
Datura's white petals yearn for
Sacred ecstacy

Heaven and earth

Heaven and earth merge
On the hazy horizon
And when our lips meet

Rhododendron

In beauty budding
Rhododendron's breathtaking
Blossoms ravish spring

Savannah

Walking the allée
Of Spanish moss-dripping oaks
A Southern gothic

After disbelief

What remains when disbelief has gone? ~Philip Larkin

After disbelief
Nothing to profess, recant
To thine own self true

Spring break

Girls run near-naked
Down the beach into the tide
With wet abandon

The collection

From wind-, water-lashed
Shore gathered in my pocket
Bits of broken shells

Music

Dreary day
Birds sing
Brightly

In spring...

Petals blow
Like snow
Floral flurries

Empty canvas

Through empty canvas
Geese in formation
Wing northward

Soundtrack of spring

Sweet soundtrack of spring:
Lazuli Bunting fills the
Air with aria

At one year

Thanks to all the friends who have stopped by and encouraged me on this haiku madness. It has been a year of daily haikus. Going forward, the meaning of "a day" might be more fluid or refer to a day on a planet that takes more than 24 hours to make a revolution.

Also, I have stuck fairly strictly to the traditional 5-7-5 syllabic requirement for haiku. Modern haiku does not enforce such syllabic requirements, and I will probably explore that format more.

It has taken great discipline and time to meet these self-imposed rules, so I'm giving myself a small reprieve. Less quantity, and hopefully, more quality.

Please continue to read and offer feedback. There will continue to be not-quite-a-day haikus. Thanks again!

Nora

Aperture

Through the aperture
Of retrospect, prismed past
Shimmers a mirage

Known world

Bounds of the known world:
Far as I see in your eyes
Wide as your embrace

Flirtatious nature

Flirtatious nature
Blushes in shades of rapture
Swathed in the zephyr

Garden of the gods

Garden of the gods:
Light, peace, and wisdom blossom
Beside still waters

Double bass

Contours of a bass
Feminine hump and hollow
Cries lamentations

Spring rains

Tempestuous spring
Rains the colors of the bow
On bush, flower, tree

Twilight

Drifting off to dream,
I feel you near, the taste of
Your name on my lips

Buddha's flower sermon

Silence, pure haiku,
Wordless praise for such beauty
Even God is mute

The cross

Torturous planks, less
Crucifix than bridge crossing
The mortal chasm

Sunshine

In splendid sunshine
Dandelion-filled meadow
Meets the horizon

Bridge

Bridge, mediator
Of earth divided, beauty
In form, metaphor

Spring equinox

First day of spring dawns
Aura of aurora paints
Sky and earth pastel

Koi pond

'Mid waterlilies
Koi teem, urgent wet beauty
That I could join them!

Mourning Cloak

Dyed papyrus wings
Bright contrast in fluttering
Recto and verso

Four-leaf clover

Good fortune, finding
This quatrefoil amidst mere
Shamrocks and blossoms

Live oak

Moss-covered live oak
Haunting, gnarled branches gesture
Dark against clear sky

Lids

Closed in rose's heart
Translucent lids like yours that
I kiss one by one

Droplets

After rain, droplets
Hang globular on branches
Refracting the world

Birds and blossoms

Now trees abound with
Operatic birds, palettes
Of buds and blossoms

Smoke rising

Cypress guardian
Looms tall against a gray sky,
Plume of smoke rising

Shooting stars

Three star-shaped balloons
Stuck in a tree, yearning to
Shoot across heaven

Day blossoms

Daybreak blossoms like
A peach tree, slowly donning
Coral opulence

Sunday morning surf

Sunday morning surf
Communion of sea and sand
Where God's voice moves still

Luna

In mythic moonlight
Spring-green luna moth unfolds
Angel wings and flies

Japanese magnolia

Drink in tulip'd grace:
Japanese Magnolia blooms
A cerise chalice

Ferns

On viridian
Forest floor ferns unfurl their
Embryonic fronds

Filigree canopy

Leafless canopy
Interlaces in a fine
Filigree lattice