Lonely Egret [Haiku]

lonely egret
wades in calm water,
awaiting lunch.

Snake Fisher [Haiku]

snake wrestles fish
onto rocky home turf, &
blends with sun-warmed stones.

Frogs Heard, Not Seen [Haiku]

grass-rattle, plop!
grass-rattle, plop! -- repeats...
 at last, I see a frog.

Camouflage, Not! [Haiku]

a squirrel chitters;
its black body against
 the ash gray tree.

Garden Carp [Haiku]

saffron-colored carp
mill about the garden pond.
 a cat watches...

Roosters of Youth [Haiku]

when I was a child,
roosters aggressively charged;
 now: they flee, clucking.

Stalking Tiger [Free Verse]

A giant tiger stalks,
baring teeth, tensing claws,
closing the distance
in deep shadows that exist
entirely within the man's mind.

While others, from safe distances,
can see the fearsome beast clearly.

Cat Dandy [Kyōka]

cat on a porch rail
preens between naps
 to look good
for the twenty waking
 minutes of its day. 

Riverbed Reveal [Haiku]

gray day river --
the exposed riverbed
 shows only by tracks

“A narrow Fellow in the Grass” (1096) by Emily Dickinson [w/ Audio]

A narrow Fellow in the Grass
 Occasionally rides --
You may have met him? Did you not
 His notice instant is --

The Grass divides as with a Comb,
 A spotted Shaft is seen,
And then it closes at your Feet
 And opens further on --

He likes a Boggy Acre --
 A Floor too cool for Corn --
But when a Boy and Barefoot
 I more than once at Noon

Have passed I thought a Whip Lash
 Unbraiding in the Sun
When stooping to secure it
 It wrinkled And was gone --

Several of Nature's People
 I know, and they know me
I feel for them a transport
 Of Cordiality

But never met this Fellow
 Attended or alone
Without at tighter Breathing
 And Zero at the Bone.