August 31: Chipmunk

Sunflower seed husks

scattered at Buddha's feet--

chipmunk's offering.

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August 30: Zucchini season

I feel sorry for

the enormous zucchini

left on the sidewalk.

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August 29: Merryspring Nature Center

Amid flowers

I chase seven orange leaves

and one Monarch.

 

 

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August 28: Late August

On the way home

I pick up corn on the cob

and barely budding mums.

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August 27: Cicada

Backyard, late summer--

learning a new kind of music

from cicadas.

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August 26: Night out

Good pizza downtown.

We walk home in the dark

in view of Mars, Saturn.

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August 25: At the baseball game

Under the ballpark lights

a single white moth

flutters through the infield.

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August 24: Paper thin

Our cat chases a moth

around the backyard.

The heart is that fragile.

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August 23: Solace of crickets

awake early

even with earplugs in

soothing chorus of crickets

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August 22: Prey

Shrew in the cat's mouth

has such a cute little tail.

We let it escape.

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August 21: Overheard

We can only hear it--

osprey keening in the fog

far from its nest.

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August 20: Berry-picking

ripe blackberries falling

into my stained fingers

words from your lips

 

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August 19: Late season

No more birdsong

up on the mountain,

just one whining vireo.

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August 18: Dawn patrol

For how much longer--

the calls of wild geese

flying upriver at dawn?

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August 17: Sturgeon Moon

Rising at the end of our street
veiled by clouds
fat full moon--what a tease!

August 16: Racket

First thing this morning

we never figured out

why the crows were so loud.

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August 15: Mid-August

Deadheading the last

of the day lilies

to a chorus of crickets.

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August 14: Scarborough Marsh

Sweltering salt marsh--

how can the plovers

already be headed south?

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August 13: Summer Olympics

Rainy day indulgence:

hours of Olympics,

cat asleep at my side

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August 12: Meteor shower

More falling stars tonight

than acorns falling

on the neighbor's roof.

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August 11: Summer fog

Thick morning fog--

slowly a cardinal appears,

slowly the head clears.

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August 10: End of day

dusk and rain falling

a single mourning dove

flying to its roost

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August 9: Lawn songs

Crickets making their music--

every now and then

I pause and listen.

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August 8: River of Heaven

Night of falling stars--

how sad the Milky Way

still separates the lovers.

 

Although a month late by traditional reckoning, last night while we were in the backyard watching for falling stars from the Perseid meteor shower, I was thinking about Tanabata. This Japanese festival (also celebrated for centuries in China and Korea) celebrates the one night each year that two lovers, normally kept apart by the Milky Way, are allowed to meet. The two lovers--a weaver and a cowherd--are symbolized by the two bright stars Altair and Vega, visible last night directly over our house on either side of the Milky Way.

 

In this drought

the River of Heaven's low enough

for lovers to cross.

 

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August 7: Clothesline

Bridging two worlds--

a single black ant

traverses the white clothesline.

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August 6: Rainbow's end

finally some rain

two red lobster boats shining

end of the rainbow

 

Owls Head harbor tonight

 

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August 5: Already

Sudden realization

that I'm hearing crickets

and what that means.

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August 4: Alarm

Awakened by crows

alarmed by an intruder

or perhaps that was joy.

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August 3: Drought

river so low now

we barely hear water

just a kingfisher

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August 2: Thinking of Basho

One of the classic haiku poet Basho's most famous poems:

 

old pond--

frog jumps in

splashing sound

 

Here's my response, after spending the day at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens admiring the water lilies (and many frogs) in the small ponds they've crafted there:

 

shallow garden pond--

enough lily pads

to hold up all the frogs

 

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August 1: Ripe

Warm summer night.

We must eat them all tonight--

yesterday's strawberries.

 

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