13 May 2019 (crabapple)

shining with flowers

my neighbor’s crabapple

three backyards away

11 February 2019 (wasp nest)

wasp nest in winter

my neighbors

how do they get by

This is an homage of sorts to Basho, who wrote the following haiku (as translated by Sam Hamill) that has stuck with me: 

In this late autumn,

my next-door neighbor— 

how does he get by? 

Here’s another translation of the same haiku, by Jane Reichhold, which demonstrates the variation among translators: 

autumn deepens

so what does he do

the man next door

4 February 2019 (street light)

new moon

street light standing in

as a substitute

November 5: Leaf-blower

neighbor’s leaf-blower

disrupting

all this beauty

July 7: Neighbor’s party

next door a party’s 
started, startling
the catbirds also

June 6: Poppies

overcast afternoon

the urge to pick

my neighbor’s orange poppies

June 5: Phoebe

neighborhood

phoebe’s regular perch

on our lawn chair

May 24: Flowering plum

spring thunderstorm 

how I covet

my neighbor’s plum tree

May 2: Magnolia

the right words

glimpse of a back yard

magnolia in bloom

April 16: Chicken

neighbor’s black chicken

strutting on the snow

spring pastoral

February 28: Windfall

fallen branch

from my neighbor’s willow

hung up on our fence