early in the year

much more telling than
the graffiti behind it
- a plum tree in bloom

gnarly
red hawthorn
- old friend

wisteria blooms
dangling mysteriously
above the trash can

so soon
queen anne's lace*
again

* Daucus carota

mummified as art
it keeps its story secret
- driftwood in the sun

midsummer fiddles'
last tunes fading in the rain
- yarrow* down the way

*Achillea
summer sunday brunch -
on a log boom a heron
lurking gracefully

on wet golden sand
even seagulls stop and watch
summer's early demise

lunch in the hot sun -
on a crow's plumage, briefly,
hundreds of colors

first raindrops in weeks -
aging birch leaves shaking for
a friend in distress

Japanese buckwheat!
only bees delight in it
now it's in flower

chopping marigolds -
winter dreams going to waste
on the compost heap

one week of mourning -
now the late summer garden
wears a bindweed* shroud

* Convolvulus sepium

first drive in the fall -
high baroque music brightens
the sun in the birch

in the cooling air
ready for its life's purpose
- a jumping salmon

early in the fall
dew beads on a spider's home
- what a precious gift!

kumo no su ni
sizuku turanaru
- arigatasa

Japanese translation by
Tokoroten Sasa

slowly sliding up
a wobbly leaf in the way
- a determined slug

trampled fall mushrooms
on the edge of a steep path
- lingering fragrance

a lunar eclipse!
under the clear autum sky
strangers meet and talk

starless autumn night -
again I check the front door
and pull my robe tight

motley mountain drops
piercing the clouded stillness
- the late ferry boat

sitting in a clump
brightening the autumn gloom
- pumpkins in the rain

november snowstorm -
gradually blending in
- a gardening glove