November 10: Expecting

waiting for the call

that the baby’s born

restless leaves

November 9: Orion

hey la

Orion’s back  

crisp night sky

November 8: Willow

The 17th century Japanese poet Basho, considered by most to be the first haiku master, once told his students: “The old verse can be about willow. Haikai requires crows picking snails in a rice paddy.” 

*haikai refers to the popular poetic form of the time, renga, of which the opening stanza or hokku eventually evolved into the haiku

that old willow

dripping sap

all over my car

November 7: Frost

up with the crows

first thing in the morning

scraping off frost

November 6: Election Day

farmstand pumpkins

that didn’t get carved

election day

November 5: Leaf-blower

neighbor’s leaf-blower

disrupting

all this beauty

November 4: Time change

time change

the hungry cat

doesn’t get it

November 3: Rainy day

another inch of rain

yellow leaves

standing in for sunlight

November 2: Day of the Dead (two versions)

fallen leaves

returning to the air

as sparrows

day of the dead

fallen leaves

flying up as sparrows

Which version do you prefer? 

Yesterday marked the nine-year anniversary of this blog! That’s more than 3,200 haiku, although it hasn’t been until the last 400 or so that I feel like I’m finally getting the hang of it. Sort of. Sometimes.

November 1: Rain

November rain

plugging in early

the holiday lights

October 31: Shopping

grocery cart hand-off

the warmth left

by a stranger’s hands