More Haiku from Michigan

Coming back across Lake Michigan on the cross-lake ferry between Muskegon and Milwaukee, the Lake Express, I found myself sitting on the general passenger deck writing haiku about the week we had just spent in Michigan. I recommend the ferry trip to anyone, at any time: it was a real joy. Standing out on the open-air top deck in the wind, as the water jets kicked in and the boat sped up from its harbor cruising speed or 15 knots to its top speed of 35 or 40 knots, was a genuine thrill.

The Michigan road trip was intense, mostly good, with one or two difficult days, and a lot of new photography and ambient recordings. For example, the redwing blackbirds at Thurston Nature Center in Ann Arbor, that I walked through every day on the way to and from elementary school.

I hope you like tulips as much as I do:


(Tulip Time festival, Holland, MI)

brilliant orange suns,
lemon skies, red flames at dusk:
fields of tulips

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And five more haiku (or senryu), in no particular order:

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once pristine streets
where I played as a child:
now shaggy, overgrown

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my grandfather's house,
his carpenter's hands that built—
wind in maple trees

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long endless visits,
gatherings with too much food—
the long road beckons

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childhood swimming beach
surrounded by pines and sand:
mallards on Duck Lake

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striding over dunes
by estuary rushes—
memories of youth