outcrop of sky
ocean scent from limestone
after rain
at the bottom of an old sea
a murder ballad
frisbees sail
the music meadow
jellyfish clouds
a jug band
rattles teeth in a jawbone
the singer
throws her head back
heartache ripples the crowd
a boy with Down syndrome
sways his toy guitar
guitars lasers
pit photographers shoot
this way and that
a Black woman spins
toad purse flying
lavender sweat
two girls slam dance
to bursting
glowing shapes in the trees
light the way to the cars
*Author’s Note:
This poem is a solo sequence of haiku and haiku-like poems modeled after the
three-line/two-line verses found in collaborative forms like renku, rengay, and
other forms of haikai.
haiku have appeared in Frogpond, Modern Haiku, Acorn, and other journals. His work is anthologized in A New Resonance 5 (Red Moon Press, 2019), as well as in the Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume VII: North Carolina (Texas Review Press, 2015). Dave is a founding member of The Haiku Foundation, and he organizes events for the North Carolina Haiku Society.
