Room in the Mirror: 3 Haiku

1

On the statues
the moonlight's
soft blue skin

2

My body aching --
wind is chilling
the spring mud

3

At twilight I hide
from a room
in the mirror

Metaphysical Haiku

When I think of metaphysical writing, I think of the complex essays and expostulations of kabbalistic authors. The best of these are elaborate and clear mental constructs that can be difficult to understand, not because they are obscure, but because they are so carefully precise in their detail. I admire these writings, but I read them infrequently, because they take a lot of effort.

The same is true of many writings on Buddhism. The Tibetans have developed a metaphysical system which is vast, and like kabbalah detailed.

If I am going to read metaphysical writings, I much prefer to go to Rumi, or Hafiz, both Persian poets. Hilmi Yavuz is another one I love, though, unfortunately, I know of only one book of his in English, "Season of the Word."

At some time in the recent past I asked myself the question, "can metaphysical haiku be written?" and the answer, of course, is yes. But due to the nature of the haiku form, metaphysical haiku will be the exact opposite of kabbalistic and buddhistic discourse. A haikuist cannot embroider a thousand details with a tiny needle, or elaborate on the fine points of various types of energies or levels of existence

But what he or she can do is shine a ray of light into the subconscious of the reader -- sound a spiritual chord of resonance, so that the reader feels the metaphysical truth, even though they may not be able to clearly define it in conscious, intellectual terms.

I have come to believe that all poetry is metaphysical truth -- it's just that a philosopher prefers the term "metaphysical truth," and the poet prefers the term "poetry."

Just as the metaphysician says that everything has its source in love, the poet knows that all emotions are expressions of love, and all negative emotions the frustrations of love, and that poetry, to be true poetry, must have emotion, that is, love.

One of the most interesting things for me about writing haiku is that as I do it I feel I am actually two people engaged in the act: one is a person who is consciously and intellectually making word choices and trying to be objective and critical about what he's doing, and the other person is an inner voice that occasionally just blurts something out. Of the two, the blurter is the best poet, though the intellectual/critical one can play a positive role when he comes in to support or polish the blurtings.

Black Hole: 4 Haiku

1

At the Galaxy's center
a black hole cleanses
the suffering of stars

2

In autumn
falling from the Tree of Life --
thousands of diagrams

3

stretching upwards
a worm craving
a sip of moonlight

4

Floating in Saturn's rings
A diamond
big as a poet's head

Fog's Portrait: 12 Haiku

1

I'm painting a portrait
of the fog --
please hold still

2

The Queen of the Fairies!
Look! She's come
to bless the shoppers!

3

Carefully the surgeon
removes a ray of sunshine
from the troll

4

Even uncut
the dinosaur finds
the diamond quite beautiful

5

Worms
beneath our feet
a sea of flesh

6

Suddenly
a worm flies away!
(in a robin's belly)

7

Babbling brook
your presence is required
on Mars

8

Maids
landing on Mars
(they forgot trashbags)

9

Earthworms
the earliest memories
of dragons

10

For light
soil is
a vast labyrinth

11

For earthworms
squirming
is the destination

12

Releasing
billows of pink gas
the peonies fade

Spring Wind: 3 Haiku

1

Deep in the mountain
layers of shadows
becoming stone

2

Falling toward the sea
a celestial fish --
the zodiac's gift

3

In Wales
the alchemist's girlfriend --
a giant cyclops

Wondering Wind: 5 Haiku

1

library on fire
I read
faster and faster

2

With knife in hand
fearlessly I venture
into the melon

3

"Why
do they need roads?"
the wind wonders

4

They're all barking in the night --
Moonlight, snow,
and a dog

5

Winter night --
she throws more romance novels
onto the fire

Cow's Tongue: 4 Haiku

1

My birth
sculpted from salt
by a cow's tongue

2

In the alchemist's house
a floor of dirt
and ceiling of blue

3

Wandering the labyrinth
a crow on her shoulder
the old alchemist

4

Guarding Fairyland's border
a dragonfly
and facts

Future Echoes: 1 Haiku

1

A bird sings --
a faraway cave gathers echoes
for the future

Spring Fish: 2 Haiku

1

In spring
I'm a fish savoring
an amniotic mist

2

Spring dragon wakes --
a sky full of sap
and chimes

The New "Wrinkled Sea"

I have just removed 20 haiku from the book "Wrinkled Sea." It was originally 120 haiku, but as I read it over the twenty I removed struck me as inferior, so I deleted them.
"Wrinkled Sea" was written seven years ago, and since then I have written and read a great many haiku, and learned much about them. The Latin poet Horace said that a poet should let poems sit around for a number of years before publishing them. He said that this would help to insure that the poet really did in fact want to publish those poems, and help to prevent him or her from publishing things he might regret later.
Here is an example of a deleted haiku from "Wrinkled Sea":

a snake
practicing yoga
lays in the form of a square

This haiku strikes me now as merely cute and clever. I feel there is nothing wrong with cute clever so long as a haiku is not just cute and clever. This one seems to me to lack anything else.
Here's another:

under cold stars
setting out
to buy water

The problem here is that the haiku is what I call "slight," that is, there's not enough to it. It's an image that's not vivid or striking in any way.
And here's another

silk underwear --
the stars
remain sharp

This haiku is an attempt to be Japanese, but I think it just doesn't make it. Japanese haiku often uses contrasts and comparions which are subtle and indirect. There's nothing wrong, in my estimation, with trying to be Japanese -- I'm trying to be Japanese all the time, aesthetically speaking. I think, though, that in this haiku the contrast between the visual sharpness of the stars and the smoothnness of the silk underwear is a little too direct and obvious. Actually, this is what I would class as a "borderline" haiku -- not bad, but not that good either. To me borderline haiku are more akin to bad haiku than good haiku, so I removed it.
Here's another:

My blood
always falling
and climbing up again

I categorize this one as "unpleasant." An "unpleasant" haiku creates an image that is needlessly awkward, grotesque, or just unfortunate. Sometimes if a haiku is grotesque enough with a purpose, it could be good as in the famous Japanese haiku by Seito Hirahata:

At last
I entered the circle
of dancing lepers

This is a grotesque haiku, but it has about it an extremely mysterious feeling of ritual.
Of course the book "Wrinkled Sea" still has the twenty deleted haiku, but if I ever reprint the book again, they will be taken out. In the mean time, when I go to read my poetry somewhere I will take a printout of the 100 haiku that constitute the new version of the book -- so that I don't read any of those inferior twenty!

On a polished altar
offerings of shadows,
reflections, and dew

Invisible Castle (X): 15 Haiku

1

Invisible castle
the sadness of
the invisible peacock

2

Invisible castle
rainbows know
all the secret passages

3

Invisible castle
to see or not to see
that is the question

4

Invisible castle
one smile
to rule them all

5

Invisible castle
your karma's
locked in the dungeon

6

Invisible castle
at the mirror's surface
a border guard stationed

7

Invisible castle
the pot of gold
can't find a rainbow

8

Invisible castle
the garden is fragrant
but non-existent

9

Invisible castle
like a wet dog
shakes off fresh paint

10

Invisible castle
only the pizza delivery man
knows the address

11

Invisible castle
from the ramparts archers
shoot rays of light

12

A herd of editors
tries to revise
the invisible castle

13

Invisible castle
for the nose
a maze of odors

14

Invisible castle
Chopin likes sunlight
obscured by dust

15

Invisible castle
someone is writing down
Rimbaud's hiccups

Persian Miniatures: 4 Haiku

1

A magnifying glass --
careful! do not
burn the sultan!

2

As you wander
your imagination
waters the flowers

Blank sky --
are stars
hidden agendas?

Born
on a Monkey Day
I've a strangely human face

In winter
ivy eats its fill
of darkness

The first dandelion
that's what each one
thinks it is

The Black Desert
a vastness
of morning glory seeds

Beneath
the fallen alchemist
a wheelchair appears

Being hit
at the speed of light
I brighten

Through storms and snows
and seas of gray we seek
the pale northern rainbow

Shopping Spree: 4 Haiku

1

Hovering in the sky
over America
clouds of fake money

2

stuffed full of credit cards
and wrapped in red tape
I'm ready for burial

3

Death camps --
that's why the space beings
stay hidden

4

The New Age
of Dinosaurs demands
a New Gigantic Meteor

Invisible Castle (IX): 5 Haiku

1

In the Invisible Castle's
moat a school
of whales

2

Invisible Castle --
to Sleeping Beauty
the gift of insomnia

3

Invisible castle --
a tidal wave
is asked to wait

4

Invisible castle --
the fairy princess
prefers a condo

5

Invisible castle --
like a spider web
the harp strings are sticky

Stone Dragonfly: 5 Haiku

1

We need to start
making reality
more believable

2

Birth and death
generate a power source
of multicolored sparks

3

a stone dragonfly
rescued
with a sledgehammer

4

The sky's blankness
enters my eyes
as a vague pain

5

steeping tea
people chatting -- the long
hibernation of dinosaurs

Eating the Labyrinth: 4 Haiku

1

Having eaten
the labyrinth, I feel
complicated

2

clouds passing --
the fleeting lives
of tree shadows

3

Expending
much time and energy
stars shine on each other

4

Purple
in moonlight
African mermaids

School of Rainbows: 10 Haiku

1

waking at night --
a bathtub
has turned into moonlight

2

From inside
a crystal's silence I watch
raging winds

3

The fish at the bottom
of darkness is a school
of rainbows

4

On the moon's dark side
a tower
and a secret breeze

5

rough and faceless
hiding in stone
a sculptor found me

6

Collecting in dew
light enters
pine tree darkness

7

reflecting the sky's
architecture
a dew drop is round

8

Lunar caves --
the mystery
of interior light

9

Journeying
to the moon the winds
never arrive

10

"Do flowers have ghosts?"
at the question
colors laugh

Sharp vs. Soft

Most American haiku poets prefer haiku that has some type of punch to it, a kind of point that sticks out. One might call this an "attention grabber." We here in America are very big into grabbing attention. I call this "sharpness" when it is in haiku. In itself it is just a technique, and can result in good as well as inferior haiku. Here is an example of it in a haikiu I wrote:

With
an expensive coffin
a new life begins

The sharpness here comes from the irony of new life beginning in a coffin. Sharpness often appears in the form of shock, as it does in this haiku. I like this haiku because on the surface it sounds like a platitude, yet it is quite irrational.
Contrasted with the concept of "sharpness" is the opposite idea of "softness." This is when a haiku does not surprise, or shock, and is not pointed. To me, these haiku are much harder to write, because they may be overlooked. Rather than coming at you and grabbing or challenging you, they invite you in. Here is an example:

On a mud cliff
a stream casts
ribbons of light

I saw this happening one day in the woods in Missouri. It was wonderous. I love the contrast between the mud which is heavy, dark, and wet, and the overlay of light that flows effortlessly over the mud.
My ideal is to write "sharp" haiku without resorting to cheap tricks, or shocks whose only purpose is to hook one's attention, and to write "soft" haiku that glow, without being too vague or non-descript.

Spirit Rose: 5 Haiku

1

The spirit rose
that lives in the sky
how near is it? How far?

2

Stars and flowers
have centers --
do we?

3

A river's
hidden source:
the eternal dewdrop

4

The goddess of spring
imbues the colors of plastics
with new life

5

In the garden
white Mary blessing
the dirt on her robes

Blue Dusk: 5 Haiku

1

In the blue dusk
clouds
of silent twigs

2

In spring
a woodpecker and I
each with his own persistence

3

High on a wall
a tapestry -- the lands
of far away

4

on a mud cliff
a stream casts
ribbons of light

5

With
an expensive coffin
a new life begins

Invisible Castle (VIII): 10 Haiku

1

At the invisible castle
it's snowing
prehistoric dust

2

Invisible castle
they didn't even know
they'd found it

3

Invisible castle --
you are
your own dungeon

4

Invisible castle
the dust mites
secretly rejoycing

5

Invisible castle
the tapestries
have faded as much as they can

6

Invisible castle --
is it hiding
in a romance novel?

7

At the invisible castle
the monkeys
are making wrenches

8

Is the invisible castle
haunted? Ghosts
aren't sure

9

Saved from the flood --
Invisible castle
on the back of daddy long legs

10

Invisible castle
to prevent earthquakes
the tongue holds still

Ancient Lemons: 5 Haiku

1

As yellow as ever
the lemons of ancient Rome
are falling

2

Flying,
a prayer flag thread
finds dust and a rainbow

3

crisp and gentle
the waves surrounding
our mystic voyage

4

Faded tapestry
the sky, too
is clearing

5

Upstairs, the thud
of a secret foot
descending from the sky

6

Embedded
in the sea -- clouds
of the future

7

Twigs at dusk!
the sky is full
of little peninsulas!

Spiral River: 5 Haiku

1

Spiral river
let's set sail
from the source

2

Spiral river
Upstream further
and further within

3

This realm --
countless layers
of fog

4

Pulling up weeds
uncovering
an inner darkness

5

Assaulted
by noise my ears
turn into smoke

Bubble's Funeral: 4 Haiku

1

At a bubble's funeral
the wind
is laughing

2

Black columns at dusk
maybe
I'm a momentary breeze

3

white morning glory --
death is
a beautiful illusion

4

In gray winter
a woodpecker taps
at the seam of the universe

Wrinkled Sea: 100 Haiku

Here is the complete text of my second haiku book "Wrinkled Sea." It contains 120 poems and was published in 2002 by Hikoo Press, Kansas City.


1

awakened by spring light
I put on a blindfold
and go back to sleep

2

autumn dusk
a hippopotamus
perches on a withered branch

3

relieving itself
a gray cloud
turns white

4

a spell to protect
the paper tower
from wind

5

a whole sky
of stars hides
in my blindfold

6

to prevent discovery
a dinosaur dies
beneath a cathedral

7

a dream
of sharks --
the one-armed mermaid

8

staring at the sky
a fish waits
for the next ocean

9

rubbing the skin
from my face, I uncover
a jade mask

10

the moon
purchased and towed away
by aliens

11

for a good luck charm
I wear
a five-ton boulder

12

false eyelashes
barely seen
on the tarantula

13

valentine opened
valve replaced
valentine closed

14

flowing
from the chainsaw
cedar's perfume

15

walking through dead weeds
hand held up
to block the sun

16

the space
between galaxies --
that's where I'm most free

17

cherry blossoms
falling on stones
smash them

18

a stalactite and stalagmite
touch for the first time
in the dark

19

it's too white
to be my heart --
it must be my brain

20

water
come caress me
then go

21

defending houses
against the stars --
the faithful roofs

22

at night the refrigerator
yearns to escape
into the snowstorm

23

starlight
falls
on fallen leaves

24

one day
everyone ignored
a square cloud

25

during a snowstorm
a ruby grows
in a laboratory

26

from a gold frame
a holy man looks out
over a rock collection

27

without flapping its wings --
little silver plane

28

from a cloud
wind pulls
thousands of tentacles

29

sharp knife
at the string --
a kite dreams

30

staring at a blank wall --
it helps to listen
to the sea

31

in the ocean
for thousands of miles --
hidden rivers

32

in this soil
rot
of a billion petals

33

and we continue
slowly to ride
Milky Way's merry-go-round

34

the dragonfly examines
what I suppose
is my face

35

forsythia --
let's give the peacock
a crew cut too

36

pulled inside my lungs
the wind for a moment
is still

37

remembering Jesus
I walk on a sea
of concrete

38

slowly my toenails
wandering out
of my body

39

the stars
ripening -- occasionally
one falling

40

perfectly cut
to fit above everything --
blank sky

41

why do the smallest birds
always fly in the distance?

42

to smooth out the wrinkles
pull on the edge
of the sea

43

a cloud
stands still --
I float by

44

tree
my tend fingers
your ten thousand

45

angel's camouflage --
white dirt
of heaven

46

we who dwell inland
use small machines
to make ocean noises

47

during the rain
a man is repairing a wall
made of words

48

I cannot see
how I look
in my new blindfold

49

beneath the streets
tree roots reach
toward one another

50

moonlight shadows --
they never look
quite right

51

river delta
the mud has eaten
thousands of colors

52

flossing piranhas --
a difficult job
but it pays well

53

stars --
within me
tiny ancient things

54

in some other place
this little yellow sun
is scorching someone

55

beyond the window --
the world more magical
viewed through dust

56

eating raw cabbage
eating cooked cabbage
eating a gray sky

57

parking garage --
in 5000 years
stalactites?

58

even when I rest
my toenails growing
toward my destination

59

when no one is looking
the waterfall stops
for a moment to rest

60

sleepless night --
the trees beneath the street light
yearn for darkness

61

freed from cold
my spirit body
naked on an iceberg

62

stacking my vertebrae
on top of each other
I move on

63

my feet
are whispering to each other --
I play like I'm asleep

64

rather than dusting
I throw a little glitter
in the corners

65

toes --
old and fat
but still together

66

blue chicory flowers --
just before the lawnmower
I saw them

67

blue morning glories
the garden gate entangled
I go away

68

light reflect off
the light trapped in
a photograph

69

to make the photograph
look old, he took it
a long time ago

70

ghosts of dead languages --
black and white photo
of a rainbow

71

rotting off the house
a balcony
from which stars were viewed

72

bugs around a street light --
a little snow
that never falls

73

yes this morning
the fish still bathing
in the pool

74

for thousands of years
the cave patiently waiting
for electric lights

75

some younger, some older
the stalactites all dripping
in darkness

76

pulled between my thumb
and finger, the corn leaf
hisses like a snake

77

falling into the ocean
a tear expands
for thousands of miles

78

singing a hymn
to silence -- choir
of a thousand fish

79

the light has slowed
but eventually
I appear in the mirror

80

except for the sun
the sky today
flawless

81

a blind fish
listens
to falling snow

82

after the storm
a business man struck down
by a rainbow

83

freshly poured concrete sky
a yellow crocus
pops open

84

falling through
the back of the mirror
I reenter the room

85

before walking away
my shoes make sure
I've put them on

86

with hair gel
Rapunzel builds
her own tower

87

massaging the tarantula --
it wasn't as easy
as it sounded

88

a dragonfly wonders
why everyone's
so fat

89

found a meteor
shaped like a tongue
began writing haiku

90

beneath the flamenco dancers
the cockroaches
learn new steps

91

cute clouds
ugly houses
suburb twilight

92

lost myself
at the carnival
so I went home alone

93

a stone goddess
smiles
cracking hear head off

94

needing a vacation
I visit
my feet

95

hidden
in my closet -- capstone
of the Great Pyramid

96

forever salivating
the cave
hungers

97

by the time I returned from peeing
the cloud had died

(Published in "Ginyu," Ginyu Press, Japan)

98

a wet painting
their curiosity
keeps it moist

99

after two million years
face of a cliff
still waiting to be carved

100

moon
big round
bright rock

Self-portrait: 9 Haiku

1

In the dark
painting my self-portrait
wonder how I look

2

Can't decide
where to breathe --
sky's too big

3

A new battery
to keep the clock
busy waiting

4

Lost my feet --
must have
wandered off

5

After the leak
ironing
Hadrian's memoirs

6

Lake -- the molecules
are taking turns
being the surface

7

Debussy
turned into a cloud
and forgot to evaporate

8

Most of them
too faint to be noticed --
fishes smiles

9

Eiffel Tower
hollow so that perfumes
can get through

Dragon Garage: 16 Haiku

1

Dragon garage
this space reserved
for virgins

2

The portrait painter
shopping
for a tube of flesh

3

The portrait painter
again he makes me
shut my mouth

4

Invisible cage --
bird's dead
anyway

5

In spring
a woman enjoying tulips
and a hormone patch

6

under a flag
a man in a suit
ignoring the wind

7

As we sleep
our shadows roam the streets
in search of each other

8

On everything
dust --
except the light

9

Growing angry --
holding my tail
to stop the swishing

10

A giant
air-tight window
silences the ocean

11

In the museum
many paintings have gathered
to view the people

12

now approaching
the moon: all tourists
must wear only white

13

On the moon white dust
and the eternal sleep
of winds

14

The sun's tentacles
meet those
of a jellyfish

15

In the sky
a white rock --
you thought it was a cloud!

16

The stars
looking for night
see, they found it!

Looking For the Sun: 8 Haiku

1

Fallen leaves --
must I choose
between a balloon and a dragonfly?

2

Fallen leaves --
look! an old ballerina
is living in the trees!

3

Time travelled
saw Elvis and a Pharoah
then came home

4

Locust tree
most thorns
dying unused

5

In winter
I hold a candle up
to look for the sun

6

Dragonfly alights!
the angel
of acupuncture!

7

playing the didgeridoo
he looks south
toward the glaciers

8

Before the rock
finished its haiku
I turned to stone

Happy Snow: 10 Haiku

1

Before dying
the snow is happy
to assist the shadows

2

White peony
cabbage
of the gods

3

Until
the shell was opened
the pearl was black

4

Another shell
do I wait
or peck my way out?

5

A man talks
a cloud
stops to listen

6

In summer
a sky full of dust
and invisible stars

7

In the city
waterfalls everywhere
mostly in pipes

8

Milky Way
we live in the petal
of a sparkling flower

9

The important clouds
have left. Minor residues
predominate

10

Free of blemishes
but the sky
must be very old

Snow Mirror: 4 Haiku

1

Snow --
the mirror of water
fills with light

2

Broken statues
they are the clouds
that never passed

3

Halfway between
branches and roots
the land of shadows

4

For snow
sun is the god
of death