Haikus: June/July, 2023

This summer I read most of Moon in a Dewdrop, a compilation of writings by Zen Master Dogen. Tif was very tired of hearing about it!

I think a lot about time just generally, and y’all know how I like to date poetry. It’s been on my mind even more than usual these last couple of months, in large part because of the events surrounding my stepdad’s death but also because of this, from Dogen:

See each thing in this entire world as a moment of time. Things do not hinder one another, just as moments do not hinder one another. The way-seeking mind arises in this moment. A way-seeking moment arises in this mind.

Since there is nothing but just this moment, the time-being is all the time there is.

I tried to tell that to the library but it was still overdue so I had to return it.

6/16
Potato salad,
first bite of food in six days -
the look on his face

6/24
His withering legs -
the grandfather clock stands watch,
its toll dissolving

7/13
In line at the bike
shop - time is flowing through all
this bike merchandise

7/17
Glorious blue sky,
me and the caged bird whistling -
capitalism

7/21
Cornfields at chest height -
afternoon slumps over while
we eat our pizza

7/22
Investigating
roadkill - life goes on in there,
but differently

7/24
The viscosity
of this hand sanitzer:
weirdly beautiful

7/26
Smoking cigarettes
in the thick humidity,
hating cigarettes

7/29
Playing with bubbles -
hey kid, these symbolize our
fleeting existence

7/31
Crickets, night breeze,
my mother crying softly
in the other room