November 30: That sky again

Turn off the radio.
On the mountain's rosy face
glow of sunset.

November 29: That sky

Hazy gibbous moon
holding itself aloof
from the lurid sunset.

November 28: Winter moths

Winter moths—
it figures the females
would be flightless.

November 27: Deck the halls

Fake news.

Clipping holly boughs 

to tuck in the plastic wreath.

November 26: Lucky 7

flock of seven geese

if you believe in omens

that’s some luck right there

November 25: Last one in

After sunset—

bright half-moon rising,

one last dove flying to roost. 

November 24: Sharing

Sharing my cereal.
Tiny pearls of milk
on the cat's chin.

November 23: Thanksgiving

Cold morning, no snow.

Titmouse singing in the yard.

Thankful.

November 22: Thankful

Moment of grace:

vole dashing under my tires

was only an oak leaf.

November 21: Light in the darkness

facing down the darkness

at the end of the street

hazy crescent moon

November 20: Re-reading Bernd Heinrich’s WINTER WORLD

Shivering I read

how tree frogs survive

being frozen all winter.

November 19: Trespassers

Flock of gulls grazing

in the rain-soaked field

“No Hunting No Trespassing”

November 18: Crabapple

Laden crabapple tree—

was it really the cause

of the crows’ racket?

November 17: Night light

awakened in the night

somehow reassured by

the modem’s green light

November 16: Being read to

Audiobook

crime novel set in Venice—

I want to keep driving

November 15: Dark early

Darkness by 5.

Hoping I don’t meet a skunk

on my way inside.

November 14: Winter training

state fairgrounds race track

sound of one horse trotting past

I can see my breath

Sharing: Elemental haiku

Elemental haiku

Just have to share this Periodic Table composed of 119 haiku by Mary Soon Lee, from SCIENCE. There's a haiku for each element, including one for not-yet-synthesized Element 119. To read each one, click on or hover over an element on the table.

November 13: Snowy Owl

Holiday planning.

A friend texts

about his first Snowy Owl. 

November 12: Yard work

Remembered too late

summer’s flowers

already frozen in their pots. 

November 11: Queen of the Night

Streetlight’s out.

Surprised at the front door

by Cassiopeia.

November 10: Pecha Kucha

The ceramics artist

describes his simple cups

as three-line poems.

PS: Artist Simon van der Ven later shared the "cups" part of his talk:

"A beautiful, handmade cup is a three-line poem about consideration. 

The foot speaks about a relationship to its ground, about stability and how it will lift.
The body of the cup talks about a relationship to your hand, about separation and containment, about the definition of inside and outside.
And the rim offers its wisdom in its relationship to your lips, offering and delivering warmth, refreshment, stimulation and redemption to your body.

Making cups allows me to make hundreds of little useful sculptures, to wrestle with the intricacies of proportion, weight, and balance, to explore texture and color, to try new techniques and perfect and evolve established ones.

Making cups gives me a chance to be part of your everyday."

November 9: First frost

Scraping frost off my car

how I envy

the flock of geese overhead.

November 8: Drouthy Bear

At the Scottish pub

trying to gossip

without being overheard.

November 7: Moonlight

Awake to moonlight

so bright through the bedroom blind

I think it’s morning.

November 6: In the Whites

Even the truck driver

stops to photograph

the roaring waterfalls.

November 5: At the A1 Diner

Riverside diner—

eating at eye level

with the high water marker.

November 4: After the storm

After the windstorm
new bridges for squirrels
across the river

November 3: Audubon Folio

Was invited to a read a poem today at a unique event: the monthly page-turning of the Bowdoin College library’s Audubon folio. On the first Friday of every month, the Special Collections librarians (it takes two!) turn the supersized page to the next bird. This month’s featured bird is now the “Yellow-breasted Warbler,” now known as the Common Yellowthroat. 

Turning the page—

another month begins,

another bird flies in.

November 2: All Soul’s Day

Two crows lift off

something dead on the roadside—

is this transmigration?

November 1

Day after Halloween.

Putting all the skeletons

back in the closet.