Haiku is a celebration of beauty of the present moment.
I have a love affair with haiku poetry and have written hundreds of haiku poems over many years. What captures my fascination is how a haiku poem can make such a profound aesthetic statement in only 17 syllables or less. Haiku is refreshing and distinct from other poetic forms. The short format forces the poet to communicate the intended poetic concept in its essence with brevity and clarity.
A haiku poem is seldom planned, it often comes to mind fully written. The poem is triggered by seeing a moment that causes one to stop in awe – like a butterfly landing on my sleeve; or listening to a mother on the train sing a lullaby to her baby; or seeing a young child catch a snowflake on her tongue; or watching a sunset reflected on a lake, then suddenly, swans land on the reflection.
All of the following haiku poems are by Bruce J. Wood, founder of Aoide Magazine.
The crackle of raining acorns,
hitting dried leaves,
breaks the cricket’s song
The oak tree limb
emerged out of the mist,
carrying a robin’s nest
Sunset over the lake—
a blue heron’s shadow
stretches to the other shore
Wilderness trail,
woods and marshes,
where escaped party balloons go to die
Footprints
of morning dew
lead back from the garden
Everyone on the train
listened to the mother
singing a lullaby to her baby
Melting snow
reveals a face
carved on a pumpkin
Young boys used
Nativity scene characters
to play battle games
In the boulevard median
geese honk
at passing cars
Morning coffee,
I watch a groundhog
eat the neighbor’s flowers
Twigs used for
snowman arms, hug the
same spot all summer long
The hawk freezes,
perched on the fence railing,
then darts off in an instant
In the open field,
the geese heads bob up and down
among the Queen Anne’s lace
Dusk lingers,
fireflies vanish in the mist
along the river banks
Woodpecker cadence echoes
through the tall pines,
among a sea of ferns
Small wooden bridge over a creek,
left a coin for the troll,
just in case
Just a wooden bench,
on a cliff, overlooks a
horse shoe bend in the river flowing through
the wilderness, and a hawk set in a blue sky
gliding on a soft cool breeze
Old scarecrow
diligently guards
the abandoned cornfield
Garden flowers
reach out over
the stone wall enclosure
The old man
hums Broadway show tunes
on the morning bus
Woman walks her dog —
lets him dig holes
in the neighbor’s flowerbed
Kids playing
baseball in the park,
use an old shoe for home plate
![C:\Users\Bruce\Pictures\canada-wildlife-tour[1].jpg](https://aoidemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/c-users-bruce-pictures-canada-wildlife-tour1-jp.jpeg)
Remote campsite,
all night acorns drop on dry leaves,
in bear country
At dusk,
the silhouette of a cat
is caught in my headlights
At a stop light,
a lone coyote crosses the road,
then looks back at me
Line for a love poem
scribbled on a gum wrapper,
found a year later
The shopping cart —
comes with a kid who
makes motor sounds
The cat stays on
the stone tiles when
walking through the garden
Ice storm –
tree tops now
bow to the ground
The raccoon and I froze
watching each other
for the longest time
Mailman
walks a zig zag pattern
to avoid barking dogs
Old forgotten shoes,
years later remember
my lasting impression
December warm spell,
busy squirrels gather
last minute supplies
After thirty years,
toys in attic still wait
to be played with
Floating leaves twirl,
my mind drifts with them
to the open sea
Frigid morning,
robin runs across field
instead of flying
A Mexican woman makes tortillas
and sings a Hail Mary
for each one
Campsite breakfast
shared with a butterfly
sipping nectar from a flower
Saturday, spent the whole day
watching a swan
circle the lake
Outside screen door,
a baby chipmunk wants to play;
scolding parents drag him away
Crows announce my approach;
a circling hawk guards
her field of ripe pumpkins
Young boy traced
his finger along each
rim of the train seat
In a sudden down pour,
I shared an awning
with a spider
Deer tracks in snow,
emerge from the woods, then
abruptly stop, going nowhere
Today in the park,
tadpoles swim in
children’s mason jars
Sunshine reflects off
drifting snow, a perched dove
looks back at me
August evening,
yellow moon nudges
the mountain peak
A flock of birds
settles, then a
tsunami wave in the air
Defiant, the ant boldly
walked across the table
top in full view
![C:\Users\Bruce\Pictures\f61121d88d926245473e2e3718a28d36[1].jpg](https://aoidemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/c-users-bruce-pictures-f61121d88d926245473e2e3718.jpeg)
Swooping owl,
vanished into
the pitch of darkness
Twilight –
shadows slowly emerge
from their hiding places
Summer –
tall grasses conceal
the unused lawn mower
The three huddled birds’
eyes squint with each
drop of rain
Night sky –
fireflies and stars
merge and twinkle together
Flowers turned
to face the sun before
shedding their petals
Stork stands on the pier,
waits for my
unused fish bait
With enough wine,
the old cottage
looks quaint
