Inside its tunnel the slow slap and slide
of fat fabric tentacles spray red, white & blue
foam that blurs what’s ahead bristling
Seuss-like arms spin-scrub the hubs
hot wax the hood in this my hideout
my one chance to sidestep what’s real
exit the stage unnoticed a few moments
out of reach like standing behind a waterfall
the sound washing over all communications
cut-off the phone searching for service
left to roam the cartoon scenery
innocently back and forth like waves
in a kid’s cardboard play until
the jet-powered wind kicks in blasting
the water away every last droplet
a modern day purification ritual
that spits me out into the same old
parking lot only a little brighter.
anniversary
of her death all day
a soft pelting
lives in Vermont where he works as a full-time stained glass artist. He is the author of several books in the Japanese short form tradition including What We Find (haiku); Welcome to the Joy Ride (haibun), which won a 2014 Merit Book Award for the Best Book of Haibun from the Haiku Society of America; A Path of Desire (tan renga with Kathe L. Palka); The Searchable World (haiku), which won First Place in the 2018 Merit Book Awards from the Haiku Society of America; Part-Time Gods (haibun), winner of the Snapshot Press eChapbook Award for haibun in 2021; and Glide Path (haiku), due to be published in 2022.
