SUMMER Animals

A Dictionary of Haiku
Jane Reichhold

ants

raisins
in the oatmeal
ants

heat
creeping over sand dunes
fire ants

cool desert shade
moving across hot sands
fire-biting ants

a stream of tourists
meeting in the desert
ants

a line of ants lead
to the body
beginning to crumble

bone white
ants carrying away
the darkness

bats

stars
carried into caves
bat eyes

adding ribs
to the colors of midnight
a bat

birds

unfolding wings
an up-canyon wind
a bright bird

surf rolls
power in the sand
low-flying birds

going home
birds across the lake
in nests

bird tracks
for each line of dust
a short life poem

a house in the woods
my cage for me
to live among birds

birds fly on
stepping stones of a still pond
cloud to cloud

landing
a wing spread with light
folds into feathers

what is a branch
and what is a bird leg?
the answer flies away

bird song

desert sound
in the bird's open beak
only the wind

mountain meadow
bird call arcs to call
in answers

dawn
desert silence an oasis
of bird song

desert morning
bubbles in the hot spring
bird song

breakfast
campfire coffee cups
of bird song

one bird calls
the not-yet sun
in barren rocks

desert birds
music in their beaks
running water

going to sleep
songs of birds
growing dark

night
call of a bird
without color

blue birds

summer sky
in and out of the nest
bluebirds

growing up male
color flows into his wings
baby bluebird

between pines
the summer sky sings
bluebird songs

branches bend
a streak of feather
sky blue

sprinkled breast babies
with cinnamon shoulders
rare bluebirds

blue jays

picnic
a babbling brook
of blue jays

naptime
blue jays, too
blissfully quiet

up with the birds
country living with families
of blue jays

winding up
the blue jay alarm clock
early sunrise

bugs

May morning
electric with the hum
hatching bugs

yellow bugs on the lettuce
squished
are yellow inside also

these bugs!
yesterday I squashed
those bugs

butterfly

clapping
praise without hands
a butterfly

fluttering
the butterfly has no time
for a name

eyelash
curves a glance
teases a butterfly

a flower lifted
from the stem floats
a butterfly

even while resting
butterflies go on dreaming
of flight

waiting at the corner
only a butterfly
and this lovely girl

walking
with a butterfly
here I too pause

end of summer
following it out of sight
a butterfly

before the hot sun
white on the butterfly's wing
melted transparent

a face among the flowers
then the butterfly
folds its wings

butterfly colors
the air woven
with healing

a broken crayon
the path of a butterfly
drawn by a child

high fashion
butterflies decorate
my garden hat

caterpillar

ignoring the sign:
no overnight camping
tent caterpillars

cat - in summer

a yellow cat
melting in the August sun
summer days

the cat's milk
swimming with ants
hot in August

summer's heat
caged in the stripes
of a ginger kitty

to and fro
in a hammock
a cat purrs

cicada

buzz of cicadas
pushing quicksilver
up the thermometer

a shrill cry
overheated the cicada peels
out of its skin

soft morning air
the quiet afterbirth
of the cicada

chipmunks

a show
for the price of peanuts
three chipmunks

chuckwalla

dirt road sign:
four-wheeled drive only
chuckwalla tracks

cormorant

buoy bells
from rock shadows
cormorants

cows

sea meadows
as rocks and cows
rocks and cows

sunset
the great bull closes
both eyes

cooling cows
the tree extends its shadow
over a yellow one

by the bullpen
a fence has torn off
a red shirt

cuckoo

hearing the cuckoo
calling out for a lover
morning seems so young

dogs - summer

dog days
hoping the stray pup
comes back

backyard circus
for the price of a penny
the neighbor's dog barks

doves

morning fog
the calling of doves
many small circles

cooing doves
lengthening the coolness
of shade trees

a hollowness
waiting for the dove
to call again

doves
lingering by the dark door
feather light

swing still
the rope squeak
of a dove

eagle

mountain climbers
resting in an eerie
eaglets

mountain peak
an eagle leaves it
moonlight

finches

sea cliff home
nestled by cypress
house finches

fingerlings

our kisses
on our legs
fish kisses

salmon fingerlings
swimming by the nude beach
eyes bulging

jumping in
a river of fingerlings
our bodies too pale

firefly

lightning
fireflies above puddles
peek at themselves

fleas

on my ankles
the cat ignores the bites
of her fleas

fledglings

a little clumsy
the scrub jay teaches
fledglings to fly

flies

company's comin'
even the flies buzz
at the door

drone of flies
curved as desert sand
around noon

before one's very eyes
heatwaves shimmering
flies

if only flies would nap
among the cats and books
on wicker chairs

surf rolls
life in the sand
beach flies

fly wings
fanning summer
hotter

helping him out
the fly is crushed
against the door

geese

tucked in bed
warm summer days
of goose down

gnats

sand dunes
drying the wings
of each gnat

shadowed river
transparent wings of gnats
the only light

goldfish

desert pond
in the national park
goldfish

passing summer
as shadow nears the pond
koi quickly hide

summer passing
the ripple on the koi pond
an orange fin

grasshopper

here grasshopper
at pepper plant restaurant
aphids!

gulls

breaking waves
the screams of gulls
soft sand

skimming waves
spindrift feathers
a gull

along the cliff
wing tips of gulls
at eye level

high tide mark
gulls search
another time

before us
the road flown
by two sea gulls

gull wings
lifting the light
from the sea

gulls
playing with the wind
their shadows

blue white
swirls in evening skies
gulls

cutting up
a cove's high seas
the soaring gull

sea birds home
on shores of booming surf
the unused songs

Sunday beach
a sermon of sea gulls
one goes wading

mountain overlook
twinkling above the sea
a flock of gulls

sea gulls
over land and water
smoke from fire

tearing together
fish entrails
gulls' laugh

on rocks
the first sunshine
a gull

hawk

lunchtime
overlooking the road ahead
a hawk

hornets

fog billows
the gray streaks
of a hornet's nest

herons

end of summer
walking the riverbank
just a heron

hummingbirds

a flutter of flowers
hovering in the heat
hummingbirds

lady bugs

roof newly shingled
nestled under pine cones
lady bugs

larks

surprising
tourists on the beach
meadow larks

above wild flowers
the song of the lark widens
the meadow higher

flowers songs
while looking out to sea
meadow larks

lizard

stones
a patterned shadow moves
on lizard legs

a hot wind
secrets of dunes
from a lizard

a patch blue sky
the belly of a lizard
filled with flies

flying water
into desert lizards
gnats

wind echo
in round rocks
lizard eyes

eyes
painted on cave walls
lizards

ancient eyes
on cave walls
lizards

lizard eyes
a summer cooled
by the glint

a dry scrape
as the door slams
lizards run

summer
a brown twig becomes
a lizard

salt cedars
gray moving to touch
lizard skin

heat exchange
in a sudden breeze
two lizards

giant boulders
the lizards arrive late
for the flute concert

mayflies

mayflies
a pair of birds
playing catch

moles

heart pounding
the tiny animals that scurry
within the earth

mosquito

added to stars
 swarm of mosquitoes
obscure the view

the sting
of a summer alarm clock
mosquitoes

late letter
worded with mosquito bodies
my blood

summer melting
mosquitoes' sound
in a harmonica

drowned mosquito
it's dangerous to swim
in my navel

swatting mosquitoes
how lightly goes a life
at sunset

dead mosquito
no longer interested
in biting me

moth

braiding in her hair
last night's dream
a tiny moth

Gypsy circus
in the tent
moths

against my cheek
a touch of powder
moth wing

fog thickening
into the lampbeam
a moth

a garden lantern
attracting a few moths
and all the stars

silver gray words
a quiver of moth wings
in hard green eyes

nights
a moth at the window
star-crazy

nestlings

up under the roof
between our legs small birds
fly into nests

osprey

osprey
silver between his talons
spindrift fish

peacock

spreading his tail
corn flung in the flight-fan
draws the peacock

pelican

wave to wave
pelicans follow flashes
of lightning

pelicans
clowning tops
of waves

rabbits

among cholla
cactus soft
on the cottontail

seals

soft-eyed seal
watching a lone man
and his daughter

wave within a wave
riding one a seal
his heart pumping

curve of waves
leaping seals thicken
translucent waves

barking seals
their breath comes to the mainland
as mist

slug

waiting for rain
the slow way slugs
make love

snake

winding creek
the snake's tongue
forked

in a trail
of manshade shadow
snakeshadow

desert road
snaking through
low hills

sidewinder
getting us off the trail
without a step

a jog
in the trail
a sidewinder

unwinding a cobra
a ring of round notes
from the flute

curved rocks
looped in the trail
a sidewinder

rocky river
in its sound a rattle
snake

rattlesnake
coiled into a spring
of rust

flute concert
for the finale
a rattlesnake claps

downtown Point Arena
from trash bin to weed patch
a snake

on snake lips
two kicking frog legs
a snakey smile

skunk

arched over
the skunk's back
stripes of moonlight

spider

spines
in the desert
tarantula legs

paths
crisscrossed by appetites
of spiders

wind yo-yo
up and down a silken thread
breeze-riding spider

a wobbly line
of black writing
a spider walks by

the spider crawls
two legs to the left
then three forward

plaid bedspread
a small spider playing
hopscotch

the quick broom
strumming the dulcimer
misses a spider

over the mirror
in the angel's white eye
a spider nest

eating insects
at the bird's ankles
spider legs

at home
in the spider plant
one

swallows

a rented house
for free the swallows
build a nest

ocean breezes
playing with feathers
cliff swallows

dark waterfall
swarms of cliff swallows
follow the stream

swan

at dawn
white flies into light
the sky with a swan

tiger

pawing tigers
how soft and hairy
grandpa' hand

titmouse

little gray wives
a swarm of titmice
cleaning the bushes

ticks

a picnic
the ticks on me also
are fatter

companions
taking a walk
the ticks on me

water ouzel

stream dweller
a small gray bird sings
water songs

water hen

nude beach
eyes of water hens
floating ahead

desert lake
roosting place dark
with water chickens

warbler

her nest in the eaves
in our house we call her
our warbler

whip-poor-will

that hollow sound
as the whip-poor-will unfolds
itself from sleep

worms

cabbage leaves
white worms mate
for life

wren

as little as a wren
alive as friend
the wren is

Continue on to SUMMER Plants.