Haiku

 

Rice and beans when cooked

with all the season's colors

and smells are a prayer.

I am a stoic

in the matter of summer --

flowers brief riot

This is a failed haiku

it treats syllables with scorn

that would make Basho smile

What a thing is this!

Mountains flex with pine and oak --

under them folks yawn

In Afghanistan

we walked on the roof of hell

weeding the flowers

Why define haiku

at all? Is it not the sound

of one heart beating?

Changing the angle

of the rug in the big room 

improves perception