Year of Dragon Haiku

Year of the Dragon Haiku

JANUARY

Crisp cool New Year’s day

Waking bird songs joined by

Sound of sweeping brooms.

1/1/2024. We woke early to sweep up the red firecracker debris from the New Year’s Eve celebration.

Glistening in grass

Last Dew drops sparkle before

Gone with rising sun.

eyk 1/19/2024

FEBRUARY

Long lines for food

Blare of sounds and crowds yet

Smiles everywhere.

eyk 2/2/2024 Punahou Carnival. While waiting in Portuguese Soup Line.  40 minutes and still waiting.

Chill wintry gusts

Crashing into ridge top trees

Sound of breakers?

eyk 2/18/2024 while hiking the Aiea Loop Trail, the wind roaring in the trees sounded like an angry sea.

MARCH

Palettes of color

ready for spring’s brush

Anthurium bloom.

eyk 3/18/2024 Last day of winter.

Arrayed in line

Tuxedoed Kolea wait

Regiment is formed.

3/22/2024 revised. I was pulling out of my driveway and startled a Kolea in the street.  Looking further down the street, I saw a line of Kolea down the street, standing in front of their respective turfs.  It was as if they were announcing their readiness to start the spring migration back.  It reminded me of officers standing in front of their troops, waiting for the parade to begin.

APRIL

Millions cheered

What ancient kings once feared

Dragon ate the sun.

eyk 4/8/2024 0807 HST at start of totality in  Mexico.  Year of the Dragon. People once thought a celestial dragon caused the sun to disappear.

Walking by spring leaves

I share my breath with them and,

They share theirs with me.

eyk 4/16/2024 I was walking past a low hedge in a planter, noticing the varied shades of green.  I visualized that I exhaled to share my Carbon Dioxide with the hedge plants and then inhaled the fresh oxygen they in turn produced.

MAY

Furious struggle

Heedless of my approach

Butterflies duel.

eyk 5/5/2024. My sidewalk stroll was paused by a butterfly duel.

Rooster crows and crowds

Beneath jacaranda blooms

Lively country fair.

eyk 5/15/2024 At Waimea Country Farmers Market

JUNE

Under umbrella

Wanderer with eyes cast low

But no where to go.

eyk 6/7/2024.  While waiting at a Wahiawa stoplight, I noticed a man under an umbrella, slowly pulling a cart of his belongings.

Far Pacific gust

Sweeps down Ko’olaus then

Gently sways noren.

eyk 6/19/2024.  Juneteenth.  Even with all the gusting noise outside, what finally enters at my doorway is a gentle breeze.  Noren is the traditional Japanese doorway curtain.

JULY

Baby carriage pushed

Filled with life’s hard cares unlike

Ones from tended lawns.

eyk 7/1/2024 In better off neighborhoods, pets occupy the baby carriages.  In the streets under freeways, the carriages are filled with what is needed to live in the streets..

Elegance unfolds

Pink, orange, red pastels

Hibiscus greets day.

eyk 7/5/2024

AUGUST

Wings and legs splayed wide

Unseeing eyes yet asking

Fledgling’s last question.

eyk 8/16/2024 I was sad to find a fledgling sparrow on the sidewalk.

Sweet teriyaki

Served by cool summer breeze

Dining on scents

eyk 8/16/2024 Sitting outside Gyotaku before the doors opened for lunch, I was reminded of the old tale of the poor student who ate his bowl of rice while smelling the cooking of a nearby restaurant.

SEPTEMBER

Kolea at dusk

From rooftop a plaintiff cry

Anyone else here?

eyk 9/01/2024

Driving into work

Morning sunlight greets me

Through Kipapa’s trees.

eyk 9/10/2024

INTERLUDE TO ITALY 22 Sept to 6 Oct

Peal of church bells

Noontime Symphony of sound

Autumn in Como.

eyk 9/24/24 At Lake Como

Pigeons circle round

Tourists in Saint Mark’s square

Both looking for food.

9/26/24 In Venice

Side by side living

Ancient next to the new

Eternal City.

eyk 10/2/2024 In Rome

Fleecy flocks of sheep

Pasturing on green hills

Autumn morning fog.

eyk 10/3/24 on the road to Pompeii

OCTOBER ( Back in Hawaii)

Hibiscus petals

Tremble in wind shift

Then comes rain.

eyk 10/28/2024

Right ear cocked back

Cat enjoys window view but

Still wary behind.

eyk 10/31/2024

NOVEMBER

Cool breeze rustles trees

More drops for umbrella top

Night walk in rain.

eyk 11/7/24

Cool Autumn air

Bugle call faintly heard

Recalls past life.

eyk 11/14/2024

I was feeding the turtles outside when I heard the distant bugle call for reveille-sometimes the wind carries it from the Army base in the Koolaus.  Now, in the autumn of my life, I had to smile at the familiar refrain that was once a part of my youth.

DECEMBER

Above Freeway din,

Cool breeze and gentle bird songs

Under Bodhi tree.

eyk 12/13/2024. I had visited Foster Gardens as all of us did in grade school.  I was told about some “Bodhi tree” but I was more interested in running around and looking at the sausage tree.   But now, I was fascinated to find out that this tree was a cutting from the tree in Sri Lanka where Buddha was reported to have received his enlightenment.  It was a peaceful place.

Birds on stilts hunt,

In cool green watercress nigh

Yards from speeding cars.

eyk 12/20/2024. I was surprised to see a Hawaiian Stilt as I walked along Kamehameha Highway, hunting in Sumida Farms.