Haiku Crossings

2011-10-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

starry night
the baby
kicks Andromeda

(Published Sketchbook Kukai Jul/Aug 2011)

Illumination ( Waltz Wave)

2011-10-08T21:51:00.000-07:00

a
poem
of
light
hallowed
heightens
the
morning
sun
making
love's delight
a bumblebee
in purple
clover
a
cloud drift
of spring geese
or long
notes
of marsh
wrens

(Published Sketchbook - July/August 2011)

2011-09-19T11:29:00.000-07:00

scent of

night-blooming jasmine

words get

in the way

(Published Frogpond - Fall - 2011)

2011-08-07T13:45:00.000-07:00

heavy dew
a green snake slides
from plant to plant

(Published HSA Anthology - 2011)

2011-05-18T18:48:00.001-07:00

pussy willow
the stream bends
where the light falls

(From "Where the Light Falls" by Thomas Martin)

2011-05-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

entangled
in the life
of the spider

(Published Modern Haiku - 2011)

2011-05-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

Jesu Joy . . .
another shade
of blue

(Published Modern Haiku - 2011)

2011-05-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

east wind
each petal
just enough

(Published Sketchbook - Jan/Feb, 2011 - Kukai Thread)

Tanka Sequence - London

2011-05-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

Chalk Farm
the poetry reading
upstaged
by fluorescing
mannequins

almost free beer
in the pub
almost next door
to the last
poem

my girl and I
making out. . .
jazz pianos
in our lapels

London Bridge. . .
almost night
in the foreground
she kisses
and almost forgets

Hampstead Heath
I breathe the first star
in the steadfast
November night
London

(Published Sketchbook - Mar/Apr 2011)

2011-03-23T10:50:00.001-07:00

east wind
I almost catch up
with myself

(Published March, 2011 Sketchbook Kukai Thread

Loch Ness

2011-03-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

At the Alltsaigh Youth Hostel we watched and watched the blue-black water for "Nessie." In the kitchen was a drawing of the monster as half-submerged "tires" with a pointy head attached.

I keep my watch. . .

midsummer
a ripple
in the starlight

(Published 3/11 by Sketchbook.)

2011-02-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

late summer
sliced apples dry
on the barn roof

(Published World Haiku Review - Janurary 2011
Haiku of Merit)

2011-02-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

day moon
faint smell
of snap beans

(Published World Haiku Review - January 2011
Haiku of Merit)

2011-02-02T11:49:00.000-08:00

her morning song
awakens me
sliced oranges

Published Mayfly - Spring, 2011

2011-01-06T13:24:00.000-08:00

spring storm
on the sofa
her bra

(Published Frogpond - Winter - 2010)

Fuzzy

2011-01-06T13:18:00.000-08:00

People often left their unwanted pets near our house, off a rather isolated country road. I must have been about 8 years, and my brother about 5, when Fuzzy first appeared. We were playing on some long abandoned lumber.

He immediately began "speaking" with us using an assortment of short barks and growls, and since we were lonely, country kids with few friends and relations, we begged our parents to let us keep him. We named him "Fuzzy," with his tangled mass of black, gray and white fur. He became our constant companion.

dark of the moon

glow of yellow eyes
along the dirt road

(Published Sketchbook - Nov/Dec 2010)

2010-12-18T13:05:00.000-08:00

snow day
silence
between us

(Published Modern Haiku - Winter 2010)

2010-12-01T06:44:00.000-08:00

longest day
dipping cornbread
in buttermilk

(Published The Heron's Nest - December - 2010

2010-11-02T09:24:00.000-07:00

crows watching
the maples redden
quiet for a change

(Published Sketchbook haiku thread - Sep/Oct 2010)

Copyright 2010 Thomas Martin, all rights reserved.

2010-11-02T09:20:00.000-07:00

acorns underfoot
children raking leaves
to the wood's edge

Published "fall trees" Haiku Thread, Sketchbook k - Sep/Oct 2010)

Copyright 2010 Thomas Martin, all rights reserved.

2010-11-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

autumn wind
the whipoorwill
calls the evening

(Published "autumn winds" Kukai Thread, sketchbook - Sep/Oct 2010)

Copyright 2010 Thomas Martin, all rights reserved.

Ourobouros

2010-11-02T07:42:00.000-07:00

"Be ye as wise as serpents" (Matthew 10:16)

you live long enough
everything runs together

like water and sand

the circle where the serpent
coiled at the edge of the sea

seems less than
stepping on moonlight
and holding a child

you live long enough
everyone stirs inside,
your father,
long dead
remembers your face,
your first love breathes softly
beside you in the dark

you live long enough
you'll know you loved
even when you thought
you were making love,
eyes open and unmoved
staring one way or everywhere
but mostly sandward

you live long enough
you'll remember to breathe
and wonder if you'll live forever
a grasping, almost lovely,
small-hearted thing

you live long enough
you'll slip into brightness
you'll know of incandescence
and the long memory of the sky

(Published Sketchbook, Sept/Oct 2010)

Copyright 2010 Thomas Martin, all rights reserved.

2010-11-02T07:25:00.000-07:00

autumn wind
she sends some leaves by post

(Kukai Thread--Sept/Oct, Sketchbook)

Copyright 2010 Thomas Martin, all rights reserved.

2010-10-31T12:48:00.000-07:00

ripe tomatoes
a squirrel's cheeks
full of fall

(Sustainability Competition--2010 Seattle's World Fair)

Copyright 2010 Thomas Martin, all rights reserved.

2010-10-19T20:46:00.000-07:00

pine shade

the quiet sound

of a stream

(Sustainability Competition--2010

Seattle World's Fair)

Copyright 2010 Thomas Martin, All rights reserved.

Link for Interview with Curtis Dunlap for Haiku: Three Questions

2010-10-14T22:21:00.000-07:00

Curtis Dunlap featured me for his well-known series--Haiku: Three Questions.

http://tobaccoroadpoet.blogspot.com/2010/10/thomas-martin-three-questions.html

Interview was picked up and commented on Oregonlive's Web Wanderings column:

http://www.oregonlive.com/beaverton/index.ssf/2010/10/web_wanderings_through_beautiful_beaverton.html

Exposure

2010-10-07T06:59:00.000-07:00

I have this recurring fantasy. I travel to northern Ontario and hire a bush pilot who flies me to the Great Slave Lake. It is a one way trip. I carry my trusty Ronco Survival Knife that I bought for $19.95 in a weak moment a few years ago after watching one of those late night infomercials. The top of the large serrated hunting knife is a compass, which screws off to reveal fish hooks, a bit of line, some matches, a folded up saw. I take one eighth of my ancestors with me, the Cherokee relations. I will survive the bitter cold and the bears and wolves. I will fish, find wild berries and rob honey trees. Lichen broths are supposed to be nutritious, even tasty, I understand.

filling the feeders
I watch for
the Northern Flicker

(Published Simply Haiku - Spring 2009)

Reading Gaol

2010-10-02T07:27:00.000-07:00

Well, we spent a couple of nights in an all-night laudramat somewhere east of Marble Arch. We had completely run out of money during that phase of our London experience. At least we had shelter, and found some measure of companionship with the assortment of characters doing laundry during the wee hours.

There was the drunken gentleman, who never quite got around to reciting Oscar Wilde's, " The Ballad of Reading Gaol." He went on for hours preparing to quote the poem, but never actually uttered a single word of Wilde. . .

foggy night

a cobweb catches

the glow of fluorescents

Copyright 2010 Thomas Martin, all rights reserved.

(Published October, 2010 - Contemporary Haibun Online)

2010-09-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

humid morning
we pick watermelons
ankle deep in dew

(published - Sketchbook (Haiku Thread - July/August, 2010)
(http://www.poetrywriting.org)

Copyright 2010 Thomas Martin, all rights reserved.

Hummingbird Summer

2010-08-31T09:24:00.000-07:00

Morning glories light the morning

Hummingbirds bloom in every blossom’s breath

Flickering of gold dust shook from tiny heads;

Fairy magicians

Glistening the morning light,

A sleight of hazy wings,

A sudden quickening of the heart's delight.

That summer so much too beautiful to bear;

Flying, dancing, humming, being,

Quickening in the cathedral light;

And soaring on some liquor divine,

Divinely mad!

A fool with wings!

The anointed messenger of the gods of play;

For now is the time

Stopped and still in the golden air

I see myself shining everywhere.

(Published July/August, 2010 - Sketchbook)
(http://www.poetrywriting.org) (also 1st Place in the Hummingbird Guide 2010 Contest)

Copyright 2003-2010 Thomas Martin, all rights reserved.

2010-08-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

Haiga - Ecola Head (Published: Contemporary Haibun - Volume 10)

Blackberry Picking

2010-08-18T20:52:00.000-07:00

I see grandmother's bonnet moving above the bramble. My mother tells me not to keep eating berries. My little pail fills so slowly.

mouth drips purple juice
clothes torn, skin bleeding, itching
spill berries again

(Published Contemporary Haibun: Volume 10)

2010-07-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

moonbow
a luna moth clings
to the porch light

(Published HSA Member Anthology - 2010)

2010-07-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

fingernail moon
all that's left
of the argument

(Published Modern Haiku - Summer 2010)

2010-07-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

eggs still warm
from the nest
spring planting

Published Mayfly, Summer, 2010

A Perfect Day

2010-07-06T07:02:00.000-07:00

Some days are almost crystalline in the memory: they shine like diamonds in the blue perspective of the distant past,

winter wind
a broken branch lit
by gray-green lichens

New Year's day, 1981, was like that. I spent the day with my future wife, Joyce, wandering around the Eno River in the Piedmont of North Carolina. The weather was perfect for January in the South—clear with a pale, yellow sun and temperatures in the mid-50s. Chilly but pleasant.

We explored the oak and maple forests bordering the river, admiring its stark, wintry beauty, and happy with each others' middle-aged company. We pointed out birds' nests and the occasional larger, leafy squirrel's homes in the bare boughs. Always, the river was a strong background presence, winding through stone outcroppings and sandy shores.

winter evening
at home
with stars

(Published Contemporary Haiburn Online--July, 2010)

2010-06-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

moonless night
glow worms help me
up the steps

Published Magnapoets (Summer, 2010)

2010-05-29T01:42:00.000-07:00

camping alone
up all night
with the river

Published Spring, 2010 Modern Haiku

Geri's Ninetieth

2010-03-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

Old age, I suppose. Funny, I don't feel old. I want you to push me again, way up high in the swing. Nothing has changed except my joints, and you, who don't really understand that youth goes on and on.

first spring flowers
the same old song
brilliant and stirring

Published June, 2009 Contemporary Haibun Online

2010-02-25T09:38:00.000-08:00

churning day
the butter tastes faintly
of wild onions

(2nd Place, Moonset Haiku Competition (Spring 2010))

2010-01-02T10:17:00.001-08:00

spider in the house
is that you
Issa?

Published Prune Juice Journal (2010)

[For those not familiar with the world of haiku, Issa, was a Japanese poet who often wrote about spiders, insects and other small creatures.]

2009-12-31T15:54:00.000-08:00

meteor shower
wisps of steam rise
from the hot springs

Published "A Travel-Worn Satchel"
2009 HSA Anthology

Eye of the Storm

2009-12-30T09:48:00.000-08:00

EYE OF THE STORM

I was ten when Hurricane Hazel passed over our farm in the Piedmont. I really wanted to see that eye. When the wind stopped howling, I rushed out the back door. In the stillness my eyes were drawn upward.

so quiet
the weeping willow
straightens

Published Haibun Today (2008)

The Farmer

2009-12-30T09:41:00.000-08:00

Father farmed most of his life. He loved land, growing things, and animals. He went off to work early in the morning whistling and singing.

When about to retire, he could no longer make a living as a farmer but he found work at the local chicken processing plant, where thousands of chickens awaited slaughter. They gave him a heating iron to burn off the ends of the chickens' beaks, so that they would not damage each other through pecking.

He lasted a week, making pets of them all.

hoeing tobacco
row after row
sweat like dew

Published Haibun Today(2008)

2009-12-15T14:03:00.000-08:00

early spring
without trying
the cherry blossoms

(Published 2nd Annual Basho Challenge Chapbook
2010)

2009-11-24T09:07:00.000-08:00

Hollywood movies
the moon
always full

Published Prune Juice Journal
Summer, 2009

2009-11-15T11:30:00.000-08:00

august evening
grandfather whittles
the light away

Published September, 2009, The Heron's Nest

2009-05-08T14:46:00.000-07:00

winter gravestone
hyphen between dates
my father's life

Published: Frogpond Spring/Summer 2009

2009-05-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

birdwatchers

scrambling off the bus

wild turkeys

Honorable Mention

Moonset Senryu Contest

Moonset Spring/Summer 2009

2009-05-08T13:49:00.000-07:00

the moon

the firs touch

Third Place Haiku Contest

Moonset Spring/Summer 2009

pussywillow

2009-05-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

pussy willow

I wear my mother's smile

looking for a vase

Third Place

2008 Kusamakura Haiku Competition

Free Verse - The Clandestine Life of the Burrowing Owl

2008-07-31T09:44:00.000-07:00

Burrowing Owls are found in open, dry grasslands, agricultural and range lands, and desert habitats often associated with burrowing animals, particularly prairie dogs, ground squirrels and badgers.

Yes, I love a hole in the ground
(I didn't even dig it.)
but also circle and suddenly
swoop down on small scampering things
like Vole or Mouse
or listen for the faint susurrus
of Dragon's tiny wings.

Avoiding birdwatchers
(Homo Binocularis)
That's the big problem,
I mean how can you hide
from snakes and hawks,
much less sleep a little
when a busload of birders
roars by stopping to point
out Badger's old burrow
while waiting for you to get up
and perch on a pasture post.

What's to be done?
They've studied you,
They know all your habits
and will out your burrow,
you can't really hide.
(Does the Legion accept owls?)

Then, I forget that when made
by God, evolution or both
I promised to define the sky
while steadfastly ensconced
in the beautiful earth.

© 2008-9 Thomas James Martin

Published Magnapoets Journal, January 2009

Haibun - Eye of the Storm

2008-07-30T13:15:00.000-07:00

I was ten when Hurricane Hazel passed over our farm in the Piedmont. I really wanted to see that eye. When the wind stopped howling, I rushed out the back door. In the stillness my eyes were drawn upward.

so quiet
the weeping willow
straightens

Published 2008 in Haibun Today

Haibun - The Maroon Blazer

2008-07-29T16:17:00.000-07:00

Mother insisted upon bringing Dad's maroon blazer to Oregon when she came to visit after his death. She just could not bear to let it hang unused in his closet. She wanted me to "get the use out of it."

I finally gave it to Goodwill.

could not ever wear
his old clothes burning my skin
lonely child once more

Published in Contemporary Haibun Online

Haibun - Moonlight

2008-07-20T10:27:00.000-07:00

I remember the first time my family rented a summer vacation cottage at Long Beach, North Carolina. Darkness had fallen by the time we finished unloading the car. I came in with the last load and after dropping the box in the kitchen, went out to the screen porch where Mother was standing.

first night
the full moon floats
on silver waves

Every now and then through the years, she would remind me of how beautiful she found the moonlit ocean and how precious the memory. I remember those pitchers of iced tea, countless meals, covering my brother and me with lotions. She could drink coffee and gaze at the ocean for hours.

waist deep in the sea
"can't you come in a little"
current pulls at my feet

Haibun - Getting Rid of the Festiva

2008-07-15T15:35:00.000-07:00

I tell you no one wanted that car. We kept it parked in the driveway for years while we made payments on Saturns and bought Subarus and Hondas and tried to ignore it. Meanwhile, I would drive it once a week to Trader Joe's or the Beaverton Library.

driver's door opens
chains pulled across pipes
runs great, good mileage

I tried to donate it (only had about 102,000 miles). I called all the charities that take old cars (United Way, Cancer Research, even Kars4Kids) but upon hearing it was a 1989 Ford Festiva with a key jammed in the ignition refused to consider it.

I finally had to call a junk dealer who offered us a $100, and who came with a big smile and a ruddy, little Pomeranian
that waited obediently to one side while he hoisted the car up on his wrecker.

The dog yapped all the while but seemed happy. She made me smile, and my heart bubbled a little.

just as Samantha
began licking my fingers
five 20's changed hands

Published in Contemporary Haibun Online

Haibun - Weather

2008-07-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

I last saw you on Midsummer Commons
It was rainy bright and you turned away.
We wanted words of prophets,
even weathermen.

the wind's rough coldness
gray bark, the brown fallen leaves
the rain still falling

Published in Contemporary Haibun Online

Haibun - The Farmer

2008-07-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

Raised on a farm in the South, Father ended up farming most of his life. He loved the land, the growing things, and the animals. He went off to work early in the morning whistling and singing. We kids would tag along to work in the fields and secretly hope for early thunderstorms.

early morning stars
the chilly feel of wet dew
the sound of roosters

When he was about to retire, he could no longer make a living as a farmer. Elderly, he had trouble finding work in the rural area of the South where he lived. The only job he could find was working for a chicken processing plant. They had thousands of chickens crammed in cages and behind wire fences awaiting slaughter.

They gave him a job using a heating iron to burn off part of the chickens’ beaks, so the they would not damage each other through pecking.

He lasted a week
Making pets of them all
started smoking again

(Published Haibun Today - 2008)