Diminished [Free Verse]

I take a sunrise photo
And find the glorious orb
Diminished by poor photography,
& upstaged by a flaring pigeon.

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...

Cat Dandy [Kyōka]

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

“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.

Marching Macaques [Haiku]

macaques on the march:
lockstep / shoulder-to-shoulder;
 a crash in the trees.

Dramatic Entrance [Haiku]

an egret flares
to a dramatic landing
in a sunny grass patch.

Heron [Haiku]

a heron stands
with perfect stillness,
in frigid water.