February 28: Windfall

fallen branch

from my neighbor’s willow

hung up on our fence 

February 27: Moon again

waxing moon rising
right where you'd expect it
home town

February 26: Quick thaw

sublimation

leave the doors open

to let February go

February 25: Weather

sun then snow then rain
the weather too
can't make up its mind

February 24: Birthday party

Sirius rising

a single candle

in my birthday dessert

February 23: Cold rain

freezing rain

even the cat mistakes it

for the scurry of mice

February 22: Sleep chant

reciting until dawn
the threefold refuge
insomnia

February 21: Thaw

overnight thaw

we follow the flight 

of the one white pigeon

February 20: Birthday

my mother singing

on my answering machine
another year



*Thank you, Peter Newton, for your edits that made this haiku so much stronger!

February 19: Tracking

life lessons

frozen hieroglyphics

of a crow’s tracks

February 18: Starry night

Certain revelations—

old moon in the new moon’s arms

and all those stars

February 17: Winter sun

Head cold finally licked.

Courtship songs of chickadees

all along the path. 

February 16: Overheard

After the meeting
someone telling how a bobcat
ran through his yard.

February 15: Allegiance

Reciting the Pledge.
Chickadees gleaning insects
along the eaves.

February 14: Forced beauty

Forced into it—

forsythia twigs

finally starting to bloom. 

February 13: Winter Olympics, cont.

Winter Olympics—

eating heart-shaped cookies

Is this for a medal?

February 12: Amaryllis

Cabin fever.

Fading amaryllis

leans on the lamp for strength.

February 11: Sunday morning

Snow melted by rain.

Cat and I on the back porch

sniffing the air.

February 10: Winter Olympics

Winter Olympics—

stuck inside with a cold

watching skiing and luge.

February 9: Winter Olympics

Winter Olympics—

amaryllis glows

in the light of the t.v.

February 8: Rubies

Sunlit sumac berries—

precious as rubies

to winter robins.

February 7: Symphony No. 25

First flakes start to fall.

Mozart symphony playing

while the cat sleeps on.

February 6: Deer

In the woods nearby

a doe often reclines

in the same patch of sun.

February 5: Cardinal pair

Holding very still

so I don’t scare the cardinal pair

from the feeder.

February 4: Mid-winter

It’s come down to this:

staring at a vase of twigs,

some sort of prayer. 

February 3: Moonrise

Inspired reflection:

watching the moon rise

at the poetry reading.

February 2: Trompe l’œil

Small hole in a tree—

looks like an owl’s perched in there

but it’s a knot. 

February 1: Reading poetry on a winter's night

Last night in my Maine Poetry class, we read aloud Longfellow's "Wreck of the Hesperus," each of us in turn reading a stanza—an under-appreciated, long-lost form of entertainment.

Full moon on snow.
Reading Longfellow aloud
like they used to.