10 Haiku

a haiku is like a samurai sword; it cuts.

5-7-5

1

Old Appalachia:

Home for the new, sick-hearted,

refuge in the stone

2

mountain speaks of wind;

 easterly gusts never listen

below the summit 

3

 oaks seldom ask

the pines how to turn in fall

the pines never notice

4

a school of minnows

a cloud against the current,

swift, immovable 

5

muddy shoals forgive 

the swimmers who cross them

tip toing the bed

6

a single drip warms,

evaporates in the sun

then returns to sleep

7

naked we cross water

awake for the moon's last dance,

the waxing of time

8

who- if not we- wait

for the first frost of winter

to turn us to stone?

9

where will we find death

outstretched like a sunbather 

after equinoxes? 

10

mother prepares lunch

because mothers run the house

like a castle's queen

11

even cicadas 

too grow tired of singing;

never the birds, tough

12

mother nature cuts

into the human skin

like a mind at work

13

fingers like needles

stitch the last hem on her dress;

tonight she'll be wed.