Small Poems

by Elsa Johnson

Haiku

New sun — who dares shine
back   ?   red breast blazing  :  you there —
cardinal   —   sun thief!

Hari Krishnan [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

Hyacinth

Blossom    /     parted
into curls         like shaved wood
or   upright octopus  /  arms     turned up    all
tips     /      A tower’s      bell         split into shards
A fragrance      pungent      /     death
heavy      /      Oh sweet
purple painted
light

The wub [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

(Moral) Vacuum

It bites
When the snow
crunches like this
breathing sucks air in deep
to a space smaller
then the head
of a sin

Jason Hollinger [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

Ring

Ring –
bells of my words
Meet in mid air
Bruise there and batter
Mix there and marry
Tarnish and
tarry