WINTER Occasions

A Dictionary of Haiku
Jane Reichhold

baking for Christmas

cloves and nutmeg
grandma separated yolks
with one hand

first frost
cutting out cookies
with sugared tops

winter air
warmed in the kitchen
toasted bagels

winter dawn
all the bright stars
in cookie jars

California Christmas

Mendocino hills
green for Christmas
new lambs

Mendocino Christmas
on spring-green meadows
red jersey cows

deserted beach
couple in driftwood den
trim a flotsam tree

Mendocino Christmas
among snowy egrets
flakes of pussy willows

Christmas carols
in L.A. the air conditioner
hums along

Christmas Eve
Star of the West
Point Arena Lighthouse

sea side Christmas
shore pines bright with mist
at the lighthouse

celebrating the solstice

a solstice moon
13 women around a drum
the old circles us

Christmas bazaar

Christmas bazaar
the carefully tied bow
crooked

Christmas bells

Christmas bells
pouring excitement
into the air

Christmas carols

in the old folks' home
practicing Christmas carols
children again

howling sea winds
Christmas carols
sung by the local choir

Christmas Day

Christmas
a sleigh draws homeward
all my thoughts

coming ashore
on Christmas Day
pure white waves

Christmas
in the driest places
desert holly

Christmas day
a waiting at the roots
of pine trees

Christmas dinner
still warm
two crows by roadkill

covered with ice
the picnic table
on Christmas Day

 

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve
a life time of habits
not sleeping

Christmas Eve
out of the sea storm
a lighthouse

Christmas Eve
sea rocks unmoved
by the storm

Christmas Eve
out of the dark
hail

Christmas Eve
hail
"Peace on Earth"

Christmas Eve
the batteries left on
all night

Christmas Eve
only star
a foghorn

Christmas lights

holiday ridge
points of candlelight and 
stars


Christmas lights
shining in the sun
their unbelief


Christmas lights
in the thick pine forest
a rising moon

Christmas play

Christmas play
afterwards all the stars
on the school bus

Christmas shopping

Christmas gifts
what to buy
for someone dying

Christmas tree

cash crop
Jesuit priests peddle
Christmas trees

Christmas tree out
cleaning the room
for spring

in the corner
where the Christmas tree gloried
crooked chair shadows

sending/receiving cards

Christmas day
near-by a squirrel poses
on a greeting card

snow falling
the long awaited letter
on its way

letters written
with a thick nubbed pen
storm trees

trimming the tree

Christmas ornaments
bought that year
we didn't come home

Christmas ornaments
last year's dust
wrapped in tissue

Valentine's Day

unwrapping
Valentine gifts
naked

brand new
Valentine's gift
herpes

married in the cold month
sea foam freezes
on the rocks

white Christmas

my white Christmas
only under the branches
of the snowberry bush

Winter Solstice

winter solstice
the white night alone
with rolling surf

winter solstice
the sun in the south
with old folks

south sun
December's horizon
rolled in fog

winter solstice
the sun at its own
birthday party

for winter solstice
bumpy as an orange
moonset

winter solstice
warmth of friends
return the sun

winter solstice
greeting like souls
the sun returns

winter solstice
a white eve alone
with a wild surf

heavy clouds
winter solstice brightens
lightning

after the solstice
cleaning the house
trimming wicks

winter solstice
finding a new point
for acupressure

winter solstice
so low in the trees its return
just stays

wrapping gifts

Christmas gifts
wrapped in white tissue
mist-covered mountains

wrapping gifts
a whale swims by
covered with barnacles

Continue to WINTER Celestial.