Haiku 20 — April 20, 2025

Posted

It is spring, and all the frogs and fruit trees and feathered friends are fertile. And they are noisy about it, honestly. Proud almost. Singing. Strutting. Making their lush, ready presence known.

At my parents’ house, in the country, it is truly an all creatures great and small situation. Just today, I’ve seen an osprey, a bald eagle, muskrats, wood ducks and a dozen squirrels who are the size of small bears, thanks to my dad’s bird seed.

Meanwhile, there is a very insistent robin who is looking for a place to nest. And she has decided that maybe it should be … well … inside. She comes to the window each morning by about 5:45 and knocks, flaps her wings, kicks up a fuss. I mean, who can blame her? But she’s a bird, so we call out gently, There’s a tree! There’s a protected terra cotta pot! How about there??

What if we just opened the doors and windows instead? What if we let her in? What if we let them all in?

Haiku 20
April 20

Tapping on the pane –
am I welcome? Is there room?
The robin wants in

 

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#NationalPoetryMonth

Haiku 18 — April 18, 2025

Posted

I came up to Wisconsin for a few days and this is what was waiting for me. The piers aren’t in yet for summer. No motors, no kayaks, no echoed shouts. Just this. And a loon. And a little rain. The quiet.

Haiku 18
April 18, 2025

Sometimes I listen
to the sky talking out loud
The lake answers back

 

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#30daysofhaiku
#NationalPoetryMonth

Haiku 13 — April 13, 2025

Posted

An attack on libraries is an attack on free, unfettered access to information, an attack on literacy and lifelong learning, an attack on personal and community vitality, an attack on democracy, an attack on art, an attack on truth, an attack on human joy and connection.

It is bad enough that we (in the U.S.) saw more than 10,000 books banned during the 2023-24 school year, and that the federal government is dismantling the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Tomorrow, the Texas House of Representatives State Affairs Committee will debate HB3225, a mind-boggling piece of legislation that cracks down on access to (and the content within) public libraries.

In wild overreach, HB3225 fails to clearly define ‘sexually explicit,’ fails to differentiate between 3 and 13 and 16 year olds, and fails to offer parents an opt in or opt out option. HB3225 would force public libraries to surveill their entire collections and keep young people out of whole sections of every library in the state.

I remember when my girls got their library cards, and how proud they were, carrying the tall, wobbly stacks of books that they’d sound out, share, re-read and fall in love with. Those cards — those books — are part of the people they’ve become. Each generation of kids deserves that same head start, that same empowerment, that same thrill.

 

Haiku 13
April 13, 2025

The doors wide open,
stacks alive and generous:
we all belong here

 

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#30daysofhaiku
#NationalPoetryMonth

Haiku 10 — April 10, 2025

Posted

Well, y’all, I am beside myself. An owl arrived in our owl box today! We’ve had a box for five or six years, and this is our third owl; in other words, the odds are good but not at all guaranteed.

These are brave and curious little Eastern Screech-Owls. They look like tree bark, only cuter (sorry, trees) and they’re out surveying the place at daybreak and dusk. When the sun’s high, they sleep inside the box, and when it’s nearly dark, they take off, looking for love.

Here’s how I know Owl 3.0 arrived just today: I never (and I mean never, not even during owl off-season) get out of my car without looking up at the box. Just in case. And this evening, I pulled into the driveway, opened my door, swung my left leg out and looked up. Behold!!

 

Haiku 10
April 10, 2025

He’s waiting, alert
like the flag on a mailbox
I feign nonchalance

 

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#30daysofhaiku
#NationalPoetryMonth

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